516 research outputs found
The COINS Sample - VLBA Identifications of Compact Symmetric Objects
We present results of multifrequency polarimetric VLBA observations of 34
compact radio sources. The observations are part of a large survey undertaken
to identify CSOs Observed in the Northern Sky (COINS). Compact Symmetric
Objects (CSOs) are of particular interest in the study of the physics and
evolution of active galaxies. Based on VLBI continuum surveys of ~2000 compact
radio sources, we have defined a sample of 52 CSOs and CSO candidates. In this
paper, we identify 18 previously known CSOs, and introduce 33 new CSO
candidates. We present continuum images at several frequencies and, where
possible, images of the polarized flux density and spectral index distributions
for the 33 new candidates and one previously known but unconfirmed source. We
find evidence to support the inclusion of 10 of these condidates into the class
of CSOs. Thirteen candidates, including the previously unconfirmed source, have
been ruled out. Eleven sources require further investigation. The addition of
the 10 new confirmed CSOs increases the size of this class of objects by 50%.Comment: 24 pages, incl 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Figure
quality degraded in the interests of space, full gzipped PS version also
available at http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~apeck/papers
The Discovery of Extended Thermal X-ray Emission from PKS 2152-699: Evidence for a `Jet-cloud' Interaction
A Chandra ACIS-S observation of PKS 2152-699 reveals thermal emission from a
diffuse region around the core and a hotspot located 10" northeast from the
core. This is the first detection of thermal X-ray radiation on kiloparsec
scales from an extragalactic radio source. Two other hotspots located 47"
north-northeast and 26" southwest from the core were also detected. Using a
Raymond-Smith model, the first hotspot can be characterized with a thermal
plasma temperature of 2.6 K and an electron number density of 0.17
cm. These values correspond to a cooling time of about 1.6
yr. In addition, an emission line from the hotspot, possibly Fe xxv, was
detected at rest wavelength 10.04\AA.
The thermal X-ray emission from the first hotspot is offset from the radio
emission but is coincident with optical filaments detected with broadband
filters of HST/WFPC2. The best explanation for the X-ray, radio, and optical
emission is that of a `jet-cloud' interaction.
The diffuse emission around the nucleus of PKS 2152-699 can be modeled as a
thermal plasma with a temperature of 1.2 K and a luminosity of
1.8 erg s. This emission appears to be asymmetric with a
small extension toward Hotspot A, similar to a jet. An optical hotspot (EELR)
is seen less than an arcsecond away from this extension in the direction of the
core. This indicates that the extension may be caused by the jet interacting
with an inner ISM cloud, but entrainment of hot gas is unavoidable. Future
observations are discussed.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal 21 pages, 5 Postscript
figures, 1 table, AASTeX v. 5.
More evidence for extinction of activity in galaxies
This Research Note amends an article in which we showed that radio-loud
quasars can become radio-quiet. Exploring the analogy between galactic nuclei
and X-ray binaries (XRB), we pointed out there that this transition in quasars
could be identified with a switch from low/hard to high/soft state in
microquasars. Here, we present the evidence that traces of past occurrences of
this kind of phenomena can be found in normal but once active galaxies. Based
on the properties of a few such "post-active" galaxies that are representative
for a much wider group, it has been argued that they have reached the
evolutionary stages when their nuclei, which were radio-loud in the past, now,
mimicking the behaviour of XRBs, remain in the intermediate state on their way
towards quiescence or even have already entered the quiescent state. It follows
that the full evolutionary track of XRBs can be mapped onto the evolution of
galaxies. The above findings are in line with those reported recently for IC
2497, a galaxy that 70,000 years ago or less hosted a quasar but now appears as
a normal one. This scenario stems from the presence of Hanny's Voorwerp, a
nebulous object in its vicinity excited by that QSO in the epoch when IC 2497
was active. The post-active galaxies we deal with here are accompanied by
extremely weak and diffuse relic radio lobes that were inflated during their
former active period. These relics can be regarded as radio analogues of
Hanny's Voorwerp.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, A&A in pres
Abell 2111: An Optical and Radio Study of the Richest Butcher-Oemler Cluster
We present an in-depth analysis of the Butcher-Oemler cluster A2111,
including new optical spectroscopy plus a deep Very Large Array (VLA) radio
continuum observation. These are combined with optical imaging from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to assess the activity and properties of member
galaxies. Prior X-ray studies have suggested A2111 is a head-on cluster merger,
a dynamical state which might be connected to the high level of activity
inferred from its blue fraction. We are able to directly assess this claim,
using our spectroscopic data to identify 95 cluster members among 196 total
galaxy spectra. These galaxy velocities do not themselves provide significant
evidence for the merger interpretation, however they are consistent with it
provided the system is viewed near the time of core passage and at a viewing
angle >~30 degrees different from the merger axis. The SDSS data allow us to
confirm the high blue fraction for A2111, f_b = 0.15 +/- 0.03 based on
photometry alone and f_b = 0.23 +/- 0.03 using spectroscopic data to remove
background galaxies. We are able to detect 175 optical sources from the SDSS in
our VLA radio data, of which 35 have redshift information. We use the SDSS
photometry to determine photometric redshifts for the remaining 140
radio-optical sources. In total we identify up to 26 cluster radio galaxies, 14
of which have spectroscopic redshifts. The optical spectroscopy and radio data
reveal a substantial population of dusty starbursts within the cluster. The
high blue fraction and prevalence of star formation is consistent with the
hypothesis that dynamically-active clusters are associated with more active
member galaxies than relaxed clusters.Comment: To appear in AJ; 53 pages including 10 figures and several long
table
Evidence for Quasar Activity Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in HST Observations of Dust-reddened Quasars
We present Hubble ACS images of thirteen dust reddened Type-1 quasars
selected from the FIRST/2MASS Red Quasar Survey. These quasars have high
intrinsic luminosities after correction for dust obscuration (-23.5 > M_B >
-26.2 from K-magnitude). The images show strong evidence of recent or ongoing
interaction in eleven of the thirteen cases, even before the quasar nucleus is
subtracted. None of the host galaxies are well fit by a simple elliptical
profile. The fraction of quasars showing interaction is significantly higher
than the 30% seen in samples of host galaxies of normal, unobscured quasars.
There is a weak correlation between the amount of dust reddening and the
magnitude of interaction in the host galaxy, measured using the Gini
coefficient and the Concentration index. Although few host galaxy studies of
normal quasars are matched to ours in intrinsic quasar luminosity, no evidence
has been found for a strong dependence of merger activity on host luminosity in
samples of the host galaxies of normal quasars. We thus believe that the high
merger fraction in our sample is related to their obscured nature, with a
significant amount of reddening occurring in the host galaxy. The red quasar
phenomenon seems to have an evolutionary explanation, with the young quasar
spending the early part of its lifetime enshrouded in an interacting galaxy.
This might be further indication of a link between AGN and starburst galaxies.Comment: 18 pages, 6 low resolution figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Star Formation and AGN in the Core of the Shapley Supercluster: A VLA Survey of A3556, A3558, SC1327-312, SC1329-313, and A3562
The core of the Shapley supercluster (A3556, A3558, SC1327-312, SC1329-313,
and A3562) is an ideal region in which to study the effects of cluster mergers
on the activity of individual galaxies. This paper presents the most
comprehensive radio continuum investigation of the region, relying on a
63-pointing mosaic obtained with the Very Large Array yielding an areal
coverage of nearly 7 square degrees. The mosaic provides a typical sensitivity
of about 80 uJy at a resolution of 16", enabling detection of galaxies with
star formation rates as low as 1 solar mass per year. The radio data are
complemented by optical imaging in B and R, producing a catalog of 210
radio-detected galaxies with m_R <= 17.36 (M_R <= -19). At least 104 of these
radio-detected galaxies are members of the supercluster on the basis of public
velocity measurements. Across the entire core of the supercluster, there
appears to be a significant deficit of radio galaxies at intermediate optical
magnitudes (M_R between -21 and -22). This deficit is offset somewhat by an
increase in the frequency with which brighter galaxies (M_R less than -22) host
radio sources. More dramatic is the highly significant increase in the
probability for fainter galaxies (M_R between -20 and -21) in the vicinity of
A3562 and SC1329-313 to be associated with radio emission. The radio and
optical data for these sources strongly suggest that these active galaxies are
powered by star formation. In conjunction with recent X-ray analysis, this is
interpreted as young starbursts related to the recent merger of SC1329-313 with
A3562 and the rest of the supercluster.Comment: Accepted by AJ; 50 pages, including 16 figures (for full resolution
PDF, see http://mywebpages.comcast.net/nealamiller2/Shapley_pp.pdf
A Semi-automatic Search for Giant Radio Galaxy Candidates and their Radio-Optical Follow-up
We present results of a search for giant radio galaxies (GRGs) with a
projected largest linear size in excess of 1 Mpc. We designed a computational
algorithm to identify contiguous emission regions, large and elongated enough
to serve as GRG candidates, and applied it to the entire 1.4-GHz NRAO VLA Sky
survey (NVSS). In a subsequent visual inspection of 1000 such regions we
discovered 15 new GRGs, as well as many other candidate GRGs, some of them
previously reported, for which no redshift was known. Our follow-up
spectroscopy of 25 of the brighter hosts using two 2.1-m telescopes in Mexico,
and four fainter hosts with the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), yielded
another 24 GRGs. We also obtained higher-resolution radio images with the Karl
G. Jansky Very Large Array for GRG candidates with inconclusive radio
structures in NVSS.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of The Universe of
Digital Sky Surveys, Naples, Italy, Nov 25-28, 2014; Astrophysics and Space
Science, eds. N.R. Napolitano et a
The Effect of Expansion on Mass Entrainment and Stability of Super-Alfv\'enic Jets
We extend investigations of mass entrainment by jets, which previously have
focused on cylindrical supermagnetosonic jets and expanding trans-Alfv\'enic
jets, to a set of expanding supermagnetosonic jets. We precess these jets at
the origin to excite the helical mode of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (or KH)
instability, in order to compare the results with predictions from linear
stability analysis. We analyze this simulation set for the spatial development
of magnetized mass, which we interpret as jet plus entrained, initially
unmagnetized external mass. As with the previous simulation sets, we find that
the growth of magnetized mass is associated with the growth of the KH
instability through linear, nonlinear, and saturated stages and with the
expansion of magnetized material in simulated observations of the jet. From
comparison of measured wavelengths and wave speeds with the predictions from
linear stability analysis, we see evidence that the KH instability is the
primary cause for mass entrainment in these simulations, and that the expansion
reduces the rate of mass entrainment. This reduced rate can be observed as a
somewhat greater distance between the two transition points separating the
three stages of expansion.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, AASTeX, to appear in Nov 1 issue of ApJ (vol
543), postscript versions of Figures 3 and 5 are available at
http://crux.astr.ua.edu/~rosen/supcon/rh.htm
Global Cosmological Parameters Determined Using Classical Double Radio Galaxies
A sample of 20 powerful extended radio galaxies with redshifts between zero
and two were used to determine constraints on global cosmological parameters.
Data for six radio sources were obtained from the VLA archive, analyzed, and
combined with the sample of 14 radio galaxies used previously by Guerra & Daly
to determine cosmological parameters. The results are consistent with our
previous results, and indicate that the current value of the mean mass density
of the universe is significantly less than the critical value. A universe with
of unity is ruled out at 99.0% confidence, and the best fitting
values of in matter are and
assuming zero space curvature and zero cosmological
constant, respectively. Note that identical results obtain when the low
redshift bin, which includes Cygnus A, is excluded; these results are
independent of whether the radio source Cygnus A is included. The method does
not rely on a zero-redshift normalization.
The radio properties of each source are also used to determine the density of
the gas in the vicinity of the source, and the beam power of the source. The
six new radio sources have physical characteristics similar to those found for
the original 14 sources. The density of the gas around these radio sources is
typical of gas in present day clusters of galaxies. The beam powers are
typically about .Comment: 39 pages includes 21 figures, accepted to Ap
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