Deep Low-Frequency Radio Observations of the NOAO Bootes Field: I. Data Reduction and Catalog Construction

In this article we present deep, high-resolution radio interferometric observations at 153 MHz to complement the extensively studied NOAO Bootes field. We provide a description of the observations, data reduction and source catalog construction. From our single pointing GMRT observation of ~12 hours we obtain a high-resolution (26" x 22") image of ~11.3 square degrees, fully covering the Bootes field region and beyond. The image has a central noise level of ~1.0 mJy/beam, which rises to 2.0-2.5 mJy/beam at the field edge, placing it amongst the deepest ~150 MHz surveys to date. The catalog of 598 extracted sources is estimated to be ~92 percent complete for >10 mJy sources, while the estimated contamination with false detections is <1 percent. The low RMS position uncertainty of 1.24" facilitates accurate matching against catalogs at optical, infrared and other wavelengths. Differential source counts are determined down to <~10 mJy. There is no evidence for flattening of the counts towards lower flux densities as observed in deep radio surveys at higher frequencies, suggesting that our catalog is dominated by the classical radio-loud AGN population that explains the counts at higher flux densities. Combination with available deep 1.4 GHz observations yields an accurate determination of spectral indices for 417 sources down to the lowest 153 MHz flux densities, of which 16 have ultra-steep spectra with spectral indices below -1.3. We confirm that flattening of the median spectral index towards low flux densities also occurs at this frequency. The detection fraction of the radio sources in NIR Ks-band is found to drop with radio spectral index, which is in agreement with the known correlation between spectral index and redshift for brighter radio sources.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication by A&A. Source catalog will be available from CDS soo

Mergers as triggers for nuclear activity : A near-IR study of the close environment of AGN in the VISTA-VIDEO survey

copyright 2014 The Authors; Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical SocietyThere is an ongoing debate concerning the driver of nuclear activity in galaxies, with active galactic nuclei (AGN) either being triggered by major or minor galactic mergers or, alternatively, through secular processes like cold gas accretion and/or formation of bars. We investigate the close environment of active galaxies selected in the X-ray, the radio and the mid-IR. We utilize the first data release of the new near-IR VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) survey of the XMM-Large Scale Structure field. We use two measures of environment density, namely counts within a given aperture and a finite redshift slice (pseudo- 3D density) and closest neighbour density measures ∑2 and ∑5. We select both AGN and control samples, matching them in redshift and apparent Ks-band magnitude. We find that AGN are found in a range of environments, with a subset of the AGN samples residing in overdense environments. Seyfert-like X-ray AGN and flat-spectrum radio-AGN are found to inhabit significantly overdense environments compared to their control sample. The relation between overdensities and AGN luminosity does not however reveal any positive correlation. Given the absence of an environment density-AGN luminosity relation, we find no support for a scheme where high-luminosity AGN are preferentially triggered by mergers. On the contrary, we find that AGN likely trace over dense environments at high redshift due to the fact that they inhabit the most massive galaxies, rather than being an AGN.Peer reviewe

LOFAR/H-ATLAS: The low-frequency radio luminosity - star-formation rate relation

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.Radio emission is a key indicator of star-formation activity in galaxies, but the radio luminosity-star formation relation has to date been studied almost exclusively at frequencies of 1.4 GHz or above. At lower radio frequencies the effects of thermal radio emission are greatly reduced, and so we would expect the radio emission observed to be completely dominated by synchrotron radiation from supernova-generated cosmic rays. As part of the LOFAR Surveys Key Science project, the Herschel-ATLAS NGP field has been surveyed with LOFAR at an effective frequency of 150 MHz. We select a sample from the MPA-JHU catalogue of SDSS galaxies in this area: the combination of Herschel, optical and mid-infrared data enable us to derive star-formation rates (SFRs) for our sources using spectral energy distribution fitting, allowing a detailed study of the low-frequency radio luminosity--star-formation relation in the nearby Universe. For those objects selected as star-forming galaxies (SFGs) using optical emission line diagnostics, we find a tight relationship between the 150 MHz radio luminosity ($L_{150}$) and SFR. Interestingly, we find that a single power-law relationship between $L_{150}$ and SFR is not a good description of all SFGs: a broken power law model provides a better fit. This may indicate an additional mechanism for the generation of radio-emitting cosmic rays. Also, at given SFR, the radio luminosity depends on the stellar mass of the galaxy. Objects which were not classified as SFGs have higher 150-MHz radio luminosity than would be expected given their SFR, implying an important role for low-level active galactic nucleus activity.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Komposisi Kimia dan Kualitas Fisik Daging Ayam Broiler Dimarinasi dengan Pasta Lengkuas pada Lama Penyimpanan Berbeda

The aim of this study is to know the chemical composition and physical qualities breast meat broiler which is marinated in 20% galangal juice. The method used completely randomized design with stroge period, Treatments O hour (To), 3 hours (T1), 6 hours (T2), and 8 hours (T3) and four replications. Each treatment used breast meat broiler (BMB) 100 grams. Variables included chemical composition (moisture and crude protein %) and physical quality (cooking loss). The data analysis used analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey’s test The results that stroge period 9 hours (T3) has significant effect of cooking loss percentage but does not have significant effect of moisture content and crude protein content. The conclusion that storage period longer can increase cooking loss percentage and cannot change Chemical composition breast meat broiler marinated with galangal juice

Ram-pressure stripped radio tail and two ULXs in the spiral galaxy HCG 97b

We report LOFAR and VLA detections of extended radio emission in the spiral galaxy HCG 97b, hosted by an X-ray bright galaxy group. The extended radio emission detected at 144 MHz, 1.4 GHz and 4.8 GHz is elongated along the optical disk and has a tail that extends 27 kpc in projection towards the centre of the group at GHz frequencies or 60 kpc at 144 MHz. Chandra X-ray data show two off-nuclear ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with the more distant one being a suitable candidate for an accreting intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) embedded in an environment with an increased density of molecular gas. Given the observed morphology in optical, CO, and radio continuum, we propose that the galaxy is undergoing ram-pressure stripping and the relativistic plasma accelerated in star-forming regions is transported from the galactic disc by galaxy-intragroup medium interaction. Finally, we also demonstrate that the formation of the radio tail could, in principle, be the result of putative IMBH-induced activity, which could facilitate the stripping or inject the radio plasma via jets.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, submitted to MNRAS, comments are welcom

Multiwavelength characterization of faint ultra steep spectrum radio sources: a search for high-redshift radio galaxies

Context. Ultra steep spectrum (USS) radio sources are one of the efficient tracers of powerful high-z radio galaxies (HzRGs). In contrast to searches for powerful HzRGs from radio surveys of moderate depths, fainter USS samples derived from deeper radio surveys can be useful in finding HzRGs at even higher redshifts and in unveiling a population of obscured weaker radio-loud AGN at moderate redshifts. Aims. Using our 325 MHz GMRT observations (5σ ∼ 800 μJy) and 1.4 GHz VLA observations (5σ ∼ 80−100 μJy) available in two subfields (VLA-VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VLA-VVDS) and Subaru X-ray Deep Field (SXDF)) of the XMM-LSS field, we derive a large sample of 160 faint USS radio sources and characterize their nature. Methods. The optical and IR counterparts of our USS sample sources are searched using existing deep surveys, at respective wavelengths. We attempt to unveil the nature of our faint USS sources using diagnostic techniques based on mid-IR colors, flux ratios of radio to mid-IR, and radio luminosities. Results. Redshift estimates are available for 86/116 (∼74%) USS sources in the VLA-VVDS field and for 39/44 (∼87%) USS sources in the SXDF fields with median values (zmedian) ∼1.18 and ∼1.57, respectively, which are higher than estimates for non-USS radio sources (zmedian non−USS ∼ 0.99 and ∼0.96), in the two subfields. The MIR color–color diagnostic and radio luminosities are consistent with most of our USS sample sources at higher redshifts (z > 0.5) being AGN. The flux ratio of radio to mid-IR (S 1.4 GHz/S 3.6 μm) versus redshift diagnostic plot suggests that more than half of our USS sample sources distributed over z ∼ 0.5 to 3.8 are likely to be hosted in obscured environments. A significant fraction (∼26% in the VLA-VVDS and ∼13% in the SXDF) of our USS sources without redshift estimates mostly remain unidentified in the existing optical, IR surveys, and exhibit high radio to mid-IR flux ratio limits similar to HzRGs, and so, can be considered as potential HzRG candidates. Conclusions. Our study shows that the criterion of ultra steep spectral index remains a reasonably efficient method to select high-z sources even at sub-mJy flux densities. In addition to powerful HzRG candidates, our faint USS sample also contains populations of weaker radio-loud AGNs potentially hosted in obscured environments

The contribution of discrete sources to the sky temperature at 144 MHz

This paper is part of the 1st data release of the LoTSS Deep Fields. © 2020 The European Southern Observatory (ESO)In recent years, the level of the extragalactic radio background has become a point of considerable interest, with some lines of argument pointing to an entirely new cosmological synchrotron background. The contribution of the known discrete source population to the sky temperature is key to this discussion. Because of the steep spectral index of the excess over the cosmic microwave background, it is best studied at low frequencies where the signal is strongest. The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) wide and deep sky surveys give us the best constraints yet on the contribution of discrete extragalactic sources at 144 MHz, and in particular allow us to include contributions from diffuse, low-surface-brightness emission that could not be fully accounted for in previous work. We show that, even with these new data, known sources can still only account for around a quarter of the estimated extragalactic sky temperature at LOFAR frequencies.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

First LOFAR results on galaxy clusters

Deep radio observations of galaxy clusters have revealed the existence of diffuse radio sources related to the presence of relativistic electrons and weak magnetic fields in the intracluster volume. The role played by this non-thermal intracluster component on the thermodynamical evolution of galaxy clusters is debated, with important implications for cosmological and astrophysical studies of the largest gravitationally bound structures of the Universe. The low surface brightness and steep spectra of diffuse cluster radio sources make them more easily detectable at low-frequencies. LOFAR is the first instrument able to detect diffuse radio emission in hundreds of massive galaxy clusters up to their formation epoch. We present the first observations of clusters imaged by LOFAR and the huge perspectives opened by this instrument for non-thermal cluster studies.Comment: Proceedings of the 2012 week of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics (SF2A) held in Nice, June 5th-8t

LOFAR Sparse Image Reconstruction

Context. The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) radio telescope is a giant digital phased array interferometer with multiple antennas distributed in Europe. It provides discrete sets of Fourier components of the sky brightness. Recovering the original brightness distribution with aperture synthesis forms an inverse problem that can be solved by various deconvolution and minimization methods Aims. Recent papers have established a clear link between the discrete nature of radio interferometry measurement and the "compressed sensing" (CS) theory, which supports sparse reconstruction methods to form an image from the measured visibilities. Empowered by proximal theory, CS offers a sound framework for efficient global minimization and sparse data representation using fast algorithms. Combined with instrumental direction-dependent effects (DDE) in the scope of a real instrument, we developed and validated a new method based on this framework Methods. We implemented a sparse reconstruction method in the standard LOFAR imaging tool and compared the photometric and resolution performance of this new imager with that of CLEAN-based methods (CLEAN and MS-CLEAN) with simulated and real LOFAR data Results. We show that i) sparse reconstruction performs as well as CLEAN in recovering the flux of point sources; ii) performs much better on extended objects (the root mean square error is reduced by a factor of up to 10); and iii) provides a solution with an effective angular resolution 2-3 times better than the CLEAN images. Conclusions. Sparse recovery gives a correct photometry on high dynamic and wide-field images and improved realistic structures of extended sources (of simulated and real LOFAR datasets). This sparse reconstruction method is compatible with modern interferometric imagers that handle DDE corrections (A- and W-projections) required for current and future instruments such as LOFAR and SKAComment: Published in A&A, 19 pages, 9 figure

LOFAR MSSS: The Scaling Relation between AGN Cavity Power and Radio Luminosity at Low Radio Frequencies

This article has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics. © 2018 ESO.We present a new analysis of the widely used relation between cavity power and radio luminosity in clusters of galaxies with evidence for strong AGN feedback. We study the correlation at low radio frequencies using two new surveys - the First Alternative Data Release of the TIFR GMRT Sky Survey (TGSS ADR1) at 148 MHz and LOFAR's first all-sky survey, the Multifrequency Snapshot Sky Survey (MSSS) at 140 MHz. We find a scaling relation $P_{\rm cav} \propto L_{148}^{\beta}$, with a logarithmic slope of $\beta = 0.51 \pm 0.14$, which is in good agreement with previous results based on data at 327 MHz. The large scatter present in this correlation confirms the conclusion reached at higher frequencies that the total radio luminosity at a single frequency is a poor predictor of the total jet power. We show that including measurements at 148 MHz alone is insufficient to reliably compute the bolometric radio luminosity and reduce the scatter in the correlation. For a subset of four well-resolved sources, we examine the detected extended structures at low frequencies and compare with the morphology known from higher frequency images and Chandra X-ray maps. In Perseus we discuss details in the structures of the radio mini-halo, while in the 2A 0335+096 cluster we observe new diffuse emission associated with multiple X-ray cavities and likely originating from past activity. For A2199 and MS 0735.6+7421, we confirm that the observed low-frequency radio lobes are confined to the extents known from higher frequencies. This new low-frequency analysis highlights the fact that existing cavity power to radio luminosity relations are based on a relatively narrow range of AGN outburst ages. We discuss how the correlation could be extended using low frequency data from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) in combination with future, complementary deeper X-ray observations.Peer reviewe