Evidence for Highly Relativistic Velocities in the Kiloparsec-Scale Jet of the Quasar 3C\,345

TL;DR

This study uses radio polarimetric data of quasar 3C 345's jet to demonstrate that the jet moves at highly relativistic speeds, revealing insights into magnetic field structure and jet dynamics on kiloparsec scales.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence that kiloparsec-scale jets can have relativistic velocities, supported by polarization modeling and magnetic field analysis.

Findings

Jet exhibits highly relativistic speeds (β ≥ 0.95).

Doppler boosting explains twisted electric vector patterns.

Model aligns with observed jet properties and X-ray emission models.

Abstract

In this paper we use radio polarimetric observations of the jet of the nearby bright quasar 3C\,345 to estimate the fluid velocity on kiloparsec scales. The jet is highly polarized, and surprisingly, the electric vector position angles in the jet are ``twisted'' with respect to the jet axis. Simple models of magnetized jets are investigated in order to study various possible origins of the electric vector distribution. In a cylindrically-symmetric transparent jet a helical magnetic field will appear either transverse or longitudinal due to partial cancellations of Stokes parameters between the front and back of the jet. Synchrotron opacity can break the symmetry, but it leads to fractional polarization less than that observed, and to strong frequency dependence that is not seen. Modeling shows that differential Doppler boosting in a diverging jet can break the symmetry, allowing a helical magnetic field to produce a twisted electric vector pattern. Constraints on the jet inclination, magnetic field properties, intrinsic opening angle, and fluid velocities are obtained, and show that highly relativistic speeds ($\beta \ga 0.95$) are required. This is consistent with the observed jet opening angle, with the absence of a counter-jet, with the polarization of the knots at the end of the jet, and with some inverse-Compton models for the X-ray emission from the 3C\,345 jet. This model can also apply on parsec scales and may help explain those sources where the electric vector position angles in the jet are neither parallel nor transverse to the jet axis.