Document Type
Article
Publication Title
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
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 150kpc 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.
DOI
10.1088/2041-8205/714/2/L213
Publication Date
5-10-2010
Recommended Citation
Marshall, Herman L. and Perlman, Eric S., "A Flare In The Jet Of Pictor A" (2010). Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications. 385.
https://repository.fit.edu/apss_faculty/385
