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J.M. Gelbord, H.L. Marshall (MIT Center for Space Research), D.A. Schwartz (SAO), D.M. Worrall, D. Birkinshaw (U. Bristol & SAO), E.S. Perlman (UMBC), J. Lovell, D. Jauncey (CSIRO), D.W. Murphy, R.A. Preston (JPL)
We are conducting an X-ray survey of flat-spectrum radio quasars selected by extended radio flux. In this poster, we present ground-based optical observations made with the Magellan 6.5m telescope in support of this survey. Our ongoing Magellan program includes both spectroscopic and imaging observations. We use spectra to confirm optical identifications and to measure redshifts of a few sources. Imaging data provide optical fluxes (or flux limits) for the jets, which in turn constrain broad-band models of jet emission. In all but one system optical upper limits imply that X-ray emission is produced by inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background. Such IC-CMB models imply relativistic jets with kinetic powers comparable to the bolometric luminosity of quasar cores.
In one system, PKS 1421-490, we have discovered a unique optically-dominated jet: one jet knot is ~200-300 times brighter than the core in the optical band and 3.5 times brighter in X-rays. Its optical spectrum is featureless, ruling out most possible sources of contamination; a deeper upcoming observation will both improve the S/N of the jet spectrum and allow us to measure the redshift of the core (photometric colors suggest z>2.5). We will discuss this intriguing jet knot in detail.
This work has been supported in part under SAO contracts GO4-5124X and SV1-61010.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #2
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