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).
Strong-flavor | Weak-flavor |
Most jets in sources with P1.4 1025 WHz-1 are of this type | Jets in sources with P1.4 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 | B, 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 |