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Radio jet propagation and wide-angle tailed radio sources in merging galaxy cluster environmentsThe intracluster medium (ICM) within merging clusters of galaxies is likely to be in a violent or turbulent dynamical state which may have a significant effect on the evolution of cluster radio sources. We present results from a recent gas + N-body simulation of a cluster merger, suggesting that mergers can result in long-lived, supersonic bulk flows, as well as shocks, within a few hundred kiloparsecs of the core of the dominant cluster. These results have motivated our new two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations of jet propagation in such environments. The first set of simulations models the ISM/ICM transition as a contact discontinuity with a strong velocity shear. A supersonic (M(sub j) = 6) jet crossing this discontinuity into an ICM with a transverse, supersonic wind bends continuously, becomes 'naked' on the upwind side, and forms a distended cocoon on the downwind side. In the case of a mildly supersonic jet (M(sub j) = 3), however, a shock is driven into the ISM and ISM material is pulled along with the jet into the ICM. Instabilities excited at the ISM/ICM interface result in the jet repeatedly pinching off and reestablishing itself in a series of 'disconnection events.' The second set of simulations deals with a jet encountering a shock in the merging cluster environment. A series of relatively high-resolution two-dimensional calculations is used to confirm earlier analysis predicting that the jet will not disrupt when the jet Mach number is greater than the shock Mach number. A jet which survives the encounter with the shock will decrease in radius and disrupt shortly thereafter as a result of the growth of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. We also find, in disagreement with predictions, that the jet flaring angle decreases with increasing jet density. Finally, a three-dimensional simulation of a jet crossing an oblique shock gives rise to a morphology which resembles a wide-angle tailed radio source with the jet flaring at the shock and disrupting to form a long, turbulent tail which is dragged downstream by the preshock wind.
Document ID
19950060448
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Loken, Chris
(New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM, United States)
Roettiger, Kurt
(New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM, United States)
Burns, Jack O.
(New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM, United States)
Norman, Michael
(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL United States)
Date Acquired
August 17, 2013
Publication Date
May 20, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: The Astrophysical Journal, Part 1
Volume: 445
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
95A92047
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF AST-90-12353
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-3152
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF AST-93-17596
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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