Bridging the gap : synthetic radio observations of numerical simulations of extragalactic jets

Abstract

The standard paradigm for radio galaxies is based on high-speed plasma jets, formed in active galactic nuclei, which then penetrate into the surrounding inter-galactic medium creating giant lobes of luminous material. These lobes then emit radio waves due to synchrotron radiation from high-energy electrons immersed in weak magnetic fields. Modern computational resources have allowed increasingly sophisticated magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of these plasma flows; however, simulating the emission from these jet models, and thus bridging the gap between theory and observation, remains a difficult task. I will present a semi-empirical model of synchrotron emission that I have incorporated into full three-dimensional MHD jet simulations. From these models I generate synthetic radio images that can be compared to actual observations. This thesis will present the results of this radio imaging procedure. By synthetically observing a source whose detailed structure is known beforehand, one can hope to gain insights into what real observations are telling us about these types of jets.