The Low-Power Nucleus of PKS 1246-410 in the Centaurus Cluster

Journal Article · Fri Oct 21 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

OSTI ID:878041

Taylor, G B; Sanders, J S; Fabian, A C; Allen, S W

We present Chandra, Very Large Array (VLA), and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the nucleus of NGC 4696, a giant elliptical in the Centaurus cluster of galaxies. Like M87 in the Virgo cluster, PKS 1246-410 in the Centaurus cluster is a nearby example of a radio galaxy in a dense cluster environment. In analyzing the new X-ray data we have found a compact X-ray feature coincident with the optical and radio core. While nuclear emission from the X-ray source is expected, its luminosity is low, < 10{sup 40} erg s{sup -1}. We estimate the Bondi accretion radius to be 30 pc and the accretion rate to be 0.01 M{sub {circle_dot}} y{sup -1} which under the canonical radiative efficiency of 10% would overproduce by 3.5 orders of magnitude the radiative luminosity. Much of this energy can be directed into the kinetic energy of the jet, which over time inflates the observed cavities seen in the thermal gas. The VLBA observations reveal a weak nucleus and a broad, one-sided jet extending over 25 parsecs in position angle -150 degrees. This jet is deflected on the kpc-scale to a more east-west orientation (position angle of -80 degrees).

• Research Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 878041
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB-11541; astro-ph/0510247
• Journal Information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 365; ISSN MNRAA4; ISSN 0035-8711
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
Astrophysics
ASTRO
CAVITIES
EFFICIENCY
GALAXIES
KINETIC ENERGY
LUMINOSITY
ORIENTATION
X-RAY SOURCES