X-Ray Spectral Analysis of the Jet Termination Shock in Pictor A on Subarcsecond Scales with Chandra

Abstract

Abstract Hot spots observed at the edges of extended radio lobes in high-power radio galaxies and quasars mark the position of mildly relativistic termination shock, where the jet bulk kinetic energy is converted to the internal energy of the jet particles. These are the only astrophysical systems where mildly relativistic shocks can be directly resolved at various wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. The western hot spot in the radio galaxy Pictor A is an exceptionally good target in this respect, due to the combination of its angular size and high surface brightness. In our previous work, after a careful Chandra image deconvolution, we resolved this hot spot into a disk-like feature perpendicular to the jet axis, and identified it as the front of the jet termination shock. We argued for a synchrotron origin of the observed X-ray photons, which implied electron energies reaching at least 10–100 TeV at the shock front. Here, we present a follow-up on that analysis, proposing, in particular, a novel method for constraining the shape of the X-ray continuum emission with subarcsecond resolution. The method is based on a Chandra hardness map analysis, using separately deconvolved maps in the soft and hard X-ray bands. In this way, we have found there is a systematic, yet statistically significant gradient in the hardness ratio across the shock, such that the implied electron energy index ranges from s ≤ 2.2 at the shock front to s > 2.7 in the near downstream. We discuss the implications of the obtained results for a general understanding of particle acceleration at mildly relativistic shocks.