78 research outputs found
Carbon Recombination Lines toward the Riegel-Crutcher Cloud and other Cold HI Regions in the inner Galaxy
We report here, for the first time, the association of low frequency CRRL
with \HI\ self-absorbing clouds in the inner Galaxy and that the CRRLs from the
innermost of the Galaxy arise in the Riegel-Crutcher (R-C)
cloud. The R-C cloud is amongst the most well known of \HI\ self-absorbing
(HISA) regions located at a distance of about 125 pc in the Galactic centre
direction. Taking the R-C cloud as an example, we demonstrate that the physical
properties of the HISA can be constrained by combining multi-frequency CRRL and
\HI\ observations. The derived physical properties of the HISA cloud are used
to determine the cooling and heating rates. The dominant cooling process is
emission of the \CII\ 158 \mum line whereas dominant heating process in the
cloud interior is photoelectric emission. Constraints on the FUV flux (G0
4 to 7) falling on the R-C cloud are obtained by assuming thermal
balance between the dominant heating and cooling processes. The H formation
rate per unit volume in the cloud interior is 10 -- 10
s \cmthree, which far exceeds the H dissociation rate per unit
volume. We conclude that the self-absorbing cold \HI\ gas in the R-C cloud may
be in the process of converting to the molecular form. The cold \HI\ gas
observed as HISA features are ubiquitous in the inner Galaxy and form an
important part of the ISM. Our analysis shows that combining CRRL and \HI\ data
can give important insight into the nature of these cold gas. We also estimate
the integration times required to image the CRRL forming region with the
upcoming SKA pathfinders. Imaging with the MWA telescope is feasible with
reasonable observing times.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables, accepted by MNRA
Associated HI absorption in the z=3.4 radio galaxy B2 0902+343 observed with the GMRT
We have made observations of the associated HI absorption of a high redshift
radio galaxy 0902+34 at z=3.395 with the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope in the
MHz band. We find a narrow absorption line with a flux density of
11.5 mJy at a redshift of 3.397 consistent with that observed by Uson et al.
(1991), Briggs et al. (1993) and de Bruyn (1996).A weak broad absorption
feature reported by de Bruyn (1996) has not been detected in our observations.
We also place an upper limit of 4 mJy (2 ) on emission line strength at
the position where Uson et al. (1991) claimed to have found a narrow emission
line.Comment: To appear in Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysic
Low radio frequency signatures of ram pressure stripping in Virgo spiral NGC 4254
We report the detection of extended low radio frequency continuum emission
beyond the optical disk of the spiral galaxy NGC 4254 using the Giant Metrewave
Radio Telescope. NGC 4254, which has an almost face-on orientation, is located
in the outskirts of the Virgo cluster. Since such extended emission is uncommon
in low inclination galaxies, we believe it is a signature of magnetised plasma
pushed out of the disk by ram pressure of the intracluster medium as NGC 4254
falls into the Virgo cluster. The detailed spectral index distribution across
NGC 4254 shows that the steepest spectrum alpha < -1 (S propto nu^{alpha})
arises in the gas beyond the optical disk. This lends support to the ram
pressure scenario by indicating that the extended emission is not from the disk
gas but from matter which has been stripped by ram pressure. The steeper
spectrum of the extended emission is reminiscent of haloes in edge-on galaxies.
The sharp fall in intensity and enhanced polarization in the south of the
galaxy, in addition to enhanced star formation reported by others provide
evidence towards the efficacy of ram pressure on this galaxy. HI 21cm
observations show that the gas in the north lags in rotation and hence is
likely the atomic gas which is carried along with the wind. NGC 4254 is a
particularly strong radio emitter with a power of 7x10^{22} Watts/Hz at 240
MHz. We find that the integrated spectrum of the galaxy flattens at lower
frequencies and is well explained by an injection spectrum with
alpha_0=-0.45+-0.12. We end by comparing published simulation results with our
data and conclude that ram pressure stripping is likely to be a significant
contributor to evolution of galaxies residing in X-ray poor groups and cluster
outskirts.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures (figures 1,2 and 4 are in jpg format) and 2
tables; Accepted for publication in MNRA
Radio recombination lines from the largest bound atoms in space
In this paper, we report the detection of a series of radio recombination
lines (RRLs) in absorption near 26 MHz arising from the largest bound carbon
atoms detected in space. These atoms, which are more than a million times
larger than the ground state atoms are undergoing delta transitions (n~1009,
Delta n=4) in the cool tenuous medium located in the Perseus arm in front of
the supernova remnant, Cassiopeia A. Theoretical estimates had shown that atoms
which recombined in tenuous media are stable up to quantum levels n~1500. Our
data indicates that we have detected radiation from atoms in states very close
to this theoretical limit. We also report high signal-to-noise detections of
alpha, beta and gamma transitions in carbon atoms arising in the same clouds.
In these data, we find that the increase in line widths with quantum number
(proportional to n^5) due to pressure and radiation broadening of lines is much
gentler than expected from existing models which assume a power law background
radiation field. This discrepancy had also been noted earlier. The model line
widths had been overestimated since the turnover in radiation field of
Cassiopeia A at low frequencies had been ignored. In this paper, we show that,
once the spectral turnover is included in the modeling, the slower increase in
line width with quantum number is naturally explained.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Multi-wavelength Observations of the Giant X-ray Flare Galaxy NGC 5905: signatures of tidal disruption
NGC 5905 is one of the few galaxies with no prior evidence for an AGN in
which an X-ray flare, due to the tidal disruption of a star by the massive
black hole in the center of the galaxy, was detected by the RASS in 1990-91.
Here we present analysis of late-time follow-up observations of NGC 5905 using
Chandra, Spitzer VLA 3 GHz and 8 GHz archival data and GMRT 1.28 GHz radio
observations. The X-ray image shows no compact source that could be associated
with an AGN. Instead, the emission is extended -- likely due to nuclear star
formation and the total measured X-ray luminosity is comparable to the X-ray
luminosity determined from the 2002 Chandra observations. Diffuse X-ray
emission was detected close to the circum-nuclear star forming ring. The
Spitzer 2006 mid-infrared spectrum also shows strong evidence of nuclear star
formation but no clear AGN signatures. The semi-analytical models of Tommasin
et. al. 2010 together with the measured [OIV]/[NeII] line ratio suggest that at
most only 5.6% of the total IR Flux at 19 m is being contributed by the
AGN. The GMRT 1.28 GHz observations reveal a nuclear source. In the much higher
resolution VLA 3 GHz map, the emission has a double lobed structure of size
2.7'' due to the circumnuclear star forming ring. The GMRT 1.28 GHz peak
emission coincides with the center of the circumnuclear ring. We did not detect
any emission in the VLA 8 GHz (1996) archival data. The 3 upper limits
for the radio afterglow of the TDE at 1.28 GHz, 3 GHz and 8 GHz are 0.17 mJy,
0.09 mJy and 0.09 mJy, respectively. Our studies thus show that (i) NGC 5905
has a declining X-ray flux consistent with a TDE, (ii) the IR flux is dominated
by nuclear star formation, (iii) the nuclear radio emission observed from the
galaxy is due to circumnuclear star formation, (iv) no compact radio emission
associated with a radio afterglow from the TDE is detected.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted to be published in Astrophysics and
Space Scienc
GMRT detection of a new wide-angle tail (WAT) radio source associated with the galaxy PGC 1519010
We report the serendipitous detection of a Wide-Angle-Tail (WAT) radio galaxy
at 240 and 610 MHz, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). This WAT
is hosted by a cD galaxy PGC 1519010 whose photometric redshift given in the
SDSS DR6 catalog is close to the spectroscopic redshifts (0.105, 0.106 and
0.107) of three galaxies found within 4' of the cD. Using the SDSS DR6 we have
identified a total of 37 galaxies within 15' of the cD, whose photometric
redshifts are between 0.08 and 0.14. This strongly suggests that the cD is
associated with a group of galaxies whose conspicuous feature is a north-south
chain of galaxies (filament) extending to at least 2.6 Mpc. The All-Sky
Survey shows a faint, diffuse X-ray source in this direction, which probably
marks the hot intra-cluster gas in the potential well of this group.
We combine the radio structural information for this WAT with the galaxy
clustering in that region to check its overall consistency with the models of
WAT formation. The bending of the jet before and after its disruption forming
the radio plume, are found to be correlated in this WAT, as seen from the
contrasting morphological patterns on the two sides of the core. Probable
constraints imposed by this on the models of WAT formation are pointed out. We
also briefly report on the other interesting radio sources found in the
proximity of the WAT. These include a highly asymmetric double radio source and
an ultra-steep spectrum radio source for which no optical counterpart is
detected in the SDSS.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronom
GMRT and VLA observations at 49cm and 20cm of the HII region near l=24.4d, b=0.1d
We report multifrequency radio continuum and hydrogen radio recombination
line observations of HII regions near l=24.8d b=0.1d using the Giant Metrewave
Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 1.28 GHz (n=172), 0.61 GHz (n=220) and the Very Large
Array (VLA) at 1.42 GHz (n=166). The region consists of a large number of
resolved HII regions and a few compact HII regions as seen in our continuum
maps, many of which have associated infrared (IR) point sources. The largest
HII region at l=24.83d and b=0.1d is a few arcmins in size and has a shell-type
morphology. It is a massive HII region enclosing ~ 550 solar mass with a linear
size of 7 pc and an rms electron density of ~ 110 cm^-3 at a kinematic distance
of 6 kpc. The required ionization can be provided by a single star of spectral
type O5.5.
We also report detection of hydrogen recombination lines from the HII region
at l=24.83d and b=0.1d at all observed frequencies near Vlsr=100 km/s. We model
the observed integrated line flux density as arising in the diffuse HII region
and find that the best fitting model has an electron density comparable to that
derived from the continuum. We also report detection of hydrogen recombination
lines from two other HII regions in the field.Comment: 14 pages, 8 Figures. Uses JAA style file. Accepted for publication in
Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy. High resolution figures (fig 1a, fig
1b and fig 2b) can be downloaded from http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/~ngk/G2
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