Observability of intermittent radio sources in galaxy groups and clusters

TL;DR

This study uses hydrodynamic simulations to explore how environment and intermittency influence the morphology, dynamics, and observability of radio jets from active galactic nuclei in galaxy groups and clusters.

Contribution

It demonstrates the significant impact of environment and jet intermittency on the observable properties and morphology of radio jets, providing insights into their detectability and evolution.

Findings

Environment significantly affects jet morphology and dynamics.

Intermittent jets produce multiple hotspots in cluster environments.

Detectability of jets varies with environment and activity phase.

Abstract

We have carried out numerical hydrodynamic simulations of radio jets from active galactic nuclei using the PLUTO simulation code, with the aim of investigating the effect of different environments and intermittency of energy injection on the resulting dynamics and observable properties of the jet-inflated lobes. Initially conical jets are simulated in poor group and cluster environments. We show that the environment into which a radio jet is propagating plays a large role in the resulting morphology, dynamics and observable properties of the radio source. The same jet collimates much later in a poor group compared to a cluster, which leads to pronounced differences in radio morphology. The intermittency of the jet also affects the observable properties of the radio source, and multiple hotspots are present for multiple outburst jets in the cluster environment. We quantify the detectability of active and quiescent phases, and find this to be strongly environment-dependent. We conclude that the dynamics and observational properties of jets depend strongly on the details of energy injection and environment.