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P.J. Wiita (GSU and Princeton), Gopal-Krishna (NCRA/TIFR, India)
A simple model for radio source dynamics we had earlier proposed can reproduce the Owen-Ledlow relationship, P*R \propto Lopt1.7, between the radio power division separating the two Fanaroff-Riley classes of extragalactic radio sources and the optical luminosity of the host galaxy. In this scenario, once less powerful jets eventually slow down to the point that the advance of the working surface (i.e., hotspot) becomes subsonic with respect to the external gas, the jet's collimation is severely weakened. This criterion, when combined with empirical correlations between optical and X-ray properties of the elliptical galaxy hosts, distinguishes the powerful and well collimated FR II sources from the weaker sources producing the less collimated FR I type morphologies.
This work was supported in part by RPE funds from GSU.