X-ray thermal emission from the jet of M87 with Chandra

TL;DR

This study analyzes Chandra X-ray data of M87's jet, confirming thermal emission from knot A and characterizing the spectral properties of various jet features with new calibration data.

Contribution

It provides the first confirmation of thermal emission from knot A in M87's jet using updated calibration and spectral modeling techniques.

Findings

Thermal emission confirmed from knot A.

X-ray spectra of nucleus, HST-1, and knot D fit with power law.

Knot A's spectrum requires a combined power law and apec model.

Abstract

With new calibration data, thermal emission from the jet of radio galaxy M87 is studied with about 700 ks archival data with Chandra. For nucleus, HST-1, knot D, X-ray energy spectra is well fitted with a power law. However, For knot A, a power law model is rejected with a high significance and an X-ray energy spectra is well fitted with a combination model of a power law and an apec model of 0.2 keV and a metal abundance 0.00. Thermal emission from knot A is confirmed.