Pictor A (PKS 0518-45) - From Nucleus to Lobes

Abstract

We present radio and optical imaging and kinematic data for the radio galaxy Pictor A, including HST continuum and [OIII], emission-line images (at a resolution of 25 - 100 mas) and ground-based imaging and spectroscopy (at a resolution of ~ 1.5". The radio data include 3 cm Australia Telescope images of the core, at a resolution comparable to that of the optical, ground-based images, and a VLBI image of a jet in the compact core (at a resolution of 2 - 25 mas), which seems to align with a continuum ``jet'' found in the HST images. The core radio jet, the HST optical continuum ``jet'', and the NW H-alpha filaments all appear to point toward the optical-synchrotron hot-spot in the NW lobe of this object and are associated with a disrupted velocity field in the extended ionized gas. The ground-based spectra which cover this trajectory also yield line ratios for the ionized gas which have anomalously low [NII] (6564), suggesting either a complex, clumpy structure in the gas with a higher cloud-covering factor at larger radii and with denser clouds than is found in the nuclear regions of most NLRG and Seyfert 2 galaxies, or some other, unmodeled, mechanism for the emergent spectrum from this region. The H-alpha emission-line filaments to the N appear to be associated with a 3 cm radio continuum knot which lies in a gap in the filaments ~ 4" from the nucleus. Altogether, the data in this paper provide good circumstantial evidence for non-disruptive redirection of a radio jet by interstellar gas clouds in the host galaxy.

19 pages, 6 ps.gz fig pages, to appear in the Ap.J. Suppl

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• Locally Optimally-emitting Clouds and the Narrow Emission Lines in Seyfert Galaxies
• Ultraviolet Diagnostics for the Emission Line Gas in Active Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (13)

• The subarcsecond mid-infrared view of local active galactic nuclei: I. The N- and Q-band imaging atlas
• Chandra X-ray Observations of Pictor A: High Energy Cosmic Rays in a Radio Galaxy?
• The subarcsecond mid-infrared view of local active galactic nuclei: III. Polar dust emission
• The Chandra view of extended X-ray emission from Pictor A
• A high resolution view of the jet termination shock in a hot spot of the nearby radio galaxy Pictor A: implications for X-ray models of radio galaxy hot spots
• The Molonglo Southern 4 Jy sample (MS4). I. Definition
• Discovery of gamma-ray emission from the Broad Line Radio Galaxy Pictor A
• Wide-Field Imaging and Polarimetry for the Biggest and Brightest in the 20GHz Southern Sky
• Optical Detection of the Pictor A Jet and Tidal Tail: Evidence against an IC/CMB jet
• Integral Field Spectroscopy of the circumnuclear region of the Radio Galaxy Pictor A
• Multiwavelength study of radio galaxy Pictor A: detection of western hotspot in far-UV and possible origin of high energy emissions
• Extended Emission Line Gas in Radio Galaxies - PKS0349-27
• Complex Structure of the Eastern Lobe of the Pictor A Radio Galaxy: Spectral Analysis and X-ray/Radio Correlations