[AGN, Quasars, Black Holes -- Oral ]

Centaurus A: Interaction of a Radio Source with its Environment

Paul Nulsen, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
RP Kraft (CfA), D Stark (CfA), JH Croston (Southampton), MJ Hardcastle (Hertfordshire), M Birkinshaw (Bristol), DM Worrall (Bristol), GR Sivakoff (Virginia), A Jordan (Ohio State), NJ Brassington (CfA), DA Evans (MIT), WR Forman (CfA), M Gilfanov (MPE), JL Goodger (Hertfordshire), C Jones (CfA), WE Harris (McMaster), AM Juett (GSFC), SS Murray (CfA), S Raychaudhury (Birmingham), CL Sarazin (Virginia), R Voss (MPE), KA Woodley (McMaster)

Deep Chandra observations have been used to investigate the impact of Centaurus A, the nearest extragalactic radio source, on its environment. The southwest radio lobe drives a shock into the interstellar medium. In low density regions where the shock is strong, X-ray emission from the shocked gas is predominantly synchrotron radiation. The radio jet to the northeast also shows significant X-ray synchrotron emission. A simple flow model for the jet requires significant dissipation within the jet, most likely due to the entrainment of mass lost by stars lying in the path of the jet. Some implications will be discussed.