Absorption of nuclear γ-rays on the starlight radiation in FR I sources: the case of Centaurus A     

&#;. Stawarz  F. Aharonian  S. Wagner  M. Ostrowski 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2006,371(4):1705-1716

Several BL Lac objects are confirmed sources of variable and strongly Doppler-boosted TeV emission produced in the nuclear portions of their relativistic jets. It is more than probable that also many of the Fanaroff–Riley type I (FR I) radio galaxies, believed to be the parent population of BL Lacs, are TeV sources, for which Doppler-hidden nuclear γ-ray radiation may be only too weak to be directly observed. Here we show, however, that about 1 per cent of the total time-averaged TeV radiation produced by the active nuclei of low-power FR I radio sources is inevitably absorbed and re-processed by photon–photon annihilation on the starlight photon field, and the following emission of the created and quickly isotropized electron–positron pairs. In the case of the radio galaxy Centaurus A, we found that the discussed mechanism can give a distinctive observable feature in the form of an isotropic γ-ray halo. It results from the electron–positron pairs injected to the interstellar medium of the inner parts of the elliptical host by the absorption process, and upscattering starlight radiation via the inverse-Compton process mainly to the GeV–TeV photon energy range. Such a galactic γ-ray halo is expected to possess a characteristic spectrum peaking at ∼0.1 TeV photon energies, and the photon flux strong enough to be detected by modern Cherenkov Telescopes and, in the future, by GLAST. These findings should apply as well to the other nearby FR I sources.  相似文献   

A Chandra observation of the X-ray environment and jet of 3C 31     

M. J. Hardcastle  D. M. Worrall  M. Birkinshaw  R. A. Laing  A. H. Bridle 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,334(1):182-192

We have used a deep Chandra observation of the central regions of the twin-jet Fanaroff–Riley class I (FRI) radio galaxy 3C 31 to resolve the thermal X-ray emission in the central few kpc of the host galaxy, NGC 383, where the jets are thought to be decelerating rapidly. This allows us to make high-precision measurements of the density, temperature and pressure distributions in this region, and to show that the X-ray emitting gas in the centre of the galaxy has a cooling time of only  5×10⁷ yr  . In a companion paper, these measurements are used to place constraints on models of the jet dynamics.
A previously unknown one-sided X-ray jet in 3C 31, extending up to 8 arcsec from the nucleus, is detected and resolved. Its structure and steep X-ray spectrum are similar to those of X-ray jets known in other FRI sources, and we attribute the radiation to synchrotron emission from a high-energy population of electrons. In situ particle acceleration is required in the region of the jet where bulk deceleration is taking place.
We also present X-ray spectra and luminosities of the galaxies in the Arp 331 chain of which NGC 383 is a member. The spectrum and spatial properties of the nearby bright X-ray source 1E 0104+3153 are used to argue that the soft X-ray emission is mostly due to a foreground group of galaxies rather than to the background broad absorption-line quasar.  相似文献   

Jets in the Fanaroff–Riley class I radio galaxies PKS B1234−723, MRC 1452−517 and PKS B2148−555     

Ben D.Lloyd  Paul A.Jones 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,331(3):717-730

We present radio observations made with the Australia Telescope Compact Array to study the jets and lobes of three Fanaroff–Riley class I (FR I) radio galaxies: PKS B1234−723, 1452−517 and B2148−555. The total intensity and polarization radio images of the FR I jets are used to determine jet brightness and width variations, magnetic field structure and fractional polarization. The equipartition pressure is determined as a function of distance from the galaxies to probe the intergalactic medium.  相似文献   

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the environmental dependence of galaxy star formation rates near clusters     

Ian Lewis  Michael Balogh  Roberto De Propris  Warrick Couch  Richard Bower  Alison Offer  Joss Bland-Hawthorn  Ivan K. Baldry  Carlton Baugh  Terry Bridges  Russell Cannon  Shaun Cole  Matthew Colless  Chris Collins  Nicholas Cross  Gavin Dalton  Simon P. Driver  George Efstathiou  Richard S. Ellis  Carlos S. Frenk  Karl Glazebrook  Edward Hawkins  Carole Jackson  Ofer Lahav  Stuart Lumsden  Steve Maddox  Darren Madgwick  Peder Norberg  John A. Peacock  Will Percival  Bruce A. Peterson  Will Sutherland  Keith Taylor 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,334(3):673-683

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Cooling flows as a calorimeter of active galactic nucleus mechanical power     

E. Churazov  R. Sunyaev  W. Forman  H. Böhringer 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,332(3):729-734

The assumption that radiative cooling of gas in the centres of galaxy clusters is approximately balanced by energy input from a central supermassive black hole implies that the observed X-ray luminosity of the cooling flow region sets a lower limit on active galactic nucleus (AGN) mechanical power. The conversion efficiency of the mechanical power of the AGN into gas heating is uncertain, but we argue that it can be high even in the absence of strong shocks. These arguments inevitably lead to the conclusion that the time-averaged mechanical power of AGNs in cooling flows is much higher than the bolometric luminosity of these objects observed currently.
The energy balance between cooling losses and AGN mechanical power requires some feedback mechanism. We consider a toy model in which the accretion rate on to a black hole is set by the classic Bondi formula. Application of this model to the best studied case of M87 suggests that accretion proceeds at approximately the Bondi rate down to a few gravitational radii with most of the power (at the level of a few per cent of the rest mass) being carried away by an outflow.  相似文献   

On the interaction of FR II radio sources with the intracluster medium     

P. Alexander 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,335(3):610-620

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Evidence for Chemical Heterogeneity in the Nucleus of C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp)     

Lederer  Susan M.  Campins  Humberto 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2002,90(1-4):381-389

We present an analysis of OH, CN, and C₂ jets observed in thecoma of Comet Hale–Bopp on UT April 22, 23, and 25, 1997. Monte Carlomodels designed to simulate the gas jets were employed to analyze thenuclear active areas responsible for the observed coma gas jets. Ourresults indicate that four active areas are necessary to reproduce theCN and C₂ jets while five active areas are required to simulatethe OH jets. The additional OH active area must produce significantlevels of OH, but cannot emit measurable quantities of either carbonradical. This difference suggests that the nucleus of Comet Hale–Boppis chemically heterogeneous.  相似文献   

The origin of [Fe ii] emission in NGC 4151     

James E. H.Turner  JeremyAllington-Smith †  ScottChapman ‡  RobertContent  ChristineDone  RogerHaynes §  DavidLee ¶  SimonMorris &#; 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,331(2):284-292

The centre of NGC 4151 has been observed in the J band with the SMIRFS integral field unit (IFU) on the UK Infrared Telescope. A map of [Fe  ii ] emission is derived, and compared with the distributions of the optical narrow-line region and radio jet. We conclude that, because the [Fe  ii ] emission is associated more closely with the visible narrow-line region than with the radio jet, it arises mainly through photoionization of gas by collimated X-rays from the Seyfert nucleus. The velocity field and strength with respect to Pa β are found to be consistent with this argument. The performance of the IFU is considered briefly, and techniques for observation and data analysis are discussed.  相似文献   

Relativistic large-scale jets and minimum power requirements     

G. Ghisellini  A. Celotti 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2001,327(3):739-743

The recent discovery, by the Chandra satellite, that jets of blazars are strong X-ray emitters at large scales     , lends support to the hypothesis that emitting plasma is still moving at highly relativistic speeds on these scales. In this case in fact the emission via inverse Compton scattering off cosmic background photons is enhanced and the resulting predicted X-ray spectrum accounts well for the otherwise puzzling observations. Here we point out another reason to favour relativistic large-scale jets, based on a minimum power argument: by estimating the Poynting flux and bulk kinetic powers corresponding to, at least, the relativistic particles and magnetic field responsible for the emission, one can derive the value of the bulk Lorentz factor for which the total power is minimized. It is found that both the inner and extended parts of the jet of PKS     satisfy such a condition.  相似文献   

Does the plasma composition affect the long-term evolution of relativistic jets?     

L.Scheck  M. A.Aloy  J. M.Martí  J. L.Gómez  E.Müller 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2002,331(3):615-634

We study the influence of the matter content of extragalactic jets on their morphology, dynamics and emission properties. For this purpose we consider jets of extremely different compositions, including pure leptonic and baryonic plasmas. Our work is based on two-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of the long-term evolution of powerful extragalactic jets propagating into a homogeneous environment. The equation of state used in the simulations accounts for an arbitrary mixture of electrons, protons and electron–positron pairs. Using the hydrodynamic models, we have also computed synthetic radio maps and the thermal bremsstrahlung X-ray emission from their cavities.
Although there is a difference of about three orders of magnitude in the temperatures of the cavities inflated by the simulated jets, we find that both the morphology and the dynamic behaviour are almost independent of the assumed composition of the jets. Their evolution proceeds in two distinct epochs. During the first one, multidimensional effects are unimportant and the jets propagate ballistically. The second epoch starts when the first larger vortices are produced near the jet head, causing the beam cross-section to increase and the jet to decelerate. The evolution of the cocoon and cavity is in agreement with a simple theoretical model. The beam velocities are relativistic  ( Γ ≃4)  at kiloparsec scales, supporting the idea that the X-ray emission of several extragalactic jets may be due to relativistically boosted CMB photons. The radio emission of all models is dominated by the contribution of the hotspots. All models exhibit a depression in the X-rays surface brightness of the cavity interior, in agreement with recent observations.  相似文献