160 research outputs found
Radio Sources in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. I. Radio Source Populations
We present the first results from a study of the radio continuum properties
of galaxies in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, based on thirty 2dF fields
covering a total area of about 100 square degrees. About 1.5% of galaxies with
b(J) < 19.4 mag are detected as radio continuum sources in the NRAO VLA Sky
Survey (NVSS). Of these, roughly 40% are star-forming galaxies and 60% are
active galaxies (mostly low-power radio galaxies and a few Seyferts). The
combination of 2dFGRS and NVSS will eventually yield a homogeneous set of
around 4000 radio-galaxy spectra, which will be a powerful tool for studying
the distriibution and evolution of both AGN and starburst galaxies out to
redshift z=0.3.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Constraining the evolution of young radio-loud AGN
GPS and CSS radio sources are the objects of choice to investigate the
evolution of young radio-loud AGN. Previous investigations, mainly based on
number counts and source size distributions, indicate that GPS/CSS sources
decrease significantly in radio power when evolving into old, extended objects.
We suggest this is preceded by a period of increase in radio luminosity, which
lasts as long as the radio source is confined within the core-radius of its
host galaxy. We have selected a sample of nearby compact radio sources,
unbiased by radio spectrum, to determine their radio luminosity function, size
distribution, dynamical ages, and emission line properties in a complete and
homogeneous way. First results indicate that the large majority of objects
(>80%) exhibit classical GPS/CSS radio spectra, and show structures consistent
with the being compact double, or compact symmetric objects. This sample
provides and ideal basis to further test and constrain possible evolution
scenarios, and to investigate the relation between radio spectra and
morphologies, orientation and Doppler boosting in samples of young radio-loud
AGN, in an unbiased way.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, 3 figs: Accepted by Publications of the Astronomical
Society of Australia, as part of the proceedings of the 3rd GPS/CSS workshop,
eds. T. Tzioumis et a
VLT and NTT Observations of Two EIS Cluster Candidates. Detection of the Early-Type Galaxies Sequence at z~1
Optical data from the ESO VLT-UT1 Science Verification observations are
combined with near-infrared data from SOFI at the NTT to obtain
optical-infrared color-magnitude diagrams for the objects in the fields of two
EIS cluster candidates. In both cases, evidence is found for a well-defined
sequence of red galaxies that appear to be significantly more clustered than
the background population. These results suggest that the two systems are real
physical associations. The (R-Ks), (I-Ks) and (J-Ks) colors of the red
sequences are used, in conjunction with similar data for spectroscopically
confirmed clusters, to obtain redshift estimates of z ~ 0.9 and z ~ 1.0 for
these two systems. These results make these EIS cluster candidates prime
targets for follow-up spectroscopic observations to confirm their reality and
to measure more accurately their redshift.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics (Special
Letters Edition on "First Science with the VLT"
Confirming EIS Clusters. Optical and Infrared Imaging
Clusters of galaxies are important targets in observationally cosmology, as
they can be used both to study the evolution of the galaxies themselves and to
constrain cosmological parameters. Here we report on the first results of a
major effort to build up a sample of distant galaxy clusters to form the basis
for further studies within those fields. We search for simultaneous
overdensities in color and space to obtain supporting evidence for the reality
of the clusters. We find a confirmation rate for EIS clusters of 66%,
suggesting that a total of about 80 clusters with z>=0.6 are within reach using
the EIS cluster candidates.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the IGRAP
International Conference 1999 on 'Clustering at high Redshift
A new sample of faint Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum radio sources
The Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) has been used to select a sample
of Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio sources at flux densities one to two
orders of magnitude lower than bright GPS sources investigated in earlier
studies. Sources with inverted spectra at frequencies above 325 MHz have been
observed with the WSRT at 1.4 and 5 GHz and with the VLA at 8.6 and 15 GHz to
select genuine GPS sources. This has resulted in a sample of 47 GPS sources
with peak frequencies ranging from ~500 MHz to >15 GHz, and peak flux densities
ranging from ~40 to ~900 mJy. Counts of GPS sources in our sample as a function
of flux density have been compared with counts of large scale sources from
WENSS scaled to 2 GHz, the typical peak frequency of our GPS sources. The
counts can be made similar if the number of large scale sources at 2 GHz is
divided by 250, and their flux densities increase by a factor of 10. On the
scenario that all GPS sources evolve into large scale radio sources, these
results show that the lifetime of a typical GPS source is ~250 times shorter
than a typical large scale radio source, and that the source luminosity must
decrease by a factor of ~10 in evolving from GPS to large scale radio source.
However, we note that the redshift distributions of GPS and large scale radio
sources are different and that this hampers a direct and straightforward
interpretation of the source counts. Further modeling of radio source evolution
combined with cosmological evolution of the radio luminosity function for large
sources is required.Comment: LaTeX, 15 pages, 8 figs. To be published in A&AS. For more info see
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~snelle
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