Dr Geoff Bicknell (RSAA, ANU)

Interactions between jets and the interstellar medium of radio galaxies - Dr Geoff Bicknell Colloquium

ATNF Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

Interactions between radio galaxy jets and the interstellar medium
are important on a range of linear scales and densities. The first
studied example of this is the production of hot spots in FR2 radio
galaxies. I shall present new work by Curtis Saxton, Ralph Sutherland
and myself on the formation of hot spots that further elucidates the
nature of this interaction. This is relevant to the understanding of
the high energy emission and the estimation of magnetic fields in
radio galaxies. Some of our newest and most fundamental work relates
to the interaction of jets with dense cloudy media, early in the
formation of a radio galaxy. This has implications for the morphology
of GPS and CSS radio sources, the large scale morphology of galaxies
such as M87 and the general problem of the interaction of radio
galaxies with cooling flows.