X-Ray Emitting GHz-Peaked Spectrum Galaxies: Testing a Dynamical-Radiative Model with Broad-Band Spectra
In a dynamical-radiative model we recently developed to describe the physics of compact, GHz-Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) sources, the relativistic jets propagate across the inner, kpc-sized region of the host galaxy, while the electron population of the expanding lobes evolves and emits synchrotron and inverse-Compton (IC) radiation. Interstellar-medium gas clouds engulfed by the expanding lobes, and photoionized by the active nucleus, are responsible for the radio spectral turnover through free-free absorption (FFA) of the synchrotron photons. The model provides a description of the evolution of the GPS spectral energy distribution (SED) with the source expansion, predicting significant and complex high-energy emission, from the X-ray to the {gamma}-ray frequency domain. Here, we test this model with the broad-band SEDs of a sample of eleven X-ray emitting GPS galaxies with Compact-Symmetric-Object (CSO) morphology, and show that: (i) the shape of the radio continuum at frequencies lower than the spectral turnover is indeed well accounted for by the FFA mechanism; (ii) the observed X-ray spectra can be interpreted as non-thermal radiation produced via IC scattering of the local radiation fields off the lobe particles, providing a viable alternative to the thermal, accretion-disk dominated scenario. We also show that the relation between the hydrogen column densities derived from the X-ray (N{sub H}) and radio (N{sub HI}) data of the sources is suggestive of a positive correlation, which, if confirmed by future observations, would provide further support to our scenario of high-energy emitting lobes.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 981696
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-PUB-14051; ASJOAB; arXiv:0910.3611; TRN: US1003859
- Journal Information:
- Astrophys.J.715:1071-1093,2010, Vol. 715, Issue 2; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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