Emission from Large-scale Jets in Quasars

We consider the emission processes in the large-scale jets of powerful quasars based on the results obtained with the VLA, Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra. We show that two well-known jets, 3C 273 and PKS 1136−135, have two distinct spectral components on large-scales: (1) the low-energy (LE) synchrotron spectrum extending from radio to infrared, and (2) the high-energy (HE) component arising from optical and extending to X-rays. The X-ray emission in quasar jets is often attributed to inverse-Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons by radioemitting electrons in a highly relativistic jet. However, recent data prefer synchrotron radiation by a second distinct population as the origin of the HE component. We anticipate that optical polarimetry with Hubble will establish the synchrotron nature of the HE component. Gamma-ray observations with GLAST (renamed as the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope), as well as future TeV observations, are expected to place important constraints on the jet models.