Extragalactic Jets from Radio to Gamma-rays [HEAP]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2303.08897


Despite the fact that jets from black holes were first understood to exist over 40 years ago, we are still in ignorance about many primary aspects of these systems — including the radiation mechanism at high energies, the particle makeup of the jets, and how particles are accelerated, possibly to energies as high as 100 TeV and hundreds of kpc from the central engine. We focus in particular on the discovery (and mystery) of strong X-ray emission from radio jets on kpc-scales, enabled by the unequaled high resolution of the \emph{Chandra} X-ray observatory. We review the main evidence for and against the viable models to explain this X-ray emission over the last 20 years. Finally, we present results of a recent study on the X-ray variability of kpc-scale jets, where we find evidence that between 30-100\% of the X-ray jet population is variable at the tens-of-percent level. The short ($\sim$years) variability timescale is incompatible with the IC/CMB model for the X-rays and implies extremely small structures embedded within the kpc-scale jet, and thus requires a reconsideration of many assumptions about jet structure and dynamics.

Read this paper on arXiv…

E. Meyer, A. Shaik, K. Reddy, et. al.
Fri, 17 Mar 23
34/67

Comments: Conference Proceeding – IAUS 375: The Multimessenger Chakra of Blazar Jets; 8 pages, 4 figures