A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGN JET POWER AND RADIO POWER

Using Chandra X-ray and Very Large Array radio data, we investigate the scaling relationship between jet power, P jet , and synchrotron luminosity, P radio . We expand the sample presented in Bîrzan et al. to lower radio power by incorporating measurements for 21 giant elliptical galaxies (gEs) to determine if the Bîrzan et al. P jet – P radio scaling relations are continuous in form and scatter from gEs up to brightest cluster galaxies. We find a mean scaling relation of P jet ≈ 5.8 × 10 43 ( P radio /10 40 ) 0.70 erg s −1 which is continuous over ∼6–8 decades in P jet and P radio with a scatter of ≈ 0.7 dex. Our mean scaling relationship is consistent with the model presented in Willott et al. if the typical fraction of lobe energy in non-radiating particles to that in relativistic electrons is ≳100. We identify several gEs whose radio luminosities are unusually large for their jet powers and have radio sources which extend well beyond the densest parts of their X-ray halos. We suggest that these radio sources are unusually luminous because they were unable to entrain appreciable amounts of gas.