The Knotty Question of the Jet of PKS B1421-490

Abstract

We report the discovery of unusually strong optical and X-ray emission associated with a knot in the radio jet of PKS B1421-490. The knot is the brightest feature observed beyond the radio band, with knot/core flux ratios \~300 and 3.7 at optical and X-ray frequencies. We interpret the extreme optical output of the knot as synchrotron emission. The nature of the X-ray emission is unclear. We consider a second synchrotron component, inverse Compton emission from a relativistic, decelerating jet, and the possibility that this feature is a chance superposition of an unusual BL Lac object.

arXiv comment4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to Astrophysical Journal Letters. Related materials and a higher resolution version of figure 1 may be obtained from our quasar jet survey page at http://space.mit.edu/home/jonathan/jets/

References in corpus (17)

• Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
• The USNO-B Catalog
• Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Quasar Sample
• The X-Ray Jet of PKS 0637-752: Inverse Compton Radiation from the Cosmic Microwave Background ?
• The resolved fraction of the Cosmic X-ray Background
• Large scale jets in AGN: multiwavelength mapping
• A Catalog of Spectroscopically Identified White Dwarf Stars in the First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• A High Resolution X-ray Image of the Jet in M 87
• X-ray Emission Processes in Radio Jets
• A Chandra Survey of Quasar Jets: First Results
• The Properties of the X-Ray-Selected EMSS Sample of BL Lac Objects
• Flaring X-ray Emission from HST-1, a Knot in the M87 Jet
• The Deep X-ray Radio Blazar Survey (DXRBS). II. New Identifications
• Relativistic and slowing down: the flow in the hotspots of powerful radio galaxies and quasars
• The Southern Proper Motion Program III. A Near-Complete Catalog to V=17.5
• 2QZJ215454.3-305654: a radio-quiet BL Lac object or lineless QSO?
• A Multiwavelength Study of the Extreme AGN J2310-437

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Large Scale Extragalactic Jets in the Chandra era I: data reduction and analysis
• An X-ray Imaging Survey of Quasar Jets -- Testing the Inverse Compton Model
• A Multi-Wavelength Study of the High Surface Brightness Hotspot in PKS1421-490
• X-ray Radiation Mechanisms and Beaming Effect of Hot Spots and Knots in Active Galactic Nuclear Jets
• Deep Multiwaveband Observations of the Jets of 0208-512 and 1202-262
• Examining High Energy Radiation Mechanisms of Knots and Hotspots in Active Galactic Nucleus Jets
• Offsets between X-ray and Radio Components in X-ray Jets: The AtlasX
• A Multi-Wavelength Study of the Jet, Lobes and Core of the Quasar PKS 2101-490
• Powerful Radio Sources in the Southern Sky. I. Optical Identifications