The anatomy of a radio source hot spot:Very large baseline array imaging of 3C 205

Total intensity and linear polarization Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images of the high-redshift quasar 3C 205 at a wavelength of 18 cm reveal a complex curved hot-spot structure with polarization percentages frequently as high as 70%. A one-sided jet is detected emerging from the central component of the radio source. The VLBA images, in conjunction with images from connected-element instruments, are interpreted within the context of a "bent jet" model of the hot spot, in which the how is assumed to be continuous around the observed bend. The data can be understood in terms of a collision between the incoming jet and a dense gaseous obstacle, most probably a galaxy belonging to the cluster of which 3C 205 is a part, and it is postulated that these bending phenomena occur frequently at high redshift.