A FLARE IN THE JET OF PICTOR A

Author(s)
Hardcastle, M. J.; Birkinshaw, M.; Croston, J. H.; Evans, Daniel A.; Landt, H.; ... Show more
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Abstract
A Chandra X-ray imaging observation of the jet in Pictor A showed a feature that appears to be a flare that faded between 2000 and 2002. The feature was not detected in a follow-up observation in 2009. The jet itself is over 150?kpc long and about 1 kpc wide, so finding year-long variability is surprising. Assuming a synchrotron origin of the observed high-energy photons and a minimum energy condition for the outflow, the synchrotron loss time of the X-ray emitting electrons is of order 1200 years, which is much longer than the observed variability timescale. This leads to the possibility that the variable X-ray emission arises from a very small sub-volume of the jet, characterized by a magnetic field that is substantially larger than the average over the jet.
Date issued
2010-05
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95807
Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Journal
Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society
Citation
Marshall, H. L., M. J. Hardcastle, M. Birkinshaw, J. Croston, D. Evans, H. Landt, E. Lenc, et al. “A FLARE IN THE JET OF PICTOR A.” The Astrophysical Journal 714, no. 2 (April 13, 2010): L213–L216. © 2010 American Astronomical Society.
Version: Final published version
ISSN
2041-8205
2041-8213
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