Interaction of radio jets with clouds in the ambient medium: Numerical simulations

Abstract

Hydrodynamical simulations of jets interacting with clouds moving in the ambient medium of the host galaxy are presented. Clouds with sizes of the order of the jet diameter and smaller, crossing the path of the jet with different speeds are considered. In the case of slow moving clouds the jet is stopped over the brief period of time taken by the cloud to cross the jet. The jet maintains its general morphology in the case of fast moving clouds. Erosion of the clouds leads to redistribution of cloud material to large distances. Such interaction may explain the large outflow velocities observed from pc to kpc scales in the compact radio sources.