Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-10-27
Astrophys.J.653:L5-L8,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
ApJ Letters, in press
Scientific paper
10.1086/510452
The process responsible for the Chandra-detected X-ray emission from the large scale jets of powerful quasars is a matter of ongoing debate. The two main contenders are external Compton (EC) scattering off the cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons (EC/CMB) and synchrotron emission from a population of electrons separate from those producing the radio - IR emission. So far, no clear diagnostics have been presented to distinguish which of the two, if any, is the actual X-ray emission mechanism. Here we present such diagnostics based on a fundamental difference between these two models: the production of synchrotron X-rays requires multi - TeV electrons, while the EC/CMB model requires a cutoff in the electron energy distribution (EED) below TeV energies. This has significant implications for the gamma-ray emission predicted by these two models, that can be tested through GeV and TeV observations of the nearby bright quasar 3C 273. We show how existing and future GeV and TeV observations can confirm or refute one or both of the above hypotheses.
Georganopoulos Markos
Kazanas Demosthenes
Mcenery Julie
Perlman Eric Steven
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