A jet-cloud interaction in the 3C 196 environment

¹ Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany e-mail: lichrist@eso.org
² European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
³ Max Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
⁴ Centro Astronomico Hispano Aleman de Calar Alto, Spain
⁵ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

Received: 23 November 2005
Accepted: 7 March 2006

Abstract

Powerful radio galaxies and radio-loud quasars at high redshifts are frequently associated with extended emission-line regions (EELRs). Here we investigate the [] EELR around the quasar 3C 196 at using integral field spectroscopy. We also detect extended [] emission at a distance of about 30 kpc from the core. The emission is aligned with the radio hot spots and shows a redshifted and a blueshifted component with a velocity difference of ~800 km s^-1. The alignment effect and large velocities support the hypothesis that the EELR is caused by a jet-cloud interaction, which is furthermore indicated by the presence of a pronounced bend in the radio emission at the location of the radio hot spots. We also report observations of two other systems which do not show as clear indications of interactions. We find a weaker alignment of an [] EELR from the quasar 3C 336, while no EELR is found around the core-dominated quasar OI 363 at .