A Multiwavelength Spectral and Polarimetric Study of the Jet of 3C 264

📝 Abstract

We present a comprehensive multiband spectral and polarimetric study of the jet of 3C 264 (NGC 3862). Included in this study are three HST optical and ultraviolet polarimetry data sets, along with new and archival VLA radio imaging and polarimetry, a re-analysis of numerous HST broadband data sets from the near infrared to the far ultraviolet, and a Chandra ACIS-S observation. We investigate similarities and differences between optical and radio polarimetry, in both degree of polarization and projected magnetic field direction. We also examine the broadband spectral energy distribution of both the nucleus and jet of 3C 264, from the radio through the X-rays. From this we place constraints on the physics of the 3C 264 system, the jet and its dynamics. We find significant curvature of the spectrum from the near-IR to ultraviolet, and synchrotron breaks steeper than 0.5, a situation also encountered in the jet of M87. This likely indicates velocity and/or magnetic field gradients and more efficient particle acceleration localized in the faster/higher magnetic field parts of the flow. The magnetic field structure of the 3C 264 jet is remarkably smooth; however, we do find complex magnetic field structure that is correlated with changes in the optical spectrum. We find that the X-ray emission is due to the synchrotron process; we model the jet spectrum and discuss mechanisms for accelerating particles to the needed energies, together with implications for the orientation of the jet under a possible spine-sheath model.

💡 Analysis

We present a comprehensive multiband spectral and polarimetric study of the jet of 3C 264 (NGC 3862). Included in this study are three HST optical and ultraviolet polarimetry data sets, along with new and archival VLA radio imaging and polarimetry, a re-analysis of numerous HST broadband data sets from the near infrared to the far ultraviolet, and a Chandra ACIS-S observation. We investigate similarities and differences between optical and radio polarimetry, in both degree of polarization and projected magnetic field direction. We also examine the broadband spectral energy distribution of both the nucleus and jet of 3C 264, from the radio through the X-rays. From this we place constraints on the physics of the 3C 264 system, the jet and its dynamics. We find significant curvature of the spectrum from the near-IR to ultraviolet, and synchrotron breaks steeper than 0.5, a situation also encountered in the jet of M87. This likely indicates velocity and/or magnetic field gradients and more efficient particle acceleration localized in the faster/higher magnetic field parts of the flow. The magnetic field structure of the 3C 264 jet is remarkably smooth; however, we do find complex magnetic field structure that is correlated with changes in the optical spectrum. We find that the X-ray emission is due to the synchrotron process; we model the jet spectrum and discuss mechanisms for accelerating particles to the needed energies, together with implications for the orientation of the jet under a possible spine-sheath model.

📄 Content

arXiv:0911.1817v1 [astro-ph.CO] 10 Nov 2009 submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Preprint typeset using LATEX style emulateapj v. 08/13/06 A MULTIWAVELENGTH SPECTRAL AND POLARIMETRIC STUDY OF THE JET OF 3C 264 E. S. Perlman1,2, C. A. Padgett2,3, M. Georganopoulos2,3, D. M. Worrall4, J. H. Kastner5, G. Franz5, M. Birkinshaw4, F. Dulwich4, C. P. O’Dea5, S. A. Baum6, W. B. Sparks7, J. A. Biretta7, L. Lara8, S. Jester9, A. Martel7 submitted to the Astrophysical Journal ABSTRACT We present a comprehensive multiband spectral and polarimetric study of the jet of 3C 264 (NGC 3862). Included in this study are three HST optical and ultraviolet polarimetry data sets, along with new and archival VLA radio imaging and polarimetry, a re-analysis of numerous HST broadband data sets from the near infrared to the far ultraviolet, and a Chandra ACIS-S observation. We investigate similarities and differences between optical and radio polarimetry, in both degree of polarization and projected magnetic field direction. We also examine the broadband spectral energy distribution of both the nucleus and jet of 3C 264, from the radio through the X-rays. From this we place constraints on the physics of the 3C 264 system, the jet and its dynamics. We find significant curvature of the spectrum from the near-IR to ultraviolet, and synchrotron breaks steeper than 0.5, a situation also encountered in the jet of M87. This likely indicates velocity and/or magnetic field gradients and more efficient particle acceleration localized in the faster/higher magnetic field parts of the flow. The magnetic field structure of the 3C 264 jet is remarkably smooth; however, we do find complex magnetic field structure that is correlated with changes in the optical spectrum. We find that the X-ray emission is due to the synchrotron process; we model the jet spectrum and discuss mechanisms for accelerating particles to the needed energies, together with implications for the orientation of the jet under a possible spine-sheath model. Subject headings:

1. INTRODUCTION The characterization of jet polarization properties pro- vides a powerful diagnostic of jet physics, particularly with respect to magnetic field configuration and parti- cle acceleration. Extragalactic jets generally emit a con- tinuum of radiation from radio through optical, and of- ten into the X-ray regime. Through matched resolution comparisons of flux density measurements at various fre- quencies, we can glean morphological information about particle acceleration regions and jet energetic structure. The closest kiloparsec-scale radio-optical jet is that of M87 at a distance of 16 Mpc (Tonry 1991). By us- ing matched resolution polarimetry at different wave- lengths and combining this with multi-wavelength imag- ing and X-ray imaging and spectroscopy, much informa- tion about jet energetics and magnetic fields, three di- mensional structure and particle acceleration can be con- Electronic address: eperlman@fit.edu 1 Physics and Space Sciences Department, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 West University Boulevard, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA 2 Department of Physics, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. 3 NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 660, Green- belt, MD 20771, USA 4 Department of Physics, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK 5 Physics Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5603, USA 6 Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 54 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5603, USA 7 Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Bal- timore, MD 21218, USA 8 Dpto. Fis´ıca Te´orica y del Cosmos, Universidad de Granada, Avenida Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain 9 Max Planck Institut fur Astronomie, K¨onigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany strained (Perlman & Wilson 2005 and references therein). There are relatively few jets for which there exists HST optical polarimetry compared to the number that have been detected. As of this writing, a total of ten opti- cal jets have HST polarimetry observations (M87 - e.g. Perlman et al. 1999; 3C 273 - Thomson et al. 1993; 3C 293 - Floyd et al. 2006; 3C 15 - Perlman et al. 2006 and Dulwich et al. 2007; 3C 346 - Perlman et al. 2006 and Dulwich et al. 2009; 3C 66B, 3C 78, 3C 264 and 3C 371 - Perlman et al. 2006; PKS 1136–135 - Cara et al., in prep.). This is in comparison to the ∼34 de- tected optical extragalactic jets 10. Given this dearth of polarimetry observations, it is not surprising that there are few constraints on the configuration of the magnetic fields in optically emitting regions of extragalactic jets. Here we present a comprehensive study of the jet of 3C 264 that includes radio and optical polarimetry, as well as X-ray observations of the jet. At a redshift of 0.0217 (Baum et al. 1990), and hence a distance of 94 Mpc, 3C 264 is among the closest known bright radio galaxies with an op

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