Chandra X-ray imaging and IC/CMB model for the inner jet of PKS 0637-752

We present the X-ray surface brightness maps of the jet from the quasar PKS 0637-752, using two epochs of archival Chandra observations (1999 and 2017). We present, for the first time, a model of the faint inner jet extending from 3.4 to 7 arcsec from the core, interpreting its X-ray emission as inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons by the synchrotron-emitting relativistic electrons. The inner jet contrasts with the bright outer part of the jet, dominated by several discrete knots for which upper limits to the Fermi gamma-ray flux rule out the inverse Compton mechanism. It is the first detailed inverse Compton model published for this inner jet. We examine three physically motivated scenarios, distinguished by the high-energy cutoff of the electron distribution, that can account for the observed radio, millimeter/submillimeter, and X-ray emission while remaining consistent with optical and gamma-ray upper limits. We also report for the first time X-rays from the radio lobe at the end of the receding jet.