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A. S. Wilson, P. L. Shopbell, A. Young (University of Maryland)
The first results from a study of bright radio and Seyfert galaxies with Chandra will be presented. We have discovered a 2 arc min (110 kpc) long X-ray emitting jet in the powerful FRII-type radio galaxy Pictor A. The previously known X-ray emitting hot spot (associated with the radio hot spot at the putative jet terminus some 240 kpc from the nucleus) has also been imaged and found to have a morphology very similar to that found in the radio and optical. The hot spot emission in the latter two wavebands is known to be synchrotron radiation, but its spectrum appears to turn down in the optical, so the X-ray emission is not a simple continuation of the synchrotron continuum to higher frequencies. Thermal models for the hot spot X-ray emission are ruled out by the Chandra spectrum and the required gas density. Synchrotron self-Compton or synchrotron (from a separate population to the radio and optical-emitting electrons) radiation are the preferred X-ray emitting processes. Results for the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068 may also be presented. This research was supported by NASA grant NAG81027.