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S. J. Wagner (LSW), H. Krawczynski (Yale)
Hot spots of radio sources highlight sites of large radiative losses, most likely caused by jets impinging on dense targets in their intergalactic environment. Observations at high photon energies trace locations of particle acceleration since radiative loss times are very short. Previous indications of X-ray emission from the northern hot spot of 3C390.3 prompted deep optical studies as well as reanalysis of ROSAT-HRI observations and new Chandra ACIS observations of 3C390.3 and its hot spots.
We report the detection of optical and X-ray emission from the northern and southern hot spots. Optical polarization confirms the synchrotron nature of the radiation emitted at the location of the radio hot spots. Spectral indices are determined from broad-band imaging in the optical and near-IR regimes and from low-resolution spectroscopy. The optical emission is spatially extended and differs in morphology from the radio maps. In addition, deep ROSAT HRI observations reveal two sources in the southern lobe, one of which being spatially coincident with the southern hot spot. Chandra observations spatially resolve X-ray emission in both hot spots. The overall morphology of the two hot spots are similar in the X-ray and radio regimes, but spectral radio - X-ray spectral indices vary significantly throughout both hot spots.
The SED can be constrained throughout both hot spot regions using the spatially resolved maps of radio spectral indices, optical colours, and X-ray hardness ratios. We discuss the spatial distribution of high energy emission in terms of particle acceleration mechanisms throughout the terminal regions of the jets. Variations of spectral indices are used to study electron diffusion and radiative losses in these environments.\\
In addition we will briefly discuss X-ray results related to the central source, 3C 390.3.\\\\
This research has been supported by the DFG (SFB 439) and DLR (DARA:500R96186).\\\\
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: swagner@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de