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  • Modelling of the spectral e...
    McKinley, B; Yang, R; Lopez-Caniego, M; Briggs, F; Hurley-Walker, N; Wayth, R B; Offringa, A R; Crocker, R; Bernardi, G; Procopio, P; Gaensler, B M; Tingay, S J; Johnston-Hollitt, M; McDonald, M; Bell, M; Bhat, N D R; Bowman, J D; Cappallo, R J; Corey, B E; Deshpande, A A; Emrich, D; Ewall-Wice, A; Feng, L; Goeke, R; Greenhill, L J; Hazelton, B J; Hewitt, J N; Hindson, L; Jacobs, D; Kaplan, D L; Kasper, J C; Kratzenberg, E; Kudryavtseva, N; Lenc, E; Lonsdale, C J; Lynch, M J; McWhirter, S R; Mitchell, D A; Morales, M F; Morgan, E; Oberoi, D; Ord, S M; Pindor, B; Prabu, T; Riding, J; Rogers, A E E; Roshi, D A; Shankar, N Udaya; Srivani, K S; Subrahmanyan, R

    Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 02/2015, Volume: 446, Issue: 4
    Journal Article

    We present new low-frequency observations of the nearby radio galaxy Fornax A at 154 MHz with the Murchison Widefield Array, microwave flux-density measurements obtained from WMAP and Planck data, and gamma-ray flux densities obtained from Fermi data. We also compile a comprehensive list of previously published images and flux-density measurements at radio, microwave and X-ray energies. A detailed analysis of the spectrum of Fornax A between 154 and 1510 MHz reveals that both radio lobes have a similar spatially averaged spectral index, and that there exists a steep-spectrum bridge of diffuse emission between the lobes. Taking the spectral index of both lobes to be the same, we model the spectral energy distribution of Fornax A across an energy range spanning 18 orders of magnitude, to investigate the origin of the X-ray and gamma-ray emission. A standard leptonic model for the production of both the X-rays and gamma-rays by inverse-Compton scattering does not fit the multiwavelength observations. Our results best support a scenario where the X-rays are produced by inverse-Compton scattering and the gamma-rays are produced primarily by hadronic processes confined to the filamentary structures of the Fornax A lobes.