Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-10-09
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.365:705-711,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Accepted to MNRAS, 25 pages, 10 figures
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09705.x
We present Chandra, Very Large Array (VLA), and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the nucleus of NGC 4696, a giant elliptical in the Centaurus cluster of galaxies. Like M87 in the Virgo cluster, PKS 1246-410 in the Centaurus cluster is a nearby example of a radio galaxy in a dense cluster environment. In analyzing the new X-ray data we have found a compact X-ray feature coincident with the optical and radio core. While nuclear emission from the X-ray source is expected, its luminosity is low, <10^{40} erg/s. We estimate the Bondi accretion radius to be 30 pc and the accretion rate to be 0.01 M_sun/yr which under the canonical radiative efficiency of 10% would overproduce by 3.5 orders of magnitude the radiative luminosity. Much of this energy can be directed into the kinetic energy of the jet, which over time inflates the observed cavities seen in the thermal gas. The VLBA observations reveal a weak nucleus and a broad, one-sided jet extending over 25 parsecs in position angle -150 degrees. This jet is deflected on the kpc-scale to a more east-west orientation (position angle of -80 degrees).
Allen Steven W.
Fabian Andrea C.
Sanders Jeffrey S.
Taylor Greg B.
No associations
LandOfFree
The low-power nucleus of PKS 1246-410 in the Centaurus Cluster does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The low-power nucleus of PKS 1246-410 in the Centaurus Cluster, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The low-power nucleus of PKS 1246-410 in the Centaurus Cluster will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-146608