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Session 22 - Radio - Loud AGN & Extragalactic Jets.
Display session, Wednesday, January 07
Exhibit Hall,

[22.02] Interaction Between Jets and the ISM in Luminous Radio Galaxies and Quasars.

R. Gelderman (Western Kentucky Univ.)

Longslit spectroscopy and WFPC2 images of the NLR in the compact steep-spectrum quasar and radio galaxies 3C 48, 3C 303.1, and PKS 1345+125 provide evidence for the earliest stages of AGN evolution. Our investigation finds that major ongoing galactic mergers in addition to strong interactions between the radio jets and the ambient gas are both important in the formation of compact steep-spectrum radio sources. Pure emission-line images obtained with WFPC2 and spatially resolved longslit KPNO 4m spectroscopy allow us to isolate distinct components and calculate the physical properties of the ionized gas. The optically derived properties of the NLR are compared to the physical properties of the jets, derived from published interferometric radio images, assuming minimum energy conditions. We present evidence of the radio jet's acceleration and probable excitation of the NLR gas, as well as evidence for the youth of the radio source.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gelderman@wku.edu

Program listing for Wednesday