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Supermassive Black Hole in J1007+3540 Restarts Jets After 100 Million Years

LOFAR plus uGMRT imaging published in MNRAS reveals a compact inner jet within older lobes shaped by dense cluster gas.

Overview

  • Radio maps show a bright, compact inner jet embedded inside faded, expanded lobes that together reach nearly a million light-years.
  • The morphology identifies J1007+3540 as an episodic active galactic nucleus with multiple past eruptions separated by long quiet phases.
  • A compressed northern lobe with a curved backflow marks strong interaction with the intracluster medium that bends and distorts the outflows.
  • uGMRT spectra reveal an ultra‑steep index in the compressed region, indicating very old, energy‑depleted particles shaped by the cluster environment.
  • The research team plans deeper, higher‑resolution observations to trace the restarted jets and better constrain the system’s duty cycle and feedback.