Abstract
The one-sidedness, 'superluminal' motion, and detailed spectra observed for 3C 273 put significant constraints on continuous beam models for the source of the extended emission in 3C 273 A. The one-sidedness of the extended emission implies that the age of the radio-frequency cloud is probably about 3-5 Myr. The 'superluminal' motion observed with VLBI constrains the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet to be more than about 10. Finally, the observed X-ray emission from the jet provides a method for deciding the question of beam composition: for a given beam power, an electron-positron beam would produce a much higher (beamed) inverse-Compton X-ray flux off extended-jet optical photons than an electron-proton beam would, thus making the observed weak jet X-ray flux a strong indicator of a proton positive component to the jet. Remaining experimental uncertainties in the case of 3C 273 make it impossible to decide the question of beam composition at present, but the next generation of experiments may make this possible for 3C 273 and other 'superluminal' objects. The above arguments have the advantage of not depending on the details of the mechanism for producing the high-energy radio-cloud electrons.
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