Extended Radio Structures and a Compact X-ray Cool-Core in the Cluster Source PKS 1353-341 [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1903.08044


We present a radio and X-ray study of PKS 1353-341, the brightest cluster galaxy radio source at the center of a recent Chandra-discovered X-ray cluster. Our multi-frequency VLA images reveal an edge-brightened (FR-II), double-lobed structure with total ~50 kpc extent and 1.5 GHz power of $1.2\times10^{25}$ W Hz$^{-1}$, separated from the bright, arcsecond-scale core. We reanalyzed the Chandra data and found the X-ray emitting AGN is offset by ~9 kpc from a compact X-ray cool-core with temperature, $kT=3.1\pm0.5$ keV, and a radius of ~22 kpc, surrounded by a hotter $kT=6.3\pm0.7$ keV gas out to ~50 kpc. The offset suggests sloshing inside the cool-core induced by a minor merger or a past outburst of the AGN that produced the large-scale radio lobes. The comparable spatial scales of the lobes with the interface between the different temperature X-ray plasma indicate the lobes are actively heating the outer layers of what is now a remnant compact cool-core. Our dual-frequency VLBA images reveal substructure in the central radio source, consisting of a radio core with double-sided pc-scale jets pointing toward the kpc-scale structures. The northern jet is detected only at 8.4 GHz, indicating its emission is behind an absorbing torus or disk. We also measured faster apparent motions in the southern jet up to $1.9\pm1.1c$ than in the northern jet ($0.8\pm0.5c$). While the VLBA observations indicate the southern jet is aligned slightly closer to our line of sight, the asymmetries are overall modest and imply minimal projection effects in the large-scale radio structures.

Read this paper on arXiv…

C. Cheung, S. Giacintucci and T. Clarke
Wed, 20 Mar 19
75/76

Comments: 16 pages, ApJ accepted