CONSTRAINTS ON THE LOW-ENERGY CUTOFF IN THE ELECTRON DISTRIBUTION OF THE PKS 0637-752 JET

Abstract

We reanalyze the Chandra ACIS spectrum of the kpc-scale jet in PKS 0637-752 to investigate the possible low-energy cutoff in the relativistic electron spectrum producing the nonthermal radiation in the scenario of inverse Compton (IC) emission off the cosmic microwave background. This was among the first objects targeted by the Chandra Observatory and gives a unique opportunity to study the low-energy X-ray emission free of detector contamination. As previously reported in the literature, the spectrum can be fit by a power law, with the slope predicted by the radio spectrum, modified by low energy absorption through the Galaxy as determined from the spectrum of the quasar core and by HI 21 cm observations. We obtain a marginally better fit with a model of IC emission produced by an electron population that exhibits a cutoff at γmin δ10 between about 50 and 80 (assuming Γ = δ). This range for γmin is higher than has previously been assumed in broadband spectral fits to the jet emission. The observed optical flux can be used to place a lower limit on γmin; the constraint is not very strong, but does suggest that γmin must be higher than 1 to avoid overproducing the optical emission. We investigate the effect of uncertainties in the column density for galactic absorption as well as the calibration of Chandra for these early observations. Finally, we discuss the implication of these limits on the jet luminosity in this source.