Interaction of radio jets with clouds in the ambient medium: Numerical simulations

TL;DR

This paper uses hydrodynamical simulations to study how radio jets interact with clouds in the host galaxy's ambient medium, revealing effects on jet morphology and cloud material redistribution that may explain observed outflows.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed hydrodynamical simulations of jet-cloud interactions considering clouds of various sizes and speeds, highlighting their impact on jet morphology and outflow velocities.

Findings

Slow clouds temporarily stop jets during crossing.

Fast clouds allow jets to maintain their morphology.

Cloud erosion redistributes material over large distances.

Abstract

Hydrodynamical simulations of jets interacting with clouds moving in the ambient medium of the host galaxy are presented. Clouds with sizes of the order of the jet diameter and smaller, crossing the path of the jet with different speeds are considered. In the case of slow moving clouds the jet is stopped over the brief period of time taken by the cloud to cross the jet. The jet maintains its general morphology in the case of fast moving clouds. Erosion of the clouds leads to redistribution of cloud material to large distances. Such interaction may explain the large outflow velocities observed from pc to kpc scales in the compact radio sources.