Quasi-stellar Radio Sources as Spherical Galaxies in the Process of Formation

Abstract

THE large energies and short time-scales characteristic of the quasi-stellar radio sources present major problems for their interpretation. The total power emitted by 3C 48 is estimated to be 2 × 10⁴⁶ ergs/sec¹. The presence of nebulosity around 3C 48 (ref. 1) and 3C 273 (ref. 2) suggests lifetimes of at least 5 × 10¹² sec, so that the emitted energy exceeds 10⁵⁹ ergs. If a major part of this energy is in the form of synchrotron radiation, this is a lower limit to the energy contained in relativistic electrons. Similar lower limits follow for the relativistic particle energies in bright radio galaxies, even if the proton component is small³. The appearance of the nebulosity and the ratio of radius to velocity suggest that the lifetime of these objects is not much greater than 10⁶ years. Both sources are observed to vary in optical brightness over a period of years^4,5, and there is some evidence that 3C 48 varies over a period of weeks as well¹.