Dynamical models for jet deceleration in the radio galaxy 3C 31

Abstract

We present a dynamical analysis of the flow in the jets of the low-luminosity radio galaxy 3C 31 based on our earlier geometrical and kinematic model and on estimates of the external pressure and density distributions from Chandra observations. We apply conservation of particles, energy and momentum to derive the variations of pressure and density along the jets and show that there are self-consistent solutions for deceleration by injection of thermal matter. We initially take the jets to be in pressure equilibrium with the external medium at large distances from the nucleus and the momentum flux to be energy flux/c; we then progressively relax these constraints. We infer that the jets are over-pressured compared with the external medium where they start to expand rapidly. Local minima in the density and pressure and maxima in the mass injection rate and Mach number occur at approximately 3 kpc. Further out, the jets decelerate smoothly with a Mach number close to 1. The mass injection rate we infer is comparable with that expected from stellar mass loss at 1 - 2 kpc, but significantly exceeds it at large distances. We conclude that entrainment from the galactic atmosphere is the dominant mass input process far from the nucleus, but that stellar mass loss may also contribute closer in. The occurrence of a significant over-pressure where expansion begins leads us to suggest that there is a stationary shock system, perhaps caused by reconfinement of an initially free jet. Our results are compatible with a jet consisting of electron-positron plasma on parsec scales which picks up thermal matter from stellar mass loss to reach the inferred density and mass flux at 1 kpc, but we cannot rule out an electron-proton composition with a low-energy cut-off. [Abridged]