The Synchrotron Spectra of Old Radio Galaxies

Details The Synchrotron Spectra of Old Radio Galaxies The Synchrotron Spectra of Old Radio Galaxies

Dec 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...181.4107e&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting, #41.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.1184

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Synchrotron emission requires the presence of relativistic electrons and magnetic fields. It has become conventional to interpret the radio spectra of diffuse souces in terms of a power-law electron spectrum, which has a high-energy break due to radiative aging, and a uniform magnetic field. Such models, however, run into trouble in that they predict the existence of far more bright, steep spectrum sources than are found in surveys. Reaccelerating the electrons by shock or turbulent acceleration, while they radiate, does not necessarily maintain power-law distributions, but will maintain the high-energy cutoff from radiative losses. In addition, a dynamic magnetoplasma must contain a range of magnetic field strengths, due both to small-scale turbulence and to large-scale dynamics. The photon spectra from older radio sources will reflect the distribution of field strengths as well as the particle distrubtion developed by reacceleration in the presence of radiative losses. We will present analytic and numerical solutions for possible radio spectra from such sources. We find that these spectra may resemble the ``synchrotron aging'' spectra predicted by the simple models, but for quite different reasons. It follows, then, that care must be taken when interpreting spectral breaks in terms of source ages and dynamics.

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