The radio structure of 45 quasars at z < 1.5

Radio maps at 5 GHz with an angular resolution of 1 to 2 arcsec and a dynamic range ≳200:1 are presented for a sample of 45 radio quasars at redshifts between 0.2 and 1.5. The sources were imaged from observations made with the Very Large Array with the aim of investigating the epoch dependence of misalignments and asymmetries in their extended radio structure. Maps of some of the larger radio sources are presented also at a frequency of 1.5 GHz with a typical angular resolution of ~4 arcsec. The radio structure of most of the quasars reported here has been delineated in considerably greater detail than available in the literature

A simple image forming technique suitable for multifrequency observations of solar radio bursts

A simple image forming system using a multielement interferometer for obtaining rapid pictures of solar radio bursts is described. A dispersive transmission line is used to feed the elements in series through directional couplers. Truly instantaneous pictures of solar activity can be obtained by placing a number of narrow frequency filters at the end of the I. F. amplifier in the main receiver, located at one end of the array. The two dimensional extension of this principle is examined in some detail. Multibeaming in the two arrays of a crossed grating interferometer can be combined with fast phase-scanning in one of the arrays to produce rapid pencil beam pictures. If log-periodic antennas are used, observations can even be made at widely different frequencies simultaneously. For illustration, some important parameters for simultaneous observations at 60, 90 and 120 MHz are estimated for an interferometer assumed to be located at a latitude of 30° N. The main advantage of the proposed system is that high-resolution rapid pictures of radio bursts can be obtained simultaneously at a number of frequencies with modest effort

Compact radio cores and the relation between the radio and optical axes of elliptical galaxies

We have reinvestigated the reported tendency for the extended radio structures associated with bright elliptical galaxies to be oriented preferentially along the optical minor axes. It is found that such a tendency exists only for those galaxies in which the compact radio cores coincident with their nuclei are quite prominent. If the galaxies are divided into two groups according to whether their cores account for less than or greater than 10 per cent of the total flux density at 2.7 GHz, the angle Φ (between the radio axis and the optical minor axis) appears to be uniformly distributed between 0° and 90° for the former, but is nearly always < 30° for the latter group. One possible explanation is that the radio emission from compact cores suffers thermal absorption by ionized gas that is distributed differently in the two groups

Relativistic beaming in the central components of double radio quasars

Using a large sample of 78 well-observed double quasars, we have investigated several consequences of the relativistic beaming model. In this model the ratio of the strengths of the central component and outer lobes of a double source depends on whether the jet axis lies close to or away from the line of sight, If this is the actual situation, the fraction of emission from the core, fc, may be used as a statistical measure of the orientation of the source and should be correlated with other source parameters which also depend on the inclination of the jet axis to the line of sight. We find fc to be anticorrelated with the overall projected linear size of the extended emission but to exhibit a positive correlation with both the observed degree of misalignment from a collinear double structure, and the ratio of separations of the outer hotspots from the central component. As might be expected from these relationships, we also find sources of smaller projected linear sizes to appear more misaligned and the degree of misalignment to be correlated with the ratio of separations of the outer hotspots. All these correlations are consistent with the predictions of the relativistic beaming model

On the interpretation of the observed angular-size-flux-density relation for extragalactic radio sources

The interpretation of the observed relation between median angular sizes (θm) of extragalactic radio sources and flux density at 408 MHz has been examined. The predicted θm-S relations based on well-observed strong sources in parent samples selected at 178 and 1400 MHz, and existing models of the evolving radio luminosity function can be made to fit the observed relation only by invoking cosmological evolution in linear sizes even for the q0 = 0 universe. Predictions based on a parent sample at 2.7 GHz are shown to overestimate the contribution of steep-spectrum, compact (SSC) sources in low-frequency samples unless the downward curvature in the spectra of such sources is taken into account. When approximate corrections are made for this effect, predictions based on the 2.7 GHz parent sample cannot obviate the need for linear size evolution as claimed in the literature

VLA observations of hot spots in high luminosity radio sources

VLA observations at 6 cm have been made of 16 distant luminous 3C sources that appeared to be unresolved or slightly resolved in Cambridge maps but which were known from VLBI observations to contain significant fine structure on the scale of about 1 kpc in their lobes. The general morphology of these sources is very similar to that of their nearby powerful counterparts; most of the lobes contain low brightness tails which are often directed from the hot spots towards the associated optical object. The hot spots are generally unresolved by the VLA observations; in 3C 254, 3C 268.4 and 3C 352, one of the lobes contains two hot spots

Extragalactic sources with asymmetric radio structure I. Observations of 17 sources

We present total-intensity and linear-polarization observations with the Very Large Array (VLA) at λ6 and 2 cm of 17 sources, almost all of which were suspected to have extended emission only on one side of the nucleus. Five of them are still one-sided, three appear unresolved, while seven have radio lobes on both sides of the nucleus. The outer components in the double-lobed sources, however, have significantly different surface brightness or are very asymmetrically located with respect to the nucleus

The Molonglo Reference Catalog 1-Jy radio source survey IV. Optical spectroscopy of a complete quasar sample

Optical spectroscopic data are presented here for quasars from the Molonglo Quasar Sample (MQS), which forms part of a complete survey of 1-Jy radio sources from the Molonglo Reference Catalogue. The combination of low-frequency selection and complete identifications means that the MQS is relatively free from the orientation biases which affect most other quasar samples. To date, the sample includes 105 quasars and 6 BL Lac objects, 106 of which have now been confirmed spectroscopically. This paper presents a homogenous set of low-resolution optical spectra for 79 MQS quasars, the majority of which have been obtained at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Full observational details are given and redshifts, continuum and emission-line data tabulated for all confirmed quasars.Comment: 40 pages, ApJS in pres

Ooty occultations of 76 radio sources

Positional and structural information derived from lunar occultations observed at 327 MHz is presented for 76 radio sources, most of them of flux density less than 2×10-26Wm-2Hz-1. Only 16 sources are optically identified. Two of the stronger sources in the list, viz. PKS 1417-19 and MSH 16-205 have a head-tail type of radio structure. PKS 1417-19 appears to be associated with a small chain of faint galaxies. It is interesting that a close group of five radio sources, each with flux density ≥0.5 f.u. appears to be physically associated with the cluster Zw 0210.1 + 1857. One of the five sources coincides with a 19-mag BSO, while none of the other four is identified with an optical object on the basis of positional agreement