The environments of FR II radio sources

Abstract

Using ROSAT observations, we estimate gas pressures in the X-ray-emitting media surrounding 63 FR II radio galaxies and quasars. We compare these pressures with the internal pressures of the radio-emitting plasma estimated by assuming minimum energy or equipartition. The majority of the radio sources (including 12/13 sources with modelled, spatially resolved X-ray emission) appear to be underpressured with respect to the external medium, suggesting that simple minimum-energy arguments underestimate the sources' internal energy densities. Some consequences of this result are discussed.