Publication Date:
2016-01-31
Description:
We examine the plasma composition of relativistic jets in four Fanaroff–Riley type II (FRII) radio galaxies by analysing the total cocoon pressure in terms of partial pressures of thermal and non-thermal electrons/positrons and protons. The total cocoon pressure is determined by cocoon dynamics via comparison of theoretical model with the observed cocoon shape. By inserting the observed number density of non-thermal electrons/positrons and the upper limit of thermal electron/positron number density into the equation of state, the number density of protons is constrained. We apply this method to four FRII radio galaxies (Cygnus A, 3C 219, 3C 223 and 3C 284), for which the total cocoon pressures have been already evaluated. We find that the positron-free plasma comprising protons and electrons is ruled out, when we consider plausible particle distribution functions. In other words, the mixture of positrons is required for all four FRII radio galaxies; the number density ratio of electrons/positrons to protons is larger than 2. Thus, we find that the plasma composition is independent of the jet power and the size of cocoons. We also investigate the additional contribution of thermal electrons/positrons and protons on the cocoon dynamics. When thermal electrons/positrons are absent, the cocoon is supported by the electron/proton plasma pressure, while both electron/positron pressure supported and electron/proton plasma pressure supported cocoons are allowed if the number density of thermal electrons/positrons is about 10 times larger than that of non-thermal ones.
Print ISSN:
0035-8711
Electronic ISSN:
1365-2966
Topics:
Physics
