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Follow-up observations at 16 and 33 GHz of extragalactic sources from WMAP 3-year data: I - Spectral properties
We present follow-up observations of 97 point sources from the Wilkinson
Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 3-year data, contained within the New
Extragalactic WMAP Point Source (NEWPS) catalogue between declinations of -4
and +60 degrees; the sources form a flux-density-limited sample complete to 1.1
Jy (approximately 5 sigma) at 33 GHz. Our observations were made at 16 GHz
using the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) and at 33 GHz with the Very Small
Array (VSA). 94 of the sources have reliable, simultaneous -- typically a few
minutes apart -- observations with both telescopes. The spectra between 13.9
and 33.75 GHz are very different from those of bright sources at low frequency:
44 per cent have rising spectra (alpha < 0.0), where flux density is
proportional to frequency^-alpha, and 93 per cent have spectra with alpha <
0.5; the median spectral index is 0.04. For the brighter sources, the agreement
between VSA and WMAP 33-GHz flux densities averaged over sources is very good.
However, for the fainter sources, the VSA tends to measure lower values for the
flux densities than WMAP. We suggest that the main cause of this effect is
Eddington bias arising from variability.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, submitted to MNRA