Kiloparsec-scale Jets: Physics, Emission Mechanisms, and Challenges

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2019-03-08

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Eric S. Perlman, et.al, Kiloparsec-scale Jets: Physics, Emission Mechanisms, and Challenges, Astrophysics, Astrophysics of Galaxies, https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1903/1903.03657.pdf

Rights

This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Public Domain Mark 1.0
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.

Subjects

Abstract

Jets are a ubiquitous part of the accretion process, created in AGN, by a coupling between the magnetic field near the central black hole and inflowing material. We point out what advances can be achieved by new technologies, concentrating on kiloparsec scales, beyond the Bondi radius, where accretion stops. Here, jets profoundly influence their host galaxy and the surrounding clusters and groups, transporting prodigious amounts of matter and energies to scales of hundreds of kpc. Basic questions still remain regarding jet physics, which new instruments can advance greatly. The ngVLA, LOFAR, JWST and LUVOIR, as well as a Chandra successor, will give higher angular resolution and sensitivity. This will allow us to probe the emission mechanisms and dynamics of jets, and search for links between these areas, magnetic fields, particle acceleration and high-energy emission mechanisms. We stress the need for polarimetry in the X-ray and optical, critical to many of the most important questions in jet physics. We hope to directly probe resolved, flaring components, which for the first time will allow us to reveal how jets respond to stimuli and link statics and dynamics.