Radiation from matter entrainment in astrophysical jets: the AGN case

ARAUDO, ANABELLA TERESA; BOSCH-RAMON, VALENTI; ROMERO, GUSTAVO ESTEBAN

Buenos Aires

Simposio; IAU symposium 275: Jets at all scales; 2010

Jets are found in a variety of astrophysical sources, from young stellar objects to active galactic nuclei. In all the cases the jet propagates with a supersonic velocity throughthe external medium, which can be inhomogeneous, and inhomogeneities could penetrate into the jet. The interaction of the jet material with an obstacle produces a bow shock in the jetin which particles can be accelerated up to relativistic energies and emit high-energy photons.In this work, we explore the active galactic nuclei scenario, focusing on the dynamical and radiative consequences of the interaction at different jet heights. We find that the producedhigh-energy emission could be detectable by the current  -ray telescopes. In general, the jet-clump interactions are a possible mechanism to produce (steady or flaring) high-energy emissionin many astrophysical sources in which jets are present.