The Outer Radio Halo: Typical of Atypical Radio Sources?

The outer radio halo of M87 is one of an unusual class of radio halo sources attached to cluster-center galaxies in cooling cores. The M87 halo appears to be a young source, partially mixed with the ambient thermal plasma, expanding rather like a bubble into that plasma. The radio jet provides a significant energy source to the thermal core plasma. In turn, flows in the X-ray emitting plasma appear to disrupt the radio jet and account for formation of the radio halo.

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