Where Centaurus A gets its X-ray knottiness
Astrophysics
2009-11-13 v1
Abstract
We report an X-ray spectral study of the transverse structure of the Centaurus A jet using new data from the Chandra Cen A Very Large Project. We find that the spectrum steepens with increasing distance from the jet axis, and that this steepening can be attributed to a change in the average spectrum of the knotty emission. Such a trend is unexpected if the knots are predominantly a surface feature residing in a shear layer between faster and slower flows. We suggest that the spectral steepening of the knot emission as a function of distance from the jet axis is due to knot migration, implying a component of transverse motion of knots within the flow.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0712.3579,
title = {Where Centaurus A gets its X-ray knottiness},
author = {D. M. Worrall and M. Birkinshaw and R. P. Kraft and G. R. Sivakoff and A. Jordan and M. J. Hardcastle and N. J. Brassington and J. H. Croston and D. A. Evans and W. R. Forman and W. E. Harris and C. Jones and A. M. Juett and S. S. Murray and P. E. J. Nulsen and S. Raychaudhury and C. L. Sarazin and K. A. Woodley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0712.3579},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in ApJ (Letters)