Principal Investigator

C J Saxton Astronomy, RSAA, ANU

Project Title

Filamentary Structure in the Lobes of Radio Galaxies

Brief Description for General Publications

Radio observations of Pictor A and Hercules A have revealed intriguing structures that we believe represent the effects of complex shock structures in jets and the surrounding cocoon. From what we have done so far, it is clear that this structure is both density and Mach number dependent, giving us an opportunity to estimate these parameters in a completely different way from methods previously used. Our approach in extending jet simulations down to a density ratio of 1e-4 is new and charts previously unexplored regions of parameter space. We trace and distinguish the distributions and fates of matter originating in the jet and in the ambient medium of thermal gas. We use hydrodynamic data output to generate ray-traced images simulating synchrotron emissions from the three-dimensional structures. We compare these images with astronomical observations, and we study the temporal evolution of ephemeral features in detail.