Radiation from matter entrainment in astrophysical jets: the AGN case

TL;DR

This paper investigates how matter entrainment and jet interactions in active galactic nuclei produce high-energy radiation, potentially detectable by gamma-ray telescopes, highlighting a mechanism for high-energy emission in astrophysical jets.

Contribution

It analyzes the dynamical and radiative effects of jet-medium interactions in AGNs, emphasizing the role of jet-clump interactions in high-energy photon production.

Findings

High-energy emission from jet-clump interactions could be detectable.

Jet interactions can produce steady or flaring high-energy emission.

The mechanism applies to various astrophysical sources with jets.

Abstract

Jets are found in a variety of astrophysical sources, from young stellar objects to active galactic nuclei. In all the cases the jet propagates with a supersonic velocity through the external medium, which can be inhomogeneous, and inhomogeneities could penetrate into the jet. The interaction of the jet material with an obstacle produces a bow shock in the jet in which particles can be accelerated up to relativistic energies and emit high-energy photons. In this work, we explore the active galactic nuclei scenario, focusing on the dynamical and radiative consequences of the interaction at different jet heights. We find that the produced high-energy emission could be detectable by the current gamma-ray telescopes. In general, the jet-clump interactions are a possible mechanism to produce (steady or flaring) high-energy emission in many astrophysical sources in which jets are present.