A FLARE IN THE JET OF PICTOR A

作者:Marshall H L*; Hardcastle M J; Birkinshaw M; Croston J; Evans D; Landt H; Lenc E; Massaro F; Perlman E S; Schwartz D A; Siemiginowska A; Stawarz L; Urry C M; Worrall D M
来源:Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2010, 714(2): L213-L216.
DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/714/2/L213

摘要

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.

  • 出版日期2010-5-10
  • 单位CSIRO