Shedding New Light on the 3C 273 Jet with the<i>Spitzer Space Telescope</i>

Uchiyama, Y.; Urry, C. Megan; Cheung, C. C.; Jester, Sebastian; Duyne, J. Van; Coppi, P.; Sambruna, R. M.; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Tavecchio, F.; Maraschi, L.

doi:10.1086/505964

Cited by 102 publications

(162 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…The high linear polarization (item 4) leads to the conclusion that the optical emission is synchrotron light (Röser & Meisenheimer 1991), and the similarity of the radio and optical polarization indicated that the radio and optical synchrotron emission are due to the same electron population (Röser et al 1996). Remarkably, if the X-ray emission could be shown to be of the same origin as most, and not just some, of the optical emission (compare Jester et al 2002), the fact that the optical emission is synchrotron would imply that the X-ray emission is synchrotron, too; this might be expected from the similarity of the optical and X-ray morphology (item 6 above) and is very strongly supported by the analysis of Spitzer mid-infrared observations by Uchiyama et al (2006). The clarification of this issue requires the analysis of further mid-infrared (Spitzer) and ultraviolet (HST ) data.…”

Section: Discussion: Implications Of the New Seds For The X-ray Emissmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…There would still be velocity and hence beaming differences between the two zones, but they would not have to be as extreme as in the two-zone IC-CMB models, and therefore one might hope to obtain better-constrained parameters for the two zones and hence falsifiable predictions of this model. An X-ray polarimeter would enable significant progress to be made regarding this question; also, the mid-infrared wavelength region that has now been made accessible by the Spitzer Space Telescope will be of great importance, as shown by the analysis of this jet's midinfrared emission by Uchiyama et al (2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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NewChandraObservations of the Jet in 3C 273. I. Softer X‐Ray than Radio Spectra and the X‐Ray Emission Mechanism

Jester

Harris

Marshall

et al. 2006

ApJ

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The jet in 3C 273 is a high-power quasar jet with radio, optical, and X-ray emission, whose size and brightness allow a detailed study of the emission processes acting in it. We present deep Chandra observations of this jet and analyze the spectral properties of the jet emission from radio through X-rays. We find that the X-ray spectra are significantly softer than the radio spectra in all regions of the bright part of the jet, except for the first bright ''knot A,'' ruling out a model in which the X-ray emission from the entire jet arises from beamed inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons in a single-zone jet flow. Within two-zone jet models, we find that a synchrotron origin for the jet's X-rays requires fewer additional assumptions than an inverse Compton model, especially if velocity shear leads to efficient particle acceleration in jet flows.

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Section: Discussion: Implications Of the New Seds For The X-ray Emissmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

NewChandraObservations of the Jet in 3C 273. I. Softer X‐Ray than Radio Spectra and the X‐Ray Emission Mechanism

Jester

Harris

Marshall

et al. 2006

ApJ

Self Cite

124

167

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“…The jet remains collimated in all wavebands from radio to X-rays, although it extends to kpc scales. This allows a detailed study of the physical properties of the AGN starting from regions close to the supermassive black hole (SMBH) to the outer jet regions (Uchiyama et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the nature of the broadband variability in the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 273

Chidiac

Rani

Krichbaum

et al. 2016

A&A

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The detailed investigation of the broadband flux variability in the blazar 3C 273 allowed us to probe the location and size of emission regions and their physical conditions. We conducted correlation studies of the flaring activity in 3C 273, which was observed for the period between 2008 and 2012. The observed broadband variations were investigated using the structure function and the discrete correlation function methods. Starting from the commonly used power spectral density (PSD) analysis at X-ray frequencies, we extended our investigation to characterise the nature of variability at radio, optical, and γ-ray frequencies. The PSD analysis showed that the optical and infrared light-curve slopes are consistent with the slope of white-noise processes, while the PSD slopes at radio, X-ray, and γ-ray energies are consistent with red-noise processes. We found that the estimated fractional variability amplitudes strongly depend on the observed frequency. The flux variations at γ-ray and mm-radio bands are found to be significantly correlated. Using the estimated time lag of (110 ± 27) days between γ-ray and radio light-curves, where γ-ray variations lead the radio bands, we constrained the location of the γ-ray emission region at a de-projected distance of 1.2 ± 0.9 pc from the jet apex. Flux variations at X-ray bands were found to have a significant correlation with variations at both radio and γ-ray energies. The correlation between X-ray and γ-ray light curves indicates two possible time lags, which suggests that two components are responsible for the X-ray emission. A negative time lag of −(50 ± 20) days, where the X-rays are leading the emission, suggests that X-rays are emitted closer to the jet apex from a compact region (0.02-0.05 pc in size), most likely from the corona at a distance of (0.5 ± 0.4) pc from the jet apex. A positive time lag of (110 ± 20) days (γ-rays are leading the emission) suggests a jet-base origin of the other X-ray component at ∼4 to 5 pc from the jet apex. The flux variations at radio frequencies were found to be well correlated with each other such that the variations at higher frequencies are leading the lower frequencies, which is expected from the standard shock-in-jet model.

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“…It has been noted that such an electron population can arise due to the continuous and efficient stochastic acceleration processes expected to take place within the extended jet volumes (Stawarz et al 2004), and will be seen preferentially within turbulent jet boundary layers with significant velocity shear (Stawarz & Ostrowski 2002). A very strong support for the synchrotron hypothesis was recently provided by detailed multiwavelength observations of the jet in the quasar 3C 273 (Jester et al 2006, 2007, Uchiyama et al 2006). The observations showed in particular that the X-ray spectra are significantly softer than the radio spectra in most regions of the 3C 273 outflow, and that they are compatible with extrapolating the X-ray power law down to the polarized (and therefore synchrotron in origin) UV/optical continuum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Chandra Reveals Twin X-ray Jets in the Powerful FR II Radio Galaxy 3C 353

Kataoka

2008

AIP Conference Proceedings

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We report X-ray imaging of the powerful FR II radio galaxy 3C 353 using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. 3C 353's two 4 ′′ -wide and 2 ′ -long jets allow us to study in detail the internal structure of the large-scale relativistic outflows at both radio and X-ray photon energies with the sub-arcsecond spatial resolution provided by the VLA and Chandra instruments. In a 90 ks Chandra observation, we have detected X-ray emission from most radio structures in 3C 353, including the nucleus, the jet and the counterjet, the terminal jet regions (hotspots), and one radio lobe. We show that the detection of the X-ray emission associated with the radio knots and counterknots, which is most likely non-thermal in origin, puts several crucial constraints on the X-ray emission mechanisms in powerful large-scale jets of quasars and FR II sources. In particular, we show that this detection is inconsistent with the inverse-Compton model proposed in the literature, and instead implies a synchrotron origin of the X-ray jet photons. We also find that the width of the X-ray counterjet is possibly narrower than that measured in radio bands, that the radio-to-X-ray flux ratio decreases systematically downstream along the jets, and that there are substantial (kpc-scale) offsets between the positions of the X-ray and radio intensity maxima within each knot, whose magnitudes increase away from the nucleus. We discuss all these findings in the wider context of the physics of extragalactic jets, proposing some particular though not definitive solutions or interpretations for each problem. In general, we find that the synchrotron X-ray emission of extragalactic large-scale jets is not only shaped by the global hydrodynamical configuration of the outflows, but is also likely to be very sensitive to the microscopic parameters of the jet plasma. A complete, self-consistent model for the X-ray emission of extragalactic jets still remains elusive.

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Shedding New Light on the 3C 273 Jet with theSpitzer Space Telescope

Cited by 102 publications

References 62 publications

NewChandraObservations of the Jet in 3C 273. I. Softer X‐Ray than Radio Spectra and the X‐Ray Emission Mechanism

NewChandraObservations of the Jet in 3C 273. I. Softer X‐Ray than Radio Spectra and the X‐Ray Emission Mechanism

Exploring the nature of the broadband variability in the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 273

Chandra Reveals Twin X-ray Jets in the Powerful FR II Radio Galaxy 3C 353

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