Filamentary Magnetic fields in Radio galaxy hotspots

Abstract

The standard model of synchrotron spectra was developed byWestfold (1959), Ginzburg and Syrovatskii (1969) and also Pacholczyk (1970). Unlike the non-relativistic case, where the particle radiates at a single frequency, a relativistic particle emits at a range of frequencies. One of the main results of the papers by Westfold and the others is that the totalpower/emissivity radiated per unit frequency (assuming a power law distribution function for particle energies) is a decaying power law in frequency for all frequencies. However, such a nice form arises only under the set of assumptions that the magnetic field is uniform everywhere and that there is no upper limit on particle energies. In our work, we have been examining the consequences of filamentary magnetic field structures and their possible signatures on the observed spectrum at radio frequencies.