X-ray detection of the inner jet in the radio galaxy 3C 129

During the course of an investigation of the interaction of the radio galaxy 3C 129 and its ambient cluster gas, we found excess X-ray emission aligned with the northern radio jet. The emission extends from the weak X-ray core of the host galaxy ≈2″.5 to the first resolved radio knot. On a smaller scale, we have also detected a weak radio extension in the same position angle with the VLBA. Although all the evidence suggests that Doppler favoritism augments the emission of the northern jet, it is unlikely that the excess X-ray emission is produced by inverse Compton emission. We find many similarities between the 3C 129 X-ray jet and recent jet detections from Chandra data of low-luminosity radio galaxies. For most of these current detections, synchrotron emission is the favored explanation for the observed X-rays.