  We present a new method for studying the intrinsic brightness temperatures of
the parsec-scale jet cores of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Our method uses
observed superluminal motions and observed brightness temperatures for a large
sample of AGN to constrain the characteristic intrinsic brightness temperature
of the sample as a whole. To study changes in intrinsic brightness temperature,
we assume that the Doppler factors of individual jets are constant in time as
justified by their relatively small changes in observed flux density. We find
that in their median-low brightness temperature state, the sources in our
sample have a narrow range of intrinsic brightness temperatures centered on a
characteristic temperature, T_int = 3 x 10^10 K, which is close to the value
expected for equipartition, when the energy in the radiating particles equals
the energy stored in the magnetic fields. However, in their maximum brightness
state, we find that sources in our sample have a characteristic intrinsic
brightness temperature greater than 2 x 10^11 K, which is well in excess of the
equipartition temperature. In this state, we estimate the energy in radiating
particles exceeds the energy in the magnetic field by a factor of ~ 10^5. We
suggest that the excess of particle energy when sources are in their maximum
brightness state is due to injection or acceleration of particles at the base
of the jet. Our results suggest that the common method of estimating jet
Doppler factors by using a single measurement of observed brightness
temperature and/or the assumption of equipartition may lead to large scatter or
systematic errors in the derived values.
