X-rays associated with the jet-cloud-interacting radio galaxy 3C 277.3 (Coma A): Implications for energy deposition

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9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report the discovery with Chandra of X-ray-emitting gas associated with the jet-cloud interaction in the radio galaxy 3C 277.3 (Coma A), a source that falls in the most important power range for radio-mode feedback in the Universe. This hot gas, heated by the jet, dominates the mass of the cloud which is responsible for an extreme projected deflection of the kpc-scale radio jet. Highly absorbed X-ray emission from the nucleus of 3C 277.3 confirms that the jet lies close to the plane of the sky and so has a large intrinsic deflection. We detect group gas on the scale of the radio lobes, and see X-ray cavities coincident with the brightest radio emission, with the lobes embraced by X-ray enhancements that we argue are the result of shocks. The anti-correlation between the locations of X-ray arms and H$\alpha$-emitting filaments that are believed to have originated from a merger with one or more gas-rich galaxies suggests that shocks advancing around the lobe are inhibited by the dense colder material. Synchrotron X-ray emission is detected from the upstream edge of a second bright radio knot. X-rays are also detected from the location where an undetected counterjet enters the northern radio hotspot. We suggest that these X-rays are synchrotron radiation from a shock in a small-scale substructure.
Original language English 174-183 11 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 458 1 5 Feb 2016 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw277 Published - 1 May 2016

Keywords

• galaxies: active
• galaxies: jets
• galaxies: individual (3C 277.3, Coma A)
• galaxies: ISM
• X-rays: galaxies

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• Research in planetary formation, astrophysics, and cosmology at Bristol

Birkinshaw, M.

1/04/1531/03/18

Project: Research

• Research in planetary physics, astrophysics and cosmology at Bristol

Birkinshaw, M.

1/04/121/04/15

Project: Research