  We present deep VLA and HST observations of the large-scale jet in 3C 273
matched to 0.3" resolution. The observed spectra show a significant flattening
in the infrared-ultraviolet wavelength range. The jet's emission cannot
therefore be assumed to arise from a single electron population and requires
the presence of an additional emission component. The observed smooth
variations of the spectral indices along the jet imply that the physical
conditions vary correspondingly smoothly. We determine the maximum particle
energy for the optical jet using synchrotron spectral fits. The slow decline of
the maximum energy along the jet implies particle reacceleration acting along
the entire jet. In addition to the already established global anti-correlation
between maximum particle energy and surface brightness, we find a weak positive
correlation between small-scale variations in maximum particle energy and
surface brightness. The origin of these conflicting global and local
correlations is unclear, but they provide tight constraints for reacceleration
models.
