An optical inverse-Compton hotspot in 3C196?

Abstract

Several hotspots of FRII radio sources have previously been detected in the X-ray at a flux level consistent with the X-rays being due to inverse-Compton scattering of radio synchrotron photons (`synchrotron self-Compton'), if the magnetic fields in the hotspots are close to their equipartition values. However, the number of hotspots compact and bright enough to exhibit detectable X-ray emission is small, so it is worth searching for synchrotron self-Compton emission in the optical, in spite of the obvious observational difficulties of such an approach. In this note I report on a possible detection of an optical inverse-Compton hotspot in a deep Hubble Space Telescope observation of the distant quasar 3C196, at a level which implies a hotspot magnetic field strength close to equipartition if the electrons have a low-energy cutoff around gamma ~ 500.

5 pages. Accepted for A&A (research note). Uses A&A class file v 5.0.1 (included)

References in corpus (3)

• Chandra Observations of Cygnus A: Magnetic Field Strengths in the Hot Spots of a Radio Galaxy
• A Chandra detection of the radio hotspot of 3C123
• Cold Gas Kinematics in an L* Spiral Galaxy at z=0.437: The Nature of Damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Revised equipartition & minimum energy formula for magnetic field strength estimates from radio synchrotron observations
• The origins of X-ray emission from the hotspots of FRII radio sources
• Magnetic field strengths in the hotspots and lobes of three powerful FRII radio sources
• AGN Jet Kinetic Power and the Energy Budget of Radio Galaxy Lobes
• The Electron Energy Distribution in the Hotspots of Cygnus A: Filling the Gap with the Spitzer Space Telescope
• Testing the beamed inverse-Compton model for jet X-ray emission: velocity structure and deceleration?
• RAiSE III: 3C radio AGN energetics and composition
• Chandra discovery of extended non-thermal emission in 3C 207 and the spectrum of the relativistic electrons
• In-Situ Particle Acceleration in Extragalactic Radio Hot Spots: Observations Meet Expectations
• A Multi-Wavelength Study of the High Surface Brightness Hotspot in PKS1421-490
• The properties of powerful radio sources at 90 GHz
• SZ effect from radio-galaxy lobes: astrophysical and cosmological relevance
• Brightness suppression of relativistic radio jets of quasars: The role of the lower electron energy cut-off
• The jet of the BL Lac object PKS 0521 -365 in the near-IR : MAD adaptive optics observations
• Jet-Intracluster Medium interaction in Hydra A. I Estimates of jet velocity from inner knots
• On the significance of relativistically hot pairs in the jets of FR II radio galaxies