290 research outputs found
Unravelling lifecycles & physics of radio-loud AGN in the SKA era
Radio-loud AGN (> 10 22 W Hz-1 at 1.4 GHz) will be the dominant bright source population detected with the SKA. The high resolution that the SKA will provide even in wide-area surveys will mean that, for the first time sensitive, multi-frequency total intensity and polarisation imaging of large samples of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) will become available. The unprecedented sensitivity of the SKA coupled with its wide field of view capabilities will allow identification of objects of the same morphological type (i.e. the entire FR I, low- and high-luminosity FR II, disturbed morphology as well as weak radio-emitting AGN populations) up to high redshifts (z ~ 4 and beyond), and at the same stage of their lives, from the youngest CSS/GPS sources to giant and fading (dying) sources, through to those with restarted activity radio galaxies and quasars. Critically, the wide frequency coverage of the SKA will permit analysis of same-epoch rest-frame radio properties, and the sensitivity and resolution will allow full cross-identification with multi-waveband data, further revealing insights into the physical processes driving the evolution of these radio sources. In this chapter of the SKA Science Book we give a summary of the main science drivers in the studies of lifecycles and detailed physics of radio-loud AGN, which include radio and kinetic luminosity functions, AGN feedback, radio-AGN triggering, radio-loud AGN unification and cosmological studies. We discuss the best parameters for the proposed SKA continuum surveys, both all-sky and deep field, in the light of these studies
Evidence for variable selective pressures at MC1R
It is widely assumed that genes that influence variation in skin and hair pigmentation are under selection. To date,the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) is the only gene identified that explains substantial phenotypic variance inhuman pigmentation. Here we investigate MC1R polymorphism in several populations, for evidence of selection.We conclude that MC1R is under strong functional constraint in Africa, where any diversion from eumelanin production (black pigmentation) appears to be evolutionarily deleterious. Although many of the MC1R amino acid variants observed in non-African populations do affect MC1R function and contribute to high levels of MC1R diversity in Europeans, we found no evidence, in either the magnitude or the patterns of diversity, for its enhancement by selection; rather, our analyses show that levels of MC1R polymorphism simply reflect neutral expectations underrelaxation of strong functional constraint outside Africa
The extragalactic radio-source population at 95 GHz
We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at 95GHz to carry
out continuum observations of 130 extragalactic radio sources selected from the
Australia Telescope 20GHz (AT20G) survey. Over 90% of these sources are
detected at 95 GHz, and we use a triple-correlation method to measure
simultaneous 20 and 95 GHz flux densities. We show that the ATCA can measure
95GHz flux densities to ~10% accuracy in a few minutes for sources above
~50mJy.
The median 20-95GHz spectral index does not vary significantly with flux
density for extragalactic sources with S20>150 mJy. This allows us to estimate
the extragalactic radio source counts at 95GHz by combining our observed
20-95GHz spectral-index distribution with the accurate 20GHz source counts
measured in the AT20G survey. The resulting 95GHz source counts down to 80 mJy
are significantly lower than those found by several previous studies. The main
reason is that most radio sources with flat or rising spectra in the frequency
range 5-20GHz show a spectral turnover between 20 and 95 GHz. As a result,
there are fewer 95GHz sources (by almost a factor of two at 0.1 Jy) than would
be predicted on the basis of extrapolation from the source populations seen in
lower-frequency surveys. We also derive the predicted confusion noise in CMB
surveys at 95GHz and find a value 20-30% lower than previous estimates.
The 95GHz source population at the flux levels probed by this study is
dominated by QSOs with a median redshift z~1. We find a correlation between
optical magnitude and 95GHz flux density which suggests that many of the
brightest 95 GHz sources are relativistically beamed, with both the optical and
millimetre continuum significantly brightened by Doppler boosting.Comment: Replaced with final version (MNRAS, in press), 15 pages plus two
landscape data table
The properties of extragalactic radio sources selected at 20 GHz
We present some first results on the variability, polarization and general
properties of radio sources selected in a blind survey at 20 GHz, the highest
frequency at which a sensitive radio survey has been carried out over a large
area of sky. Sources with flux densities above 100 mJy in the AT20G Pilot
Survey at declination -60 to -70 were observed at up to three epochs during
2002-4, including near-simultaneous measurements at 5, 8 and 18 GHz in 2003. Of
the 173 sources detected, 65% are candidate QSOs, BL Lac objects or blazars,
20% galaxies and 15% faint (b > 22 mag) optical objects or blank fields.
On a 1-2 year timescale, the general level of variability at 20 GHz appears
to be low. For the 108 sources with good-quality measurements in both 2003 and
2004, the median variability index at 20 GHz was 6.9% and only five sources
varied by more than 30% in flux density.
Most sources in our sample show low levels of linear polarization (typically
1-5%), with a median fractional polarization of 2.3% at 20 GHz. There is a
trend for fainter sources to show higher fractional polarization.
At least 40% of sources selected at 20GHz have strong spectral curvature over
the frequency range 1-20 GHz. We use a radio `two-colour diagram' to
characterize the radio spectra of our sample, and confirm that the radio-source
population at 20 GHz (which is also the foreground point-source population for
CMB anisotropy experiments like WMAP and Planck) cannot be reliably predicted
by extrapolating the results of surveys at lower frequencies. As a result,
direct selection at 20 GHz appears to be a more efficient way of identifying 90
GHz phase calibrators for ALMA than the currently-proposed technique of
extrapolation from all-sky surveys at 1-5 GHz.Comment: 14-page paper plus 5-page data table. Replaced with published versio
A measurement of the cosmological mass density from clustering in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
The large-scale structure in the distribution of galaxies is thought to arise from the gravitational instability of small fluctuations in the initial density field of the Universe. A key test of this hypothesis is that forming superclusters of galaxies should generate a systematic infall of other galaxies. This would be evident in the pattern of recessional velocities, causing an anisotropy in the inferred spatial clustering of galaxies. Here we report a precise measurement of this clustering, using the redshifts of more than 141,000 galaxies from the two-degree-field (2dF) galaxy redshift survey. We determine the parameter β = Ω0.6/b = 0.43 +/- 0.07, where Ω is the total mass-density parameter of the Universe and b is a measure of the `bias' of the luminous galaxies in the survey. (Bias is the difference between the clustering of visible galaxies and of the total mass, most of which is dark.) Combined with the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background, our results favour a low-density Universe with Ω ~ 0.3
Radio Observations of the Hubble Deep Field South Region III: The 2.5, 5.2 and 8.7 GHz Catalogues and Radio Source Properties
Deep radio observations of a wide region centred on the Hubble Deep Field
South have been performed, providing one of the most sensitive set of radio
observations acquired on the Australia Telescope Compact Array to date. A
central rms of ~10 microJy is reached at four frequencies (1.4, 2.5, 5.2 and
8.7 GHz). In this paper the full source catalogues from the 2.5, 5.2 and 8.7
GHz observations are presented to complement Paper II, along with a detailed
analysis of image quality and noise. We produce a consolidated catalogue by
matching sources across all four frequencies of our survey. Radio spectral
indices are used to investigate the nature of the radio sources and identify a
number of sources with flat or inverted radio spectra, which indicates AGN
activity. We also find several other interesting sources, including a broadline
emitting radio galaxy, a giant radio galaxy and three Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum
sources.Comment: Accepted by AJ. 13 figures and 13 table
Radio Observations of the Hubble Deep Field South region: I. Survey Description and Initial Results
This paper is the first of a series describing the results of the Australia
Telescope Hubble Deep Field South (ATHDFS) radio survey. The survey was
conducted at four wavelengths - 20, 11, 6, and 3 cm, over a 4-year period, and
achieves an rms sensitivity of about 10 microJy at each wavelength. We describe
the observations and data reduction processes, and present data on radio
sources close to the centre of the HDF-S. We discuss in detail the properties
of a subset of these sources. The sources include both starburst galaxies and
galaxies powered by an active galactic nucleus, and range in redshift from 0.1
to 2.2. Some of them are characterised by unusually high radio-to-optical
luminosities, presumably caused by dust extinction.Comment: Accepted by AJ. 32 pages, 4 tables, 3 figures. PDF with
full-resolution figures is on
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/rnorris/N197.pd
The Software Sustainability Institute:Changing Research Software Attitudes and Practices
To effect change, the Software Sustainability Institute works with researchers, developers, funders, and infrastructure providers to identify and address key issues with research software
The Australia Telescope 20GHz (AT20G) Survey: analysis of the extragalactic source sample
The Australia Telescope 20 GHz (AT20G) survey is a blind survey of the whole
Southern sky at 20 GHz with follow-up observations at 4.8, 8.6, and 20 GHz
carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). In this paper we
present an analysis of radio spectral properties in total intensity and
polarisation, sizes, optical identifications, and redshifts of the sample of
the 5808 extragalactic sources in the survey catalogue of confirmed sources
over the whole Southern sky excluding the strip at Galactic latitude
|b|<1.5deg. The sample has a flux density limit of 40 mJy. Completeness has
been measured as a function of scan region and flux density. Averaging over the
whole survey area the follow-up survey is 78% complete above 50mJy and 93%
complete above 100mJy. 3332 sources with declination <-15deg have good quality
almost simultaneous observations at 4.8, 8.6, and 20GHz. The spectral analysis
shows that the sample is dominated by flat-spectrum sources. The fraction of
flat-spectrum sources decreases from 81% for 20GHz flux densities S>500mJy, to
60% for S<100mJy. There is also a clear spectral steepening at higher
frequencies with the median spectral index decreasing from -0.16 between 4.8
and 8.6GHz to -0.28 between 8.6 and 20GHz. Simultaneous observations in
polarisation are available for all the sources at all the frequencies. 768
sources have a good quality detection of polarised flux density at 20GHz; 467
of them were also detected in polarisation at 4.8 and/or at 8.6GHz so that it
has been possible to compare the spectral behaviour in total intensity and
polarisation. We have found that the polarised fraction increases slightly with
frequency and decreases with flux density. Cross matches and comparisons have
been made with other catalogues at lower radio frequencies, and in the optical,
X-ray and gamma-ray bands. Redshift estimates are available for 825 sources.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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