The B3-Vla CSS sample. III: Evn & Merlin images at 18 cm

EVN and MERLIN observations at 18 cm are presented for 18 Compact Steep--spectrum radio Sources (CSSs) from the B3-VLA CSS sample. These sources were marginally resolved in previous VLA A-configuration observations at 4.9 and 8.4 GHz or had peculiar morphologies, two of them looking like core-jets. The MERLIN images basically confirm the VLA structures at 8.4 GHz while the EVN and/or the combined images reveal several additional details.Comment: 17 pages, many low resoltion figures, A&A accepted. A higher resolution gzipped postscript file can be found at http://www.ira.cnr.it/~ddallaca/h3443.ps.g

Synchrotron Spectra and Ages of Compact Steep Spectrum Radio Sources

The high-frequency integrated spectra of Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) sources show breaks with a moderate spectral steepening well fitted by continuous injection synchrotron spectra. In lobe-dominated CSS sources the radiative ages deduced by the synchrotron theory are in the range of up to 0.1 Myears, if equipartition magnetic fields are assumed. These radiative ages are well correlated with the source size indicating that the CSS sources are young. In order to maintain the frustration scenario, in which the sources' lifetimes are about 10 Myears, their equipartition magnetic field would be systematically decreased by a factor of more than 20. To complete the sample used in this work, we conducted observations at 230 GHz with the IRAM 30-m telescope of those sources which did not have such high-frequency observations up to now.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Astron. & Astrophys.; typos corrected; gzipped postscript version also available at: http://multivac.jb.man.ac.uk:8000/ceres/papers/papers.html http://gladia.astro.rug.nl:8000/ceres/papers/papers.htm

Radio spectra and polarisation properties of radio-loud Broad Absorption Line Quasars

We present multi-frequency observations of a sample of 15 radio-emitting Broad Absorption Line Quasars (BAL QSOs), covering a spectral range between 74 MHz and 43 GHz. They display mostly convex radio spectra which typically peak at about 1-5 GHz (in the observer's rest-frame), flatten at MHz frequencies, probably due to synchrotron self-absorption, and become steeper at high frequencies, i.e., >~ 20 GHz. VLA 22-GHz maps (HPBW ~ 80 mas) show unresolved or very compact sources, with linear projected sizes of <= 1 kpc. About 2/3 of the sample look unpolarised or weakly polarised at 8.4 GHz, frequency in which reasonable upper limits could be obtained for polarised intensity. Statistical comparisons have been made between the spectral index distributions of samples of BAL and non-BAL QSOs, both in the observed and the rest-frame, finding steeper spectra among non-BAL QSOs. However constraining this comparison to compact sources results in no significant differences between both distributions. This comparison is consistent with BAL QSOs not being oriented along a particular line of sight. In addition, our analysis of the spectral shape, variability and polarisation properties shows that radio BAL QSOs share several properties common to young radio sources like Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) or Gigahertz-Peaked Spectrum (GPS) sources.Comment: 18 pages, 11 Postscript figures, 12 Tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

K-band imaging of 52 B3-VLA quasars: Nucleus and host properties

We present K-band imaging and photometry of a sample of 52 radio loud quasars (RQs) selected from the B3 survey with flux densities above 0.5 Jy at 408 MHz. The optical completeness of the sample is 90% and the quasars cover the redshift range 0.4 - 2.3. For ~57% of the sources for which the quality of the images allowed a detailed morphological study (16/28) resolved extended emission was detected around the QSO, and its K flux was measured. Interpreting this ``fuzz'' as starlight emission from the host galaxy, its location on the K-z plane at z<1 is consistent with radio quasars being hosted by galaxies similar to radio galaxies (RGs) or giant ellipticals (gEs). At higher redshifts the detected host galaxies of RQs are more luminous than typical RGs and gEs, although some weak detections or upper limits are consistent with a similar fraction of RQs being hosted by galaxies with the expected luminosities for RGs or gEs. We found a significant correlation between radio power and nuclear infrared luminosity indicating a direct link between the radio synchrotron emission and the nuclear emission in K. This correlation is more tight for the steep-spectrum sources (99.97% significance). In addition, a trend is found between radio power and infrared luminosity of the host galaxy (or mass), in the sense that the most powerful quasars inhabit the most luminous galaxies.Comment: tar gzipped file including 1 LaTeX file, 4 latex tables, and 13 PostScript figures. Accepted in AJ (April 1998

FIRST-based survey of Compact Steep Spectrum sources I. MERLIN images of arc-second scale objects

Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) sources are powerful extragalactic radio sources with angular dimensions of the order of a few arcseconds or less. Such a compactness is apparently linked to the youth of these objects. The majority of CSSs investigated so far have been known since the early 1980s. This paper is the first in a series where we report the results of an observational campaign targeted on a completely new sample of CSSs which are significantly weaker than those investigated before. The ultimate goal of that campaign is to find out how ``weak'' CSSs compare to ``strong'', classical ones, especially with regard to the morphologies. Here we present an analysis of morphological and physical properties of five relatively large sources based on MERLIN observations at 1.6 and 5 GHz.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, A&A in pres

Red quasars not so dusty

Webster et al (1995) claimed that up to 80% of QSOs may be obscured by dust. They inferred the presence of this dust from the remarkably broad range of B-K optical-infrared colours of a sample of flat-spectrum PKS radio QSOs. If such dust is typical of QSOs, it will have rendered invisible most of those which would otherwise been have detected by optical surveys. We used the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma to obtain K infrared images of 54 B3 radio quasars selected at low frequency (mainly steep-spectrum), and we find that although several have very red optical-infrared colours, most of these can be attributed to an excess of light in K rather than a dust-induced deficit in B. We present evidence that some of the infrared excess comes from the light of stars in the host galaxy (some, as previously suggested, comes from synchrotron radiation associated with flat-spectrum radio sources). The B-K colours of the B3 QSOs provide no evidence for a large reddened population. Either the Webster et al QSOs are atypical in having such large extinctions, or their reddening is not due to dust; either way, the broad range of their B-K colours does not provide evidence that a large fraction of QSOs has been missed from optical surveys.Comment: 16 pages TeX file + 2 PostScript figures. Accepted in MNRA

A sample of radio-loud QSOs at redshift ~ 4

We obtained spectra of 60 red, starlike objects (E< 18.8) identified with FIRST radio sources, S_{1.4GHz} > 1 mJy. Eight are QSOs with redshift z> 3.6.Combined with our pilot search (Benn et al 2002), our sample of 121 candidates yields a total of 18 z > 3.6 QSOs (10 of these with z > 4.0). 8% of candidates with S_{1.4GHz} 10 mJy are QSOs with z > 3.6. The surface density of E 1mJy, z> 4 QSOs is 0.003 deg^{-2}. This is currently the only well-defined sample of radio-loud QSOs at z ~ 4 selected independently of radio spectral index. The QSOs are highly luminous in the optical (8 have M_B < -28, q_0 = 0.5, H_0 = 50 kms^{-1}Mpc^{-1}). The SEDs are as varied as those seen in optical searches for high-redshift QSOs, but the fraction of objects with weak (strongly self-absorbed) Ly alpha emission is marginally higher (3 out of 18) than for high-redshift QSOs from SDSS (5 out of 96).Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 9 pages, Latex, 5 postscript figures, 1 landscape table (postscript

The B3-VLA CSS sample. II: VLBA images at 18 cm

VLBA observations at 18 cm are presented for 28 Compact Steep-spectrum radio Sources (CSSs) from the B3-VLA CSS sample. These sources were unresolved in previous VLA observations at high frequencies or their brightness distribution was dominated by an unresolved steep spectrum component. More than half of them also showed a low frequency turnover in their radio spectrum. The VLBA images display in most cases a compact symmetric structure. Only in a minority of cases complex morphologies are present.Comment: 11 pages, many low resolution figures, A&A accepted. A higher quality g-zipped postscript file can be found at http://www.ira.cnr.it/~ddallaca/h3442.ps.g

Radio spectra and polarisation properties of a bright sample of Radio-Loud Broad Absorption Line Quasars

The origin of broad-absorption-line quasars (BAL QSOs) is still an open issue. Accounting for ~20% of the QSO population, these objects present broad absorption lines in their optical spectra generated from outflows with velocities up to 0.2c. In this work we present the results of a multi-frequency study of a well-defined radio-loud BAL QSO sample, and a comparison sample of radio-loud non-BAL QSOs, both selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We aim to test which of the currently-popular models for the BAL phenomenon - `orientation' or 'evolutionary' - best accounts for the radio properties of BAL quasars. Observations from 1.4 to 43 GHz have been obtained with the VLA and Effelsberg telescopes, and data from 74 to 408 MHz have been compiled from the literature. The fractions of candidate GHz-peaked sources are similar in the two samples (36\pm12% vs 23\pm8%), suggesting that BAL QSOs are not generally younger than non-BAL QSOs. BAL and non-BAL QSOs show a large range of spectral indices, consistent with a broad range of orientations. There is weak evidence (91% confidence) that the spectral indices of the BAL QSOs are steeper than those of non-BAL QSOs, mildly favouring edge-on orientations. At a higher level of significance (\geq97%), the spectra of BAL QSOs are not flatter than those of non-BAL QSOs, which suggests that a polar orientation is not preferred.Comment: Accepted by A&