scholarly journals Deep LOFAR 150 MHz imaging of the Boötes field: Unveiling the faint low-frequency sky

2018 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. A74 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Retana-Montenegro ◽  
H. J. A. Röttgering ◽  
T. W. Shimwell ◽  
R. J. van Weeren ◽  
I. Prandoni ◽  
...  

We have conducted a deep survey (with a central rms of 55 μJy) with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) at 120–168 MHz of the Boötes field, with an angular resolution of 3.98″ × 6.45″, and obtained a sample of 10 091 radio sources (5σ limit) over an area of 20 deg2. The astrometry and flux scale accuracy of our source catalog is investigated. The resolution bias, incompleteness and other systematic effects that could affect our source counts are discussed and accounted for. The derived 150 MHz source counts present a flattening below sub-mJy flux densities, that is in agreement with previous results from high- and low- frequency surveys. This flattening has been argued to be due to an increasing contribution of star-forming galaxies and faint active galactic nuclei. Additionally, we use our observations to evaluate the contribution of cosmic variance to the scatter in source counts measurements. The latter is achieved by dividing our Boötes mosaic into 10 non-overlapping circular sectors, each one with an approximate area of 2 deg2. The counts in each sector are computed in the same way as done for the entire mosaic. By comparing the induced scatter with that of counts obtained from depth observations scaled to 150 MHz, we find that the 1σ scatter due to cosmic variance is larger than the Poissonian errors of the source counts, and it may explain the dispersion from previously reported depth source counts at flux densities S <  1 mJy. This work demonstrates the feasibility of achieving deep radio imaging at low-frequencies with LOFAR.

1989 ◽  
Vol 134 ◽  
pp. 535-536
Author(s):  
V. S. Artyukh

Self-absorption of synchrotron radiation in compact radio sources gives rise to a low-frequency cutoff in their spectra. To study this effect it is necessary to observe the radio sources at meter wavelengths with angular resolution < 1″. Such observations of compact radio sources located in active galactic nuclei lead to estimates of magnetic field strengths and relativistic electron number densities in the AGNs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S356) ◽  
pp. 375-375
Author(s):  
Sarah White

AbstractLow-frequency radio emission allows powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN) to be selected in a way that is unaffected by dust obscuration and orientation of the jet axis. It also reveals past activity (e.g. radio lobes) that may not be evident at higher frequencies. Currently, there are too few “radio-loud” galaxies for robust studies in terms of redshift-evolution and/or environment. Hence our use of new observations from the Murchison Widefield Array (the SKA-Low precursor), over the southern sky, to construct the GLEAM 4-Jy Sample (1,860 sources at S151MHz > 4 Jy). This sample is dominated by AGN and is 10 times larger than the heavily relied-upon 3CRR sample (173 sources at S178MHz > 10 Jy) of the northern hemisphere. In order to understand how AGN influence their surroundings and the way galaxies evolve, we first need to correctly identify the galaxy hosting the radio emission. This has now been completed for the GLEAM 4-Jy Sample – through repeated visual inspection and extensive checks against the literature – forming a valuable, legacy dataset for investigating relativistic jets and their interplay with the environment.


1990 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 263-269
Author(s):  
H. Hirabayashi

AbstractVSOP, VLBI Space Observatory Programme, is an approved space VLBI programme of ISAS for the study of very compact radio sources with the synthesized aperture of 30,000 km diameter, by connecting an orbiting radio observatory with ground radiotelescopes. The VSOP satellite carrying 10 m antenna with 1.6, 5, and 22 GHz band receivers will be launched in early 1995 by M-V rocket of ISAS into an eccentric orbit with 20,000 km in apogee height. The tracking network will be formed for the satellite orbit determination, phase transfer and IF down-link. VSOP aims imaging capability with best resolution of 0.0001 arc second in 22 GHz band. Imaging of active galactic nuclei, star forming regions and stellar objects, and radioastrometry are main scientific targets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (4) ◽  
pp. 5798-5806 ◽  
Author(s):  
D d’Antonio ◽  
M Giroletti ◽  
G Giovannini ◽  
A Maini

ABSTRACT Low-frequency radio surveys allow in-depth studies and new analyses of classes of sources that were previously known and characterized only in other bands. In recent years, low radio frequency observations of blazars have become available as a result of new surveys, such as the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) survey (GLEAM). We search for gamma-ray blazars in a low-frequency (ν &lt; 240 MHz) survey, to characterize the spectral properties of the spatial components. We cross-correlate GLEAM with the fourth catalogue of active galactic nuclei (4LAC) detected by the Fermi satellite. This improves on previous works by using a low-frequency catalogue that is wider and deeper, with a better spectral coverage and the latest and most sensitive gamma-ray source list. Compared with a previous study based on the commissioning survey, the detection rate increased from 35 to 70 per cent. We include data from the Australia Telescope 20-GHz (AT20G) survey in order to extract high-frequency high-angular resolution information about the radio cores of blazars. We find low radio frequency counterparts for 1274 out of 1827 blazars in the range of 72–231 MHz. Blazars have flat spectra at the ∼100-MHz regime, with a mean spectral index α = −0.44 ± 0.01 (assuming Sν ∝ να). Low synchrotron peaked objects have a flatter spectrum than high synchrotron peaked objects. Low frequency radio and gamma-ray emissions show a significant but scattered correlation. The ratio between lobe and core radio emission in gamma-ray blazars is smaller than previously estimated.


1990 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 412-413
Author(s):  
Richard E. Griffiths

It has been established observationally that at least 30% of the all-sky X-ray background (XRB) in the energy range of 1–3 keV comes from active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the redshift interval of 0.4 to 1.2 (Griffiths et al. 1983, 1988); it is also quite plausible that AGN contribute half of the XRB in the 1–3 keV range (Morisawa and Takahara 1989). However, analysis of spatial fluctuations in the Einstein deep survey counts (Hamilton and Helfand 1987; Barcons and Fabian 1989) has indicated the presence of a relatively smooth component of the XRB with a corresponding surface density of discrete sources of at least several thousand per square degree.


2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (3) ◽  
pp. 3395-3410 ◽  
Author(s):  
M T Huynh ◽  
N Seymour ◽  
R P Norris ◽  
T Galvin

ABSTRACT We present a new image of the 9.0 GHz radio emission from the extended Chandra Deep Field South. A total of 181 h of integration with the Australia Telescope Compact Array has resulted in a 0.276 deg2 image with a median sensitivity of ∼20 µJy beam−1 rms, for a synthesized beam of 4.0 × 1.3 arcsec. We present a catalogue of the 9.0 GHz radio sources, identifying 70 source components and 55 individual radio galaxies. Source counts derived from this sample are consistent with those reported in the literature. The observed source counts are also generally consistent with the source counts from simulations of the faint radio population. Using the wealth of multiwavelength data available for this region, we classify the faint 9 GHz population and find that 91 per cent are radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), 7 per cent are radio-quiet AGNs, and 2 per cent are star-forming galaxies. The 9.0 GHz radio sources were matched to 5.5 and 1.4 GHz sources in the literature and we find a significant fraction of flat or inverted spectrum sources, with 36 per cent of the 9 GHz sources having $\alpha _{5.5\,\mathrm{ GHz}}^{9.0\,\mathrm{ GHz}}$ &gt; −0.3 (for S ∝ να). This flat or inverted population is not well reproduced by current simulations of radio source populations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Sumit K. Sarbadhicary ◽  
Evangelia Tremou ◽  
Adam J. Stewart ◽  
Laura Chomiuk ◽  
Charee Peters ◽  
...  

Abstract Although it is well established that some extragalactic radio sources are time-variable, the properties of this radio variability, and its connection with host galaxy properties, remain to be explored—particularly for faint sources. Here we present an analysis of radio variable sources from the CHILES Variable and Explosive Radio Dynamic Evolution Survey (CHILES VERDES)—a partner project of the 1.4 GHz COSMOS H i Large Extragalactic Survey. CHILES VERDES provides an unprecedented combination of survey depth, duration, and cadence, with 960 hr of 1–2 GHz continuum VLA data obtained over 209 epochs between 2013 and 2019 in a 0.44 deg2 section of the well-studied extragalactic deep field, COSMOS. We identified 18 moderate-variability sources (showing 10%–30% flux density variation) and 40 lower-variability sources (2%–10% flux density variation). They are mainly active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with radio luminosities in the range of 1022–1027 W Hz−1, based on cross-matching with COSMOS multiwavelength catalogs. The moderate-variability sources span redshifts z = 0.22–1.56, have mostly flat radio spectra (α > −0.5), and vary on timescales ranging from days to years. The lower-variability sources have similar properties, but generally have higher radio luminosities than the moderate-variability sources, extending to z = 2.8, and have steeper radio spectra (α < −0.5). No star-forming galaxy showed statistically significant variability in our analysis. The observed variability likely originates from scintillation on short (∼week) timescales, and Doppler-boosted intrinsic AGN variability on long (month–year) timescales.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (4) ◽  
pp. 5749-5764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xihan Ji ◽  
Renbin Yan

ABSTRACT Optical diagnostic diagrams are powerful tools to separate different ionizing sources in galaxies. However, the model-constraining power of the most widely used diagrams is very limited and challenging to visualize. In addition, there have always been classification inconsistencies between diagrams based on different line ratios, and ambiguities between regions purely ionized by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and composite regions. We present a simple reprojection of the 3D line ratio space composed of [N ii]λ6583/H α, [S ii]λλ6716, 6731/H α, and [O iii]λ5007/H β, which reveals its model-constraining power and removes the ambiguity for the true composite objects. It highlights the discrepancy between many theoretical models and the data loci. With this reprojection, we can put strong constraints on the photoionization models and the secondary nitrogen abundance prescription. We find that a single nitrogen prescription cannot fit both the star-forming locus and AGN locus simultaneously, with the latter requiring higher N/O ratios. The true composite regions stand separately from both models. We can compute the fractional AGN contributions for the composite regions, and define demarcations with specific upper limits on contamination from AGN or star formation. When the discrepancy about nitrogen prescriptions gets resolved in the future, it would also be possible to make robust metallicity measurements for composite regions and AGNs.


Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 188
Author(s):  
Marco Berton ◽  
Emilia Järvelä

It is well known that active galactic nuclei (AGN) show various forms of interaction with their host galaxy, in a number of phenomena generally called AGN feedback. In particular, the relativistic plasma jets launched by a fraction of AGN can strongly affect their environment. We present here a study of the [O III] λλ4959,5007 lines in a diverse sample of early evolution stage AGN–specifically narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies. Radio imaging observations of all of the sources enable a division to jetted and non-jetted sources, and exploiting this we show that the ionized gas properties are significantly influenced by the presence of the jets, as we often find the [O III] lines (blue-)shifted with respect to their restframe wavelength. We also show how the radio morphology and the radio spectral index do not seem to play a role in the origin of the [O III] shifts, thus suggesting that the source inclination is not relevant to the lines displacement. We do not find a strong relation between the [O III] line properties and the bolometric luminosity, suggesting that within our sample radiatively driven outflows do not seem to have a significant contribution to the [O III] line kinematics. We finally suggest that [O III] shifts may be a good proxy to identify the presence of relativistic jets. Additional studies, especially with integral-field spectroscopy, will provide a deeper insight into the relation between jets and their environment in early evolution stage AGN.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (S359) ◽  
pp. 347-349
Author(s):  
Carpes P. Hekatelyne ◽  
Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann

AbstractWe present Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) Integral Field Unit (IFU), Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the inner kpc of the OH Megamaser galaxy IRAS 11506-3851. In this work we discuss the kinematics and excitation of the gas as well as its radio emission. The HST images reveal an isolated spiral galaxy and the combination with the GMOS-IFU flux distributions allowed us to identify a partial ring of star-forming regions surrounding the nucleus with a radius of ≍500 pc. The emission-line ratios and excitation map reveal that the region inside the ring present mixed/transition excitation between those of Starbursts and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), while regions along the ring are excited by Starbursts. We suggest that we are probing a buried or fading AGN that could be both exciting the gas and originating an outflow.


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