Hydrodynamical instability of extragalactic stratified jets

Abstract

The recent development of tomographic analysis of radio data shows the presence of sheaths around several extragalactic jets. We have studied the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of such stratified jets, describing them as inner relativistic beams embedded in slower plasma envelopes. We find that the para- meters of the envelope generally determine the Kelvin-Helmholtz properties of the jet which thus appears isolated from any ambient external medium.