Chandra observations of the radio jets in a sample of quasars

Sambruna, R. M.; Maraschi, L.; Tavecchio, F.; Urry, C. M.; Cheung, C. C.; Chartas, G.; Scarpa, R.; Reitz, J. K.
Bibliographical reference

American Astronomical Society, 199th AAS Meeting, #138.17; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 33, p.1516

Advertised on:
12
2001
Number of authors
8
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We present the results from an X-ray and optical survey of a sample of radio jets in AGN with Chandra and HST. We focus on the first six sources observed at X-rays, in four of which a bright X-ray jet was detected for the first time. In three out of four cases optical emission from the jet is also detected in the HST images. We compare the X-ray morphology with the radio as derived from improved processing of archival VLA data and construct spectral energy distributions (SED) for the most conspicuous emission knots. In most cases the SEDs together with the similarity of the X-ray and radio morphologies favor an inverse Compton origin of the X-rays. Our results show that at the sensitivity and resolution of Chandra and HST, X-ray and optical emission is commonly detected yielding essential information on the physics of relativistic jets. This work is supported by NASA grant GO1-2110A.