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2.2. The Two Jet Flavors

Jets can be divided into two "flavors" with characteristically different sets of properties, as summarized in Table 1. The results in this table are taken from Bridle (1984, 1992) and Bridle & Perley (1984 and references therein).

Table 1. The properties of strong- and weak-flavor jets.

Strong-flavor Weak-flavor

Most jets in sources with P1.4 gtapprox 1025 WHz-1 are of this type Jets in sources with P1.4 ltapprox 1024 WHz-1 are usually of this type over most of their lengths
 
One-sided (> 4:1) Two-sided (< 4:1)
 
B||, except at bright knots Bperp, except at edges (and especially outside edges of bends)
 
Opening angle < 4° (FWHM/D) Opening angle > 8°
 
Limb-brightened, at least in well-studied cases (Cen A; M 87) Center-brightened
 
Brighter per unit length in smaller sources Similarly bright (1021.5±1 WHz-1 kpc-1) in sources of all sizes
 
Common in FRII quasars with P1.4 < 1024.5 WHz-1 and at bases of weak-flavor (FRI) jets Common in weak (P1.4 < 1024.5 WHz-1) (FRI) radio galaxies Pj > 0.1 Pext
 
Knotty Smooth

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