We present results from Chandra X-ray imaging and spectroscopy of a flux-limited sample of flat-spectrum radio-emitting quasars with jetlike extended structure. Twelve of 20 quasar jets are detected in 5 ks ACIS-S exposures. The quasars without X-ray jets are not significantly different from those in the sample with detected jets except that the extended radio emission is generally fainter. New radio maps are combined with the X-ray images in order to elucidate the relation between radio and X-ray emission in spatially resolved structures. We find a variety of morphologies, including long straight jets and bends up to 90°. All X-ray jets are one-sided although the radio images used for source selection often show lobes opposite the X-ray jets. The FR II X-ray jets can all be interpreted as inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons by electrons in large-scale relativistic jets although deeper observations are required to test this interpretation in detail. Applying this interpretation to the jets as a population, we find that the jets would be aligned to within 30° of the line of sight generally, assuming that the bulk Lorentz factor of the jets is 10.

We have measured a time delay of 26^{+ 4}₋₅ days and a magnification ratio of 1.52±0.05 in the strong radio gravitational lens PKS 1830-211. Observations were made over the 18 month period from 1997 January to 1998 July with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 8.6 GHz, and they have shown that the source started a large flux density outburst around 1997 June.

Measurements of the properties of gravitational lenses have the power to tell us what sort of universe we live in. The brightest known radio Einstein ring/gravitational lens PKS 1830-211, while obscured by our Galaxy at optical wavelengths, has recently been shown to contain absorption at the millimeter waveband at a redshift of 0.89. We report the detection of a new absorption feature, most likely due to neutral hydrogen in a second redshift system at z = 0.19. Follow-up VLBI observations have spatially resolved the absorption and reveal it to cover the NE compact component and part of the lower surface brightness ring. This new information, together with existing evidence of the unusual VLBI radio structure and difficulties in modeling the lensing system, points to the existence of a second lensing galaxy along our line of sight and implies that PKS 1830-211 may be a compound gravitational lens.

We present very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) images of the core emission from a nearby bright FR II radio galaxy, Pictor A, revealing its parsec-scale jet structure and evolution for the first time. These data constitute a significant addition to our knowledge of powerful radio galaxies on the smallest scales, effectively doubling the number studied at this resolution. The jet, 14 h^-1 pc in projected extent, is directed west of the core for the first 5 h^-1 pc and then appears to bend approximately 40° to the north. Apparent motions for three of the five parsec-scale jet components have been estimated, 0.5 ± 0.4, 1.1 ± 0.5, and 0.4 ± 0.7 h^-1c, indicating that subluminal motion is likely. No parsec-scale counterjet has been detected, allowing only lower limits on the jet-to-counterjet surface brightness ratio to be estimated. Two models, one describing the apparent 40° bend in the parsec-scale jet as an intrinsic deflection of the jet and one describing it as the effect of jet precession, may each be plausible and should be testable with future VLBI observations. By adopting the jet deflection model to describe the apparent 40° bend, we estimate that the Pictor A jet is initially inclined to our line of sight by less than 51°. Comparing this result with VLBI observations of Cygnus A suggests that, while the components in both jets are consistent with at least mildly relativistic speeds, the Pictor A jet lies significantly closer to our line of sight than the Cygnus A jet. This conclusion is consistent with both the parsec-scale radio structures and the kiloparsec-scale orientations of the host galaxies as well as the "unified model" interpretation of the optical spectra from these two objects.

We present deep Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra, Very Large Array, and Australia Telescope Compact Array images of the jets of PKS 0208-512 and PKS 1202-262, which were found in a Chandra survey of a flux-limited sample of flat-spectrum radio quasars with jets. We discuss in detail their X-ray morphologies and spectra. We find optical emission from one knot in the jet of PKS 1202-262 and two regions in the jet of PKS 0208-512. The X-ray emission of both jets is most consistent with external Comptonization of cosmic microwave background photons by particles within the jet, while the optical emission is most consistent with the synchrotron process. We model the emission from the jet in this context and discuss implications for jet emission models, including magnetic field and beaming parameters.