The X-Ray Jet of PKS 0637–752: Inverse Compton Radiation from the Cosmic Microwave Background?

By F. Tavecchio, L. Maraschi, R. Sambruna, C. Urry. 2000

290 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We propose that the X-ray emission detected by Chandra from the 100 kpc-scale jet of PKS 0637-752 is produced through inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We analyze the physical state of the jet and show that inverse Compton scattering from the CMB is consistent with the equipartition for a moderate beaming of the emission, with a Doppler factor δ ~ 10. The power transported by the jet is then similar to that of other powerful blazars, Lj ~ 1048 ergs s-1, and the jet has low radiative efficiency. The radiative cooling times of the electrons are a few thousand years, compatible with the size of the knot. The low-energy cutoff of the electron distribution is constrained to be γmin ~ 10, the first such constraint from spectral considerations. A parallel analysis for the synchrotron self-Compton model yields far less reasonable physical conditions.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a7e295026283990c3ac11887eb3035cc87fdd9ad

How researchers see this paper

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. D. Harris
2. F. Tavecchio
3. M. Hardcastle
4. G. Ghisellini
5. H. Krawczynski
6. L. Maraschi
7. C. Dermer
8. Ł. Stawarz

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. F. Tavecchio
2. D. Harris
3. G. Ghisellini
4. M. Hardcastle
5. H. Krawczynski
6. L. Maraschi
7. C. Dermer
8. J. Finke

Citations in the corpus

• X-Ray Emission Processes in Radio Jets (2001, methodology): “The introduction of the ’beaming model’ (Tavecchio et al. 2000, Celotti et al. 2001) in the particular case of PKS0637 was presented as an escape from this dilemma.”
• The power of blazar jets (2007, background): “⋆ E–mail: celotti@sissa.it At the scale of hundreds of kpc theChandrasatellite observations, if interpreted as inverse Compton scattering on the Cosmic Microwave Background (Tavecchio et al. 2000; Celotti, Ghisell ni & Chiaberge 2001), indicate that jets of powerful blazars are still relativistic.”
• The Origins of X-Ray Emission from the Hot Spots of FR II Radio Sources (2004, background): “By doing this we hopedto select only features associated with the termination of the jet, and to avoid effects thoughtto be due to highly relativistic bulk motions, as seen in the X-ray jets of some quasars (e.g., Tavecchio et al. 2000).”
• X-Ray Emission Properties of Large-Scale Jets, Hot Spots, and Lobes in Active Galactic Nuclei (2004, background): “…believed that both the radio and optical emissions are due to synchrotron radiation, whereas X-ray photons are produced via the inverse-Compton scattering of either synchrotron photons (SSC) or cosmic microwave background photons (EC; Tavecchio et al. 2000, Celotti, Ghisellini & Chiaberge 2001).”
• A Chandra observation of the X-ray environment and jet of 3C 296 (2002, background): “The well-constrained jet speeds and angle to the line of sight (Laing & Bridle 2002a) mean that beamed inverse-Compton models (e.g. Tavecchio et al. 2000) do not apply here.”
• GAMMA-RAY STUDIES OF BLAZARS: SYNCHRO-COMPTON ANALYSIS OF FLAT SPECTRUM RADIO QUASARS (2008, background): “(89) gives an accurate spectrum of radiation made when jet electrons with number spectrum N ′e(γ ′) Comptonscatter blackbody photons (see, e.g. Tavecchio et al. 2000; Dermer & Atoyan 2002; Böttcher et al. 2008).”
• A Survey of Extended Radio Jets with Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope (2004, methodology): “…as synchrotron emission or synchrotron–selfCompton (Schwartz et al. 2000) but instead was attributed to inverse Compton (IC) scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons by relativistic electrons in the 698 jet, with jet Lorentz factors 10 (Tavecchio et al. 2000; Celotti et al. 2001).”
• Magnetic Field Strengths in the Hot Spots and Lobes of Three Powerful Fanaroff-Riley Type II Radio Sources (2002, background): “…& Hardcastle 2001a) probe the high-energy particle acceleration in these objects (Hardcastle, Birkinshaw & Worrall 2001b), while the few FRII jets that have been detected (e.g., Schwartz et al. 2000) may be evidence for extremely high bulk speeds on kiloparsec scales (e.g., Tavecchio et al. 2000).”
• X-Ray Emission from Extragalactic Jets (2006, methodology): “The most popular explanation is the IC model put forth by Celotti, Ghisellini & Chiaberge (2001) and Tavecchio et al. (2000).”
• Canonical high power blazars (2009, background): “This has already been pointed out as an important source of seed photons for enhancing the inverse Compton flux of the bright X–ray knots detected by the Chandra satellite at tens and hundreds of kpc from the core of the jet (Tavecchio et al. 2000; Celotti Ghisellini & Chiaberge 2001).”
• Neutral Beams from Blazar Jets (2002, background): “This quenching process could make it difficult to form extended relativistic jets on the 10–100 kpc scale, as may be required to explain enhanced X-ray emission in the knots of PKS 0637 752 (Tavecchio et al. 2000).”