947 research outputs found
Witnessing the gradual slow-down of powerful extragalactic jets: The X-ray -- optical -- radio connection
A puzzling feature of the {\it Chandra}--detected quasar jets is that their
X-ray emission decreases faster along the jet than their radio emission,
resulting to an outward increasing radio to X-ray ratio. In some sources this
behavior is so extreme that the radio emission peak is located clearly
downstream of that of the X-rays. This is a rather unanticipated behavior given
that the inverse
Compton nature of the X-rays and the synchrotron radio emission are
attributed to roughly the same electrons of the jet's non-thermal electron
distribution. In this note we show that this morphological behavior can result
from the gradual deceleration of a relativistic flow and that the offsets in
peak emission at different wavelengths carry the imprint of this deceleration.
This notion is consistent with another recent finding, namely that the jets
feeding the terminal hot spots of powerful radio galaxies and quasars are still
relativistic with Lorentz factors . The picture of the
kinematics of powerful jets emerging from these considerations is that they
remain relativistic as they gradually decelerate from Kpc scales to the hot
spots, where, in a final collision with the intergalactic medium, they
slow-down rapidly to the subrelativistic velocities of the hot spot advance
speed.Comment: Submitted in ApJ Letters on Jan. 14, 200
Time dependent spectral modeling of Markarian 421 during a violent outburst in 2010
We present the results of extensive modeling of the spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) of the closest blazar (z=0.031) Markarian 421 (Mrk 421)
during a giant outburst in February 2010. The source underwent rapid flux
variations in both X-rays and very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays as it evolved
from a low-flux state on 2010 February 13-15 to a high-flux state on 2010
February 17. During this period, the source exhibited significant spectral
hardening from X-rays to VHE gamma-rays while exhibiting a "harder when
brighter" behavior in these energy bands. We reproduce the broadband SED using
a time-dependent multi-zone leptonic jet model with radiation feedback. We find
that an injection of the leptonic particle population with a single power-law
energy distribution at shock fronts followed by energy losses in an
inhomogeneous emission region is suitable for explaining the evolution of Mrk
421 from low- to high-flux state in February 2010. The spectral states are
successfully reproduced by a combination of a few key physical parameters, such
as the maximum minimum cutoffs and power-law slope of the electron
injection energies, magnetic field strength, and bulk Lorentz factor of the
emission region. The simulated light curves and spectral evolution of Mrk 421
during this period imply an almost linear correlation between X-ray flux at
1-10 keV energies and VHE gamma-ray flux above 200 GeV, as has been previously
exhibited by this source. Through this study, a general trend that has emerged
for the role of physical parameters is that, as the flare evolves from a low-
to a high-flux state, higher bulk kinetic energy is injected into the system
with a harder particle population and a lower magnetic field strength.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The connection between the radio jet and the gamma-ray emission in the radio galaxy 3C 120
We present the analysis of the radio jet evolution of the radio galaxy 3C 120
during a period of prolonged gamma-ray activity detected by the Fermi satellite
between December 2012 and October 2014. We find a clear connection between the
gamma-ray and radio emission, such that every period of gamma-ray activity is
accompanied by the flaring of the mm-VLBI core and subsequent ejection of a new
superluminal component. However, not all ejections of components are associated
with gamma-ray events detectable by Fermi. Clear gamma-ray detections are
obtained only when components are moving in a direction closer to our line of
sight.This suggests that the observed gamma-ray emission depends not only on
the interaction of moving components with the mm-VLBI core, but also on their
orientation with respect to the observer. Timing of the gamma-ray detections
and ejection of superluminal components locate the gamma-ray production to
within almost 0.13 pc from the mm-VLBI core, which was previously estimated to
lie about 0.24 pc from the central black hole. This corresponds to about twice
the estimated extension of the broad line region, limiting the external photon
field and therefore suggesting synchrotron self Compton as the most probable
mechanism for the production of the gamma-ray emission. Alternatively, the
interaction of components with the jet sheath can provide the necessary photon
field to produced the observed gamma-rays by Compton scattering.Comment: Already accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
LOFAR observations of 4C+19.44. On the discovery of low frequency spectral curvature in relativistic jet knots
We present the first LOFAR observations of the radio jet in the quasar
4C+19.44 (a.k.a. PKS 1354+19) obtained with the long baselines. The achieved
resolution is very well matched to that of archival Jansky Very Large Array
(JVLA) observations at higher radio frequencies as well as the archival X-ray
images obtained with {\it Chandra}. We found that, for several knots along the
jet, the radio flux densities measured at hundreds of MHz lie well below the
values estimated by extrapolating the GHz spectra. This clearly indicates the
presence of spectral curvature. Radio spectral curvature has been already
observed in different source classes and/or extended radio structures and it
has been often interpreted as due to intrinsic processes, as a curved particle
energy distribution, rather than absorption mechanisms ({ Razin-Tsytovich}
effect, free-free or synchrotron self absorption to name a few). Here we
discuss our results according to the scenario where particles undergo
stochastic acceleration mechanisms also in quasar jet knots.Comment: 13 pages, 4 tables, 4 figures, pre-proof version, published on the
Astrophysical Journal (Harris, et al. 2019 ApJ, 873, 21
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