Suzaku measurement of electron and magnetic energy densities in the east lobe of the giant radio galaxy DA 240

TL;DR

This study used Suzaku X-ray observations to measure electron and magnetic energy densities in the east lobe of the giant radio galaxy DA 240, revealing equipartition and very low energy densities, which inform galaxy evolution models.

Contribution

First detailed measurement of energy densities in DA 240's lobes using Suzaku, showing equipartition and low energy densities among giant radio galaxies.

Findings

Diffuse X-ray emission consistent with inverse Compton scattering.

Energy densities indicate near-equipartition between electrons and magnetic fields.

Giant radio galaxy lobes have the lowest electron energy densities among X-ray detected lobes.

Abstract

A careful analysis of the Suzaku data of the giant radio galaxy DA 240, of which the size is 1.48 Mpc, revealed diffuse X-ray emission associated with its east lobe. The diffuse X-ray spectrum was described with a simple power-law model with a photon index of 1.92 (-0.17+0.13) (-0.06+0.04), where the first and second errors represent the statistical and systematic ones. The agreement with the synchrotron radio photon index, 1.95 +- 0.01 in 326 -- 608.5 MHz, ensures that the excess X-ray emission is attributed to the inverse Compton emission from the synchrotron-radiating electrons, boosting up the cosmic microwave background photons. From the X-ray flux density, 51.5 +-3.9 (-5.4+6.2) nJy at 1 keV derived with the photon index fixed at the radio index, in comparison with the synchrotron radio intensity of 10.30 +- 0.12 Jy at 326 MHz, the magnetic and electron energy densities was estimated as u_m = (3.0 +-0.2 +-0.4) \times 10^(-14) ergs/cm3 and u_e = (3.4 (-0.2+0.3) (-0.4+0.5)) \times 10^(-14) ergs/cm3 integrated over the electron Lorentz factor of 10^3 -- 10^5, respectively. Thus, the east lobe is found to reside in an equipartition condition between the electrons and magnetic field parametrized as u_e/u_m = 1.1 (-0.1+0.2) (-0.2+0.4). The east lobe of DA 240 is indicated to exhibit the lowest value of u_e, among all the X-ray detected lobes of radio galaxies. A comparison of the energetics in the giant radio galaxies with a size of about 1 Mpc to those in the smaller objects suggests a possibility that radio galaxies lose their jet power, as they evolve from 100 kpc to 1 Mpc.