Carrasco Gonzalez, Carlos

Discovery of synchrotron emission from a YSO jet.

Author list: Carlos Carrasco-Gonzalez, Luis F. Rodriguez, Guillem Anglada, Josep Marti, Jose M. Torrelles, Mayra Osorio

Synchrotron emission is commonly found in relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and microquasars, but so far its presence in jets from young stellar objects (YSOs) had not been proved. Here, we present the first detection of polarized synchrotron emission arising from the jet of a YSO. We found that the apparent magnetic field, with strength of ~0.2 milligauss, is parallel to the jet axis, and that the polarization degree increases toward the jet edges, as expected for a confining helical magnetic field configuration. These characteristics are similar to those found in AGN jets, hinting at a common origin of all astrophysical jets.