The role of electron-positron pairs in parsec-scale radio jets

Details The role of electron-positron pairs in parsec-scale radio jets The role of electron-positron pairs in parsec-scale radio jets

Oct 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992mnras.258..776g&link_type=abstract

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 258, no. 4, p. 776-786.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

41

Electron Distribution, Electron-Positron Pairs, Faraday Effect, Radio Jets (Astronomy), Synchrotron Radiation, Active Galactic Nuclei, Compton Effect, Particle Energy, Quasars, Very Long Base Interferometry

Scientific paper

We investigate the hypothesis that the parsec-scale jets observed in extragalactic objects consist of an electron-positron pair plasma outflowing from the compact, X-ray emitting region of the source. Due to annihilation in the innermost regions, there is an upper limit on the number of electron-positron pairs that can reach the parsec-scale jet. On the other hand, there is a lower limit on the density of particles in the jet: their density must be at least equal to that needed to emit the synchrotron radiation we observe. We derive the latter limit by assuming a power-law electron distribution, with a low-energy cut-off. By comparing these two limits, we find that the constituents of parsec-scale jets may be electron-positron pairs produced in the innermost regions only if their minimum energy is greater than approximately 50 MeV. Remarkably, the same limit on the minimum particle energy is found in the case of jets consisting of electrons and protons in order that Faraday depolarization is avoided.

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