The bridges of classical double radio sources

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Abstract
New observations with the VLA of a complete sample of 39 3C sources with angular sizes larger than 45 arcsec are discussed. Nearly all of the classical double sources at redshifts less than 0.5 have bridges linking the central galaxy with the outer edge of the source, and our maps of these objects show that two-thirds of the bridges are significantly distorted near the central galaxy. Such distortions may be predicted from the jet model for double radio sources if the jet is much lighter than the confining medium, since the dynamics of the bridge region are then dominated by backflow of material that has passed through the hotspots. There is a correlation between axial ratio and luminosity which may be physically related to the compactness relation of Jenkins & McEllin.

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