VLBI Polarimetry of 177 Sources from the Caltech-Jodrell Bank Flat-spectrum Survey

We present VLBA observations and a statistical analysis of 5 GHz VLBI polarimetry data from 177 sources in the Caltech-Jodrell Bank flat-spectrum (CJF) survey. The CJF survey, a complete, flux-density-limited sample of 293 extragalactic radio sources, gives us the unique opportunity to compare a broad range of source properties for quasars, galaxies and BL Lacertae objects. We focus primarily on jet properties, specifically the correlation between the jet axis angle and the polarization angle in the core and jet. A strong correlation is found for the electric vector polarization angle in the cores of quasars to be perpendicular to the jet axis. Contrary to previous claims, no correlation is found between the jet polarization angle and the jet axis in either quasars or BL Lac objects. With this large, homogeneous sample we are also able to investigate cosmological issues and AGN evolution.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal: 37 pages, 14 figure

The spectra and energies of classical double radio lobes

We compare two temporal properties of classical double radio sources: i) radiative lifetimes of synchrotron-emitting particles and ii) dynamical source ages. We discuss how these can be quite discrepant from one another, rendering use of the traditional spectral ageing method inappropriate: we contend that spectral ages give meaningful estimates of dynamical ages only when these ages are << 10^7 years. In juxtaposing the fleeting radiative lifetimes with source ages which are significantly longer, a refinement of the paradigm for radio source evolution is required. The changing spectra along lobes are explained, not predominantly by synchrotron ageing but, by gentle gradients in a magnetic field mediated by a low-gamma matrix which illuminates an energy-distribution of particles, controlled largely by classical synchrotron loss in the high magnetic field of the hotspot. The energy in the particles is an order of magnitude higher than that inferred from the minimum-energy estimate, implying that the jet-power is of the same order as the accretion luminosity produced by the quasar central engine. This refined paradigm points to a resolution of the findings of Rudnick et al (1994) and Katz-Stone & Rudnick (1994) that both the Jaffe-Perola and Kardashev-Pacholczyk model spectra are invariably poor descriptions of the curved spectral shape of lobe emission, and indeed that for Cygnus A all regions of the lobes are characterised by a `universal spectrum'. [abridged]Comment: LaTeX, 4 figures. To appear in A

The unfriendly ISM in the radio galaxy 4C12.50 (PKS 1345+12)

The radio source 4C12.50 has often been suggested to be a prime candidate for the link between ultraluminous infrared galaxies and young radio galaxies. A VLBI study of the neutral hydrogen in the nuclear regions of this object shows that most of the gas detected close to the systemic velocity is associated with an off-nuclear cloud (~50 to 100 pc from the radio core) with a column density of ~10^22 T_spin/100 K) cm^(-2) and an HI mass of a few times 10^5 to 10^6 M_sun. We consider a number of possibilities to explain the results. In particular, we discus the possibility that this cloud indicates the presence of a rich and clumpy interstellar medium in the centre, likely left over from the merger that triggered the activity and that this medium influences the growth of the radio source. The location of the cloud -- at the edge of the northern radio jet/lobe -- suggests that the radio jet might be interacting with a gas cloud. This interaction could be responsible for bending the young radio jet. The velocity profile of the gas is relatively broad (~150$ km/s) and we interpret this as kinematical evidence for interaction of the radio plasma with the cloud. We also consider the model where the cloud is part of a broader circumnuclear structure. Only a limited region of this structure would have sufficient background radio brightness and large enough column depth in neutral gas to obtain detectable HI absorption against the counterjet. The VLBI study of the neutral hydrogen in 4C12.50 suggests that HI detected near the systemic velocity (as it is often the case in radio galaxies) may not necessarily be connected with a circumnuclear disk or torus (as is very often assumed) but instead could be a tracer of the large-scale medium that surrounds the active nucleus and that may influence the growth of the young radio source.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Optical spectroscopy of faint gigahertz peaked spectrum sources

We present spectroscopic observations of a sample of faint Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio sources drawn from the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS). Redshifts have been determined for 19 (40%) of the objects. The optical spectra of the GPS sources identified with low redshift galaxies show deep stellar absorption features. This confirms previous suggestions that their optical light is not significantly contaminated by AGN-related emission, but is dominated by a population of old (>9 Gyr) and metal-rich (>0.2 [Fe/H]) stars, justifying the use of these (probably) young radio sources as probes of galaxy evolution. The optical spectra of GPS sources identified with quasars are indistinguishable from those of flat spectrum quasars, and clearly different from the spectra of Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) quasars. The redshift distribution of the GPS quasars in our radio-faint sample is comparable to that of the bright samples presented in the literature, peaking at z ~ 2-3. It is unlikely that a significant population of low redshift GPS quasars is missed due to selection effects in our sample. We therefore claim that there is a genuine difference between the redshift distributions of GPS galaxies and quasars, which, because it is present in both the radio-faint and bright samples, can not be due to a redshift-luminosity degeneracy. It is therefore unlikely that the GPS quasars and galaxies are unified by orientation, unless the quasar opening angle is a strong function of redshift. We suggest that the GPS quasars and galaxies are unrelated populations and just happen to have identical observed radio-spectral properties, and hypothesise that GPS quasars are a sub-class of flat spectrum quasars.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages. Accepted by MNRAS. For related papers see http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~snelle

Double-double radio galaxies: remnants of merger of supermassive binary black holes

The activity of active galaxy may be triggered by the merge of galaxies and present-day galaxies are probably the product of successive minor mergers. The frequent galactic merges at high redshift imply that active galaxy harbors supermassive unequal-mass binary black holes in its center at least once during its life time. In this paper, we showed that the recently discovered double-lobed FR II radio galaxies are the remnants of such supermassive binary black holes. The inspiraling secondary black hole opens a gap in the accretion disk and removes the inner accretion disk when it merges into the primary black hole, leaving a big hole of about several hundreds of Schwarzschild radius in the vicinity of the post-merged supermassive black hole and leading to an interruption of jet formation. When the outer accretion disk slowly refills the big hole on a viscous time scale, the jet formation restarts and the interaction of the recurrent jets and the inter-galactic medium forms a secondary pair of lobes. We applied the model to a particular double-lobed radio source B1834+620 and showed that the orbit of the secondary is elliptical with a typical eccentricity $e \simeq 0.68$ and the mass ratio $q$ of the secondary and the primary is 0.01 \la q \la 0.4. The accretion disk is a standard $\alpha$-disk with 0.01 \la \alpha \la 0.04 and the ratio of disk half height $H$ and radius $r$ is $\delta \simeq 0.01$. The model predicates that double-lobed radio structure forms only in FR II radio galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

A method of estimation of the dynamical age of FR II-type radio sources from multifrequency data

We propose a new approach in determining ages of FR II type radio sources. We apply the assumed dynamical model of Kaiser et al. (1997) to a number of FR II type radio galaxies observed at different radio frequencies, and fit - for each frequency separately - the model free parameters to the observed sources' quantities. Such a procedure, using enlarged in fact a number of observables, enables us to determine relatively precise ages and other crucial characteristics of the analyzed sources. The resulting age estimates agree very well with those obtained by means of `classical' spectral ageing method for objects not older than 10 Myr, for which good-quality spectral data are available. The presented method is however also applicable in the case of the sources older than this, and/or the ones for which the only available low-resolution radio data do not allow for detailed spectral ageing studies. Our analysis indicates that the main factor precluding precise age determination for FR II type radio galaxies regards the poorly known shape of the initial electron energy distribution injected by the jet terminal shocks to the expanding lobes/cocoons. We briefly consider this issue, and conclude that the broad-band single power-law form assumed here may be accurate enough for the presented estimates, although most likely it does not strictly correspond to some well-defined realistic particle acceleration process. Instead, it should be considered as a simplest model approximation of the initial electron continuum, averaged over a very broad energy range and over the age of the source, with the effective spectral index which may be different for different sources.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures included. Accepted for publication in A&

Regulatory mechanisms controlling biogenesis of ubiquitin and the proteasome

Analysis of several Saccharomyces cerevisiae ump mutants with defects in ubiquitin (Ub)-mediated proteolysis yielded insights into the regulation of the polyubiquitin gene UB14 and of proteasome genes. High-molecular weight Ub-protein conjugates accumulated in ump mutants with impaired proteasome function with a concomitant decrease in the amount of free Ub. In these mutants, transcriptional induction of UB14 was depending in part on the transcription factor Rpn4. Deletion of UB14 partially suppressed the growth defects of ump1 mutants, indicating that accumulation of polyubiquitylated proteins is deleterious to cell growth. Transcription of proteasome subunit genes was induced in ump mutants affecting the proteasome, as well as under conditions that mediate DNA damage or the formation of abnormal proteins. This induction required the transcriptional activator Rpn4. Elevated Rpn4 levels in proteasome-deficient mutants or as a response to abnormal proteins were due to increased metabolic stability. Up-regulation of proteasome genes in response to DNA damage, in contrast, is shown to operate via induction of RPN4 transcription. (C) 2004 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Radio-Excess IRAS Galaxies: PMN/FSC Sample Selection

A sample of 178 extragalactic objects is defined by correlating the 60 micron IRAS FSC with the 5 GHz PMN catalog. Of these, 98 objects lie above the radio/far-infrared relation for radio-quiet objects. These radio-excess galaxies and quasars have a uniform distribution of radio excesses and appear to be a new population of active galaxies not present in previous radio/far-infrared samples. The radio-excess objects extend over the full range of far-infrared luminosities seen in extragalactic objects. Objects with small radio excesses are more likely to have far-infrared colors similar to starbursts, while objects with large radio excesses have far-infrared colors typical of pure AGN. Some of the most far-infrared luminous radio-excess objects have the highest far-infrared optical depths. These are good candidates to search for hidden broad line regions in polarized light or via near-infrared spectroscopy. Some low far-infrared luminosity radio-excess objects appear to derive a dominant fraction of their far-infrared emission from star formation, despite the dominance of the AGN at radio wavelengths. Many of the radio-excess objects have sizes likely to be smaller than the optical host, but show optically thin radio emission. We draw parallels between these objects and high radio luminosity Compact Steep-Spectrum (CSS) and GigaHertz Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) objects. Radio sources with these characteristics may be young AGN in which the radio activity has begun only recently. Alternatively, high central densities in the host galaxies may be confining the radio sources to compact sizes. We discuss future observations required to distinguish between these possibilities and determine the nature of radio-excess objects.Comment: Submitted to AJ. 44 pages, 11 figures. A version of the paper with higher quality figures is available from http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~cdrake/PMNFSC/paperI

The Fate of Young Radio Galaxies: Decelerations Inside Host Galaxies?

We examine the evolution of variously-sized radio galaxies [i.e., compact symmetric objects (CSOs), medium-size symmetric objects (MSOs), Fanaroff-Riley type II radio galaxies (FRIIs)], by comparing the relation between the hot spot size and the projected linear size with a coevolution model of hot spots and a cocoon. We take account of the deceleration effect by the cocoon head growth. We find that the advance speed of hot spots and lobes inevitably show the deceleration phase (CSO-MSO phase) and the acceleration phase (MSO-FRII phase). This is ascribed to the change of the power-law index of ambient density profile in the MSO phase ($\sim$1 kpc). It is also found that the cocoon shape becomes nearly spherical or disrupted for MSOs, while an elongated morphology is predicted for CSOs and FRIIs. This seems to be consistent with the higher fraction of distorted morphology of MSOs than that of CSOs and FRI. Finally, we predict that only CSOs whose initial advance speed is higher than about 0.1c can evolve into FRIIs, comparing the hot spot speed with the sound speed of the ambient medium.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ; Table 1 and Table 2 are available at http://yso.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~kawakatu/Kawakatu08.pd