A new theory for the alignment effect

Eales, Stephen Anthony ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7394-426X 1992. A new theory for the alignment effect. Astrophysical Journal 397 (1) , pp. 49-54. 10.1086/171765

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Abstract

This paper proposes a new explanation of the strong alignments seen between the infrared, optical, and radio structures of high-redshift radio galaxies. This theory is based on the assumption that the anisotropy of the optical/infrared emission around a typical high-redshift radio galaxy implies the surrounding density distribution is also anisotropic. In most models of double radio sources the luminosity of the source increases with the density of the surrounding gas. So if a radio source is expanding out into gas whose density distribution is not spherically symmetric, its average luminosity will be greatest if it is expanding along the major axis of the gas distribution. As most of the sources in a flux-limited sample are close to the lower flux limit of the sample, this leads to a strong selection effect: flux-limited samples will preferentially contain galaxies in which the axes of the radio emission and of the gas distribution are aligned. It is shown quantitatively for the 3C sample that an effect of this kind is sufficient to explain the observed alignment effect.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cosmology; radio galaxies; radio sources (astronomy); red shift; starburst galaxies; anisotropy; astronomical models; intergalactic media; luminosity
Publisher:	IOP Science
ISSN:	0004-637X
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2022 11:16
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/47534

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