we propose to carry out infrared imaging of a selected sample of radio sources with bright radio jets. the existence of high energy electrons, which are radiating at ir and optical wavelengths, puts strong limits on the particles acceleration and energy dissipation within the jets. a better understanding of these issues is fundamental to exploring the connection between the jet, the nuclear energy source, the interstellar medium and the large scale radio emission. the search for the optical counterparts to radio jets has lead to only a few detections; this indicates that the break frequency of the jets synchrotron emission is typically < 10^14 erg. in addition, optical emission from the jets has the disadvantage of being diluted by the starlight near the galactic nuclei. infrared observations are particularly suited for this study; in fact the emission from the galaxy is strongly suppressed, and the infrared emission corresponds to break frequencies more than an order of magnitude smaller than those accessible with optical observations. high spatial resolution and sensitivity in the infrared are needed for such an investigation, which is uniquely suited to isocam. our proposed study is also particularly important in the framework of the unified models for radio loud agn; optical jets have been observed only in sources with one-sided radio-jets while the detection of an optical (or infrared) counter-part should depend only on the observed radio flux and not on the radio morphology. infrared observations of a sample of radio galaxies containing both one-sided and two-sided radio jets is necessary to address this issue. the correlation between extended radio and infrared emission will also be investigated.
Instrument
CAM01
Temporal Coverage
1996-07-03T12:01:28Z/1997-09-05T03:33:35Z
Version
1.0
Mission Description
The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was the world's first true orbiting infrared observatory. Equipped with four highly-sophisticated and versatile scientific instruments, it was launched by Ariane in November 1995 and provided astronomers world-wide with a facility of unprecedented sensitivity and capabilities for a detailed exploration of the Universe at infrared wavelengths.
European Space Agency, 1999, Imaging Of Infrared Counter-Part Of Extragalactic Radio-Jets, 1.0, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-wfizj1d
