Bending of electromagnetic beams and head-tail radio sources

An interpretation of bridge bending in head-tail radio sources in the framework of an electromagnetic beam model is presented. The physical effect responsible for the structural distortion is proposed to be the refraction of a large-amplitude wave in a medium with a density gradient perpendicular to the wave propagation vector; this gradient is consistently produced by the relative motion of the beam source in the surrounding medium with a velocity higher than the speed of sound. These effects are calculated in some detail and a quantitative fit of model parameters to the typical radio source associated with NGC 1265 is discussed.