The Jet of 3C 17 and the Use of Jet Curvature as a Diagnostic of the X-ray Emission Process

TL;DR

This paper analyzes Chandra X-ray observations of the 3C 17 radio jet, comparing multi-wavelength data to evaluate models of high-energy emission and exploring jet curvature as a diagnostic tool for X-ray emission mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides the first X-ray detection of knots in 3C 17's jet, derives their spectral energy distributions, and discusses jet curvature's role in identifying emission processes.

Findings

X-ray detections of two jet knots with optical counterparts

Both IC/CMB and synchrotron models can explain the X-ray emission

Discussion on using jet curvature to diagnose X-ray emission mechanisms

Abstract

We report on the X-ray emission from the radio jet of 3C 17 from Chandra observations and compare the X-ray emission with radio maps from the VLA archive and with the optical-IR archival images from the Hubble Space Telescope. X-ray detections of two knots in the 3C 17 jet are found and both of these features have optical counterparts. We derive the spectral energy distribution for the knots in the jet and give source parameters required for the various X-ray emission models, finding that both IC/CMB and synchrotron are viable to explain the high energy emission. A curious optical feature (with no radio or X-ray counterparts) possibly associated with the 3C 17 jet is described. We also discuss the use of curved jets for the problem of identifying inverse Compton X-ray emission via scattering on CMB photons.