Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1993-06-11
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
29 pages of TEX, 14 figs, CRSR-1046, in ApJ Nov 20, 1993
Scientific paper
10.1086/173371
Some bright cD galaxies in cluster cooling flows have Thomson optical depths exceeding 0.01. A few percent of their luminosity is scattered and appears as diffuse polarized emission. We calculate the scattering process for different geometric combinations of luminosity sources and scattering media. We apply our results to galaxies, with and without active nuclei, immersed in cooling flows. We model observations of NGC 1275 and M87 (without active nuclei) in the presence of sky and galactic background fluxes which hinder the measurement of the scattered light at optical wavelengths. Current instruments are unable to detect the scattered light from such objects. However, when a galaxy has an active nucleus of roughly the same luminosity as the remainder of the galaxy in V, both the total and polarized scattered intensity should observable on large scales (5--30kpc), meaning intensity levels greater than 1% of the background level. For typical AGN and galaxy spectral distributions, the scattering is most easily detected at short (U) wavelengths. We point out that a number of such cases will occur. We show that the radiation pattern from the central nuclear region can be mapped using the scattering. We also show that the scattered light can be used to measure inhomogeneities in the cooling flow.
Chernoff David F.
Murphy Brian William
No associations
LandOfFree
Polarized Scattering in the Vicinty of Galaxies 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 Polarized Scattering in the Vicinty of Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Polarized Scattering in the Vicinty of Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-261016