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Register a new userCygnus A: A Long Wavelength Resolution of the Hot Spots
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T. J. W. Lazio
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This paper presents observations of Cygnus A at 74 and 327 MHz at angular resolutions of approximately 10 and 3, respectively. These observations are among the highest angular resolutions obtained below 1000 MHz for this object. While the angular resolution at 74 MHz is not sufficient to separate clearly the hot spots from the lobes, guided by 151 and 327 MHz images, we have estimated the 74 MHz emission from the hot spots. We confirm that the emission from both the western and eastern hot spots flattens at low frequencies and that there is a spectral asymmetry between the two. For the eastern hot spot, a low-energy cutoff in the electron energy spectrum appears to explain the flattening, which implies a cutoff Lorentz factor gamma_min ~ 300, though we cannot exclude the possibility that there might be a moderate level of free-free absorption. For the western hot spot, the current observations are not sufficient to distinguish between a free-free absorped power-law spectrum and a synchrotron self-absorbed spectrum.
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The composition of the relativistic plasma produced in active galactic nuclei and ejected via powerful jets into the interstellar/intergalactic medium is still a major unsettled issue. It might be a positron-electron plasma in case the plasma was created by pair production in the intense photon fields near accreting super-massive black holes. Alternatively, it might be an electron-proton plasma in case magnetic fields lift and accelerate the thermal gas of accretion discs into relativistic jets as the recent detection of $gamma$-rays from blazars indicates. Despite various attempts to unambiguously establish the composition of the relativistic jets, this remains a major unknown. Here, we propose a way to settle the question via sensitive measurements of circular polarization (CP) in the radio emission of the hot spots of bright radio galaxies like Cygnus A. The CP of synchrotron emission is determined by the circular motions of the radiating relativistic leptons. In case of charge symmetric energy spectra of a electron-positron plasma, it should be exactly zero. In case of an electron-proton plasma the electrons imprint their gyration onto the CP and we expect the hot spots of Cygnus A to exhibit a fractional CP at a level of $10^{-3},( u/mbox{GHz})^{-{1}/{2}}$, which is challenging to measure, but not completely unfeasible.
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