The Chandra view of the 3C/FR I sample of low luminosity radio-galaxies

Abstract

We present results from Chandra observations of the 3C/FR I sample of low luminosity radio-galaxies. We detected a power-law nuclear component in 12 objects out of the 18 with available data. In 4 galaxies we detected nuclear X-ray absorption at a level of 1022 cm-2. X-ray absorbed sources are associated with the presence of highly inclined dusty disks (or dust filaments projected onto the nuclei) seen in the HST images. This suggests the existence of a flattened X-ray absorber, but of much lower optical depth than in classical obscuring tori. We thus have an unobstructed view toward most FR I nuclei, while absorption plays only a marginal role in the remaining objects. Three pieces of evidence support a jet origin for the X-ray cores: i) the presence of strong correlations between the nuclear luminosities in the radio, optical, and X-ray bands, extending over 4 orders of magnitude and having a much smaller dispersion (~0.3 dex) when compared to similar trends found for other classes of AGNs, all of which points to a common origin for the emission in the three bands; ii) the close similarity of the broad-band spectral indices with the sub-class of BL Lac objects sharing the same range of extended radio-luminosity, in accord with the FR I/BL Lacs unified model; iii) the presence of a common luminosity evolution of spectral indices in both FR I and BL Lacs. The low luminosities of the X-ray nuclei, regardless of their origin, strengthens the interpretation of low efficiency accretion in low luminosity radio-galaxies.