Annual modulation in the scattering of J1819+3845: peculiar plasma velocity and anisotropy

We present two years of monitoring observations of the extremely variable quasar J1819+3845. We observe large yearly changes in the timescale of the variations (from ~ 1 hour to ~ 10 hours at 5GHz). This annual effect can only be explained if the variations are caused by a propagation effect, and thus affected by the Earth's relative speed through the projected intensity pattern. To account for this effect, the scattering plasma must have a transverse velocity with respect to the local standard of rest. The velocity calculated from these observations is in good agreement with that obtained from a two telescope delay experiment (Dennett-Thorpe & de Bruyn 2001). We also show that either the source itself is elongated, or that the scattering plasma is anisotropic, with an axial ratio of >6:1. As the source is extended on scales relevant to the scattering phenomenon, it seems plausible that the anisotropy is due to the source itself, but this remains to be investigated. From the scintillation characteristics we find that the scattering material is a very strong, thin scatterer within ~ten parsecs. We determine a source size at 5GHz of 100 to 900microarcsecs, and associated brightness temperatures of 10^{10} to 10^{12}K

Asymmetry of jets, lobe size and spectral index in radio galaxies and quasars

We investigate the correlations between spectral index, jet side and extent of the radio lobes for a sample of nearby FRII radio galaxies. In Dennett-Thorpe et al. (1997) we studied a sample of quasars and found that the high surface brightness regions had flatter spectra on the jet side (explicable as a result of Doppler beaming) whilst the extended regions had spectral asymmetries dependent on lobe length. Unified schemes predict that asymmetries due to beaming will be much smaller in narrow-line radio galaxies than in quasars: we therefore investigate in a similar manner, a sample of radio galaxies with detected jets. We find that spectral asymmetries in these objects are uncorrelated with jet sidedness at all brightness levels, but depend on relative lobe volume. Our results are not in conflict with unified schemes, but suggest that the differences between the two samples are due primarily to power or redshift, rather than to orientation. We also show directly that hotspot spectra steepen as a function of radio power or redshift. Whilst a shift in observed frequency due to the redshift may account for some of the steepening, it cannot account for all of it, and a dependence on radio power is required.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS, 10 pages; typos/minor correctio

Relativistic and slowing down: the flow in the hotspots of powerful radio galaxies and quasars

Pairs of radio emitting jets with lengths up to several hundred kiloparsecs emanate from the central region (the `core') of radio loud active galaxies. In the most powerful of them, these jets terminate in the `hotspots', compact high brightness regions, where the jet flow collides with the intergalactic medium (IGM). Although it has long been established that in their inner ($\sim$parsec) regions these jet flows are relativistic, it is still not clear if they remain so at their largest (hundreds of kiloparsec) scales. We argue that the X-ray, optical and radio data of the hotspots, despite their at-first-sight disparate properties, can be unified in a scheme involving a relativistic flow upstream of the hotspot that decelerates to the sub-relativistic speed of its inferred advance through the IGM and viewed at different angles to its direction of motion. This scheme, besides providing an account of the hotspot spectral properties with jet orientation, it also suggests that the large-scale jets remain relativistic all the way to the hotspots.Comment: to appear in ApJ

Detection of Six Rapidly Scintillating AGNs and the Diminished Variability of J1819+3845

The extreme, intra-hour and > 10% rms flux density scintillation observed in AGNs such as PKS 0405-385, J1819+3845 and PKS 1257-326 at cm wavelengths has been attributed to scattering in highly turbulent, nearby regions in the interstellar medium. Such behavior has been found to be rare. We searched for rapid scintillators among 128 flat spectrum AGNs and analyzed their properties to determine the origin of such rapid and large amplitude radio scintillation. The sources were observed at the VLA at 4.9 and 8.4 GHz simultaneously at two hour intervals over 11 days. We detected six rapid scintillators with characteristic time-scales of 10%. We found strong lines of evidence linking rapid scintillation to the presence of nearby scattering regions, estimated to be < 12 pc away for ~ 200 muas sources and < 250 pc away for ~ 10 muas sources. We attribute the scarcity of rapid and large amplitude scintillators to the requirement of additional constraints, including large source compact fractions. J1819+3845 was found to display ~ 2% rms variations at ~ 6 hour time-scales superposed on longer > 11 day variations, suggesting that the highly turbulent cloud responsible for its extreme scintillation has moved away, with its scintillation now caused by a more distant screen ~ 50 to 150 pc away.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Asymmetry of jets, lobe length and spectral index in quasars

The less depolarized lobe of a radio source is generally the lobe containing the jet (Laing-Garrington correlation) but the less depolarized lobe is also generally that with the flatter radio spectrum (Liu-Pooley correlation). Both effects are strong; taken together they would imply a correlation between jet side and lobe spectral index, i.e. between an orientation-dependent feature and one which is intrinsic. We test this prediction using detailed spectral imaging of a sample of quasars with well-defined jets and investigate whether the result can be reconciled with the standard interpretation of one-sided jets in terms of relativistic aberration. Our central finding is that the spectrum of high surface brightness regions is indeed flatter on the jet side, but that the spectrum of low surface brightness regions is flatter on the side with the longer lobe. We discuss possible causes for these correlations and favour explanations in terms of relativistic bulk motion in the high surface brightness regions and differential synchrotron ageing in the extended lobe material.Comment: to be published in MNRAS. 12 pages, uses mn.sty. Replacement corrects for error in postscript (fig. 1

On the influence of the Sun on the rapid variability of compact extragalactic sources

Starting from December 2004, a program for the monitoring of intraday variable sources at a frequency of 5 GHz was performed at the Urumqi Observatory. The analysis of the variability characteristics of the flat-spectrum radio source AO 0235+164 revealed the existence of an annual cycle in the variability amplitude. This appears to correlate with the solar elongation of the source. A thorough analysis of the results of the MASIV IDV survey --- which provides the variability characteristics of a large sample of compact radio sources --- confirms that there is a small but detectable component of the observed fractional modulation which increases with decreasing solar elongation. We discuss the hypothesis that the phenomenon is related to interplanetary scintillation.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Diffractive Interstellar Scintillation of the Quasar J1819+3845 at 21cm

We report the discovery of fast, frequency-dependent intensity variations from the scintillating intra-day variable quasar J1819+3845 at a wavelength of 21cm which resemble diffractive interstellar scintillations observed in pulsars. The timescale (down to 20 min) and the bandwidth (frequency decorrelation bandwidth of 160 MHz) of the observed variations jointly imply that the component of the source exhibiting this scintillation must possess a brightness temperature well in excess of the inverse Compton limit. A specific model in which both the source and scintillation pattern are isotropic implies a brightness temperature 0.5 x 10^13 z_{pc} K, where previous estimates place the distance to the scattering medium in the range z_{pc}=4-12pc, yielding a minimum brightness temperature >20 times the inverse Compton limit. An independent estimate of the screen distance using the 21cm scintillation properties alone indicates a minimum screen distance of z approx 40pc and a brightness temperature above 2 x 10^14 K. There is no evidence for anisotropy in the scattering medium or source from the scintillation characteristics, but these estimates may be reduced by a factor comparable to the axial ratio if the source is indeed elongated.Comment: A&A in press, 18 pages, 9 fig

Scintillation-induced Variability in Radio Absorption Spectra against Extragalactic Sources

Spectral features absorbed against some radio quasars exhibit ~50mJy variations, with the lines varying both relative to the continuum and, when several lines are present, even relative to one another. We point out that such variability can be expected as a consequence of refractive scintillation caused by the interstellar medium of our Galaxy. Scintillation can cause independent variations between closely-spaced spectral lines, and can even alter the line profile. The background source need not be compact to exhibit spectral variability. The variability can be used to infer the parsec to sub-parsec scale structure of the intervening absorbing material. We discuss the importance of scintillation relative to other possible origins of spectral variability. The present theory is applied to account for the variations observed in the HI-absorbed quasar PKS 1127-145.Comment: A&A in press, 17 pages, 3 fig

Intra-day variability observations of S5 0716+714 over 4.5 years at 4.8 GHz

We aim to search for evidence of annual modulation in the time scales of the BL Lac object S5 0716+714. The intra-day variability (IDV) observations were carried out monthly from 2005 to 2009, with the Urumqi 25m radio telescope at 4.8 GHz. The source has shown prominent IDV as well as long-term flux variations. The IDV time scale does show evidence in favor of an annual modulation, suggesting that the IDV of 0716+714 is dominated by interstellar scintillation. The source underwent a strong outburst phase between mid-2008 and mid-2009; a second intense flare was observed in late 2009, but no correlation between the total flux density and the IDV time scale is found, implying that the flaring state of the source does not have serious implications for the general characteristics of its intra-day variability. However, we find that the inner-jet position angle is changing throughout the years, which could result in an annual modulation noise in the anisotropic ISS model fit. There is also an indication that the lowest IDV amplitudes (rms flux density) correspond to the slowest time scales of IDV, which would be consistent with an ISS origin of the IDV of 0716+714.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&A; corrected typos in Table