Intermittent jet activity in the radio galaxy 4C29.30?
Abstract
We present radio observations at frequencies ranging from 240 to 8460MHz of the radio galaxy 4C29.30 (J0840+2949) using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Effelsberg telescope. We report the existence of weak extended emission with an angular size of ~520arcsec (639kpc) within which a compact edge-brightened double-lobed source with a size of 29arcsec (36kpc) is embedded. We determine the spectrum of the inner double from 240 to 8460MHz and show that it has a single power-law spectrum with a spectral index of ~0.8. Its spectral age is estimated to be <~33Myr. The extended diffuse emission has a steep spectrum with a spectral index of ~1.3 and a break frequency <~240MHz. The spectral age is >~200Myr, suggesting that the extended diffuse emission is due to an earlier cycle of activity. We re-analyse archival X-ray data from Chandra and suggest that the X-ray emission from the hotspots consists of a mixture of non-thermal and thermal components, the latter being possibly due to gas which is shock heated by the jets from the host galaxy.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- June 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11782.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0703723
- Bibcode:
- 2007MNRAS.378..581J
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: active;
- galaxies: individual: 4C29.30;
- galaxies: nuclei;
- radio continuum: galaxies;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS