There is growing observational evidence of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on the ISM of radio-quiet and radio-loud galaxies. While AGN feedback is expected to be more common at high redshift objects, the study of local universe galaxies help to better characterize the different manifestations of AGN feedback.AIMS. Molecular line observations can be used to quantify the mass and energy budget of the gas affected by AGN feedback. We study the emission of molecular gas in 3C 236, a Faranoff-Riley type 2 (FR II) radio source at z~0.1, and search for the footprints of AGN feedback. 3C 236 shows signs of a reactivation of its AGN triggered by a recent minor merger episode. Observations have also previously identified an extreme HI outflow in this source. The IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer (PdBI) has been used to study the distribution and kinematics of molecular gas in 3C 236 by imaging with high spatial resolution (0.6") the emission of the 2-1 line of ^12^CO in the nucleus of the galaxy. We have searched for outflow signatures in the CO map. We have also derived the star-formation rate (SFR) in 3C 236 using data available from the literature at UV, optical and IR wavelengths, to determine the star-formation efficiency of molecular gas. The CO emission in 3C 236 comes from a spatially resolved ~1.4" (2.6kpc)-diameter disk characterized by a regular rotating pattern. Within the limits imposed by the sensitivity and velocity coverage of the CO data, we do not detect any outflow signatures in the cold molecular gas. The disk has a cold gas mass M(H_2_)~2.1x10^9^M_{sun}_. Based on CO we determine a new value for the redshift of the source z_CO_=0.09927+/-0.0002. The similarity between the CO and HI profiles indicates that the deep HI absorption in 3C 236 can be accounted for by a rotating HI structure. This restricts the evidence of HI outflow only to the most extreme velocities. In the light of the new redshift value, the analysis of the ionized gas kinematics reveals a fast (~1000km/s) outflow. As for the CO emitting gas, outflow signatures are nevertheless absent in the warm molecular gas emission traced by infrared H_2_ lines. The star-formation efficiency in 3C 236 is consistent with the value measured in normal galaxies, which follow the canonical Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation. This result, confirmed to hold in other young radio sources examined in this work, is in stark contrast with the factor of 10-50 lower SFE that has been claimed to characterize evolved powerful radio galaxies. There are no signs of ongoing AGN feedback on the molecular ISM of 3C 236. The recent reactivation of the AGN in 3C 236 (about ~10^5^yr ago) is a likely explanation for the early evolutionary status of its molecular disk.
The results of V-band CCD photometry for 72 low-luminosity radio galaxies from the B2 sample is presented. Most of these galaxies are of early type and their photometric and morphological properties are studied in the paper. We present the resulting surface brightness profiles and isophote parameters' profiles, including ellipticity, position angle, and B4, for 59 galaxies.
We present new wide-field observations of Centaurus A (Cen A) and the surrounding region at 118MHz with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) 32-tile prototype, with which we investigate the spectral-index distribution of Cen A's giant radio lobes. We compare our images to 1.4GHz maps of Cen A and compute spectral indices using temperature-temperature plots and spectral tomography. We find that the morphologies at 118MHz and 1.4GHz match very closely apart from an extra peak in the southern lobe at 118MHz, which provides tentative evidence for the existence of a southern counterpart to the northern middle lobe of Cen A. Our spatially averaged spectral indices for both the northern and southern lobes are consistent with previous analyses, however we find significant spatial variation of the spectra across the extent of each lobe. Both the spectral-index distribution and the morphology at low radio frequencies support a scenario of multiple outbursts of activity from the central engine. Our results are consistent with inverse-Compton modelling of radio and gamma-ray data that support a value for the lobe age of between 10 and 80Myr.
We present new radio and optical images of the nearest radio galaxy Centaurus A and its host galaxy NGC 5128. We focus our investigation on the northern transition region, where energy is transported from the ~5kpc (~5-arcmin) scales of the northern inner lobe (NIL) to the ~30kpc (~30-arcmin) scales of the northern middle lobe (NML). Our Murchison Widefield Array observations at 154MHz and our Parkes radio telescope observations at 2.3GHz show diffuse radio emission connecting the NIL to the NML, in agreement with previous Australia Telescope Compact Array observations at 1.4GHz. Comparison of these radio data with our wide-field optical emission-line images show the relationship between the NML radio emission and the ionized filaments that extend north from the NIL, and reveal a new ionized filament to the east, possibly associated with a galactic wind. Our deep optical images show clear evidence for a bipolar outflow from the central galaxy extending to intermediate scales, despite the non-detection of a southern radio counterpart to the NML. Thus, our observational overview of Centaurus A reveals a number of features proposed to be associated with active galactic nucleus feedback mechanisms, often cited as likely to have significant effects in galaxy evolution models. As one of the closest galaxies to us, Centaurus A therefore provides a unique laboratory to examine feedback mechanisms in detail.
Supermassive black holes and supernovae explosions at the centres of active galaxies power cycles of outflowing and inflowing gas that affect galactic evolution and the overall structure of theUniverse. While simulations and observations show that this must be the case, the range of physical scales (over ten orders of magnitude) and paucity of available tracers, make both the simulation and observation of these effects difficult. By serendipity, there lies an active galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128), at such a close proximity as to allow its observation over this entire range of scales and across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. In the radio band, however, details on scales of 10-100kpc from the supermassive black hole have so far been obscured by instrumental limitations. Here we report low-frequency radio observations that overcome these limitations and show evidence for a broad, bipolar outflow with velocity 1100 km per s and mass outflow rate of 2.9 solar masses per year on these scales. We combine our data with the plethora of multi-scale, multi-wavelength historical observations of Centaurus A to probe a unified view of feeding and feedback, which we show to be consistent with the Chaotic Cold Accretion self-regulation scenario.
We present deep infrared and optical imaging of a 1.25arcmin^2^ field centered on the giant (~0.5Mpc) high-redshift (z=2.479) ultra-steep-spectrum radio source 4C 23.56. The optical/infrared continuum morphology of the host galaxy is asymmetric, with strong color gradients and an enormous biconical emission-line nebula. The morphology of 4C 23.56 is best described by a dusty galaxy illuminated by a beam from an active galactic nucleus that is scattered into our line of sight. We determine the K' band number counts in the field to a limit of K'=22.5mag and find a marginally significant excess of objects with K'=19-21mag, compared to other K' band surveys. Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 117 objects in the field are constructed from aperture photometry in five bands (U', NB, V, I, and K'). From the SEDS we distinguish three subsets of objects as possible candidates for z~2.48 companions: emission-line galaxies, very red galaxies, and flat-spectrum star-forming galaxies. The field has nine candidate objects with line emission in a narrow band centered on the redshifted Ly{alpha} line, compared to an expected number of at most three foreground [O II] emitters that could mimic Ly{alpha} alpha sources. We find a high density of faint, very red objects with I-K'>4mag in the field, including two with I-K'>6mag.
In this paper, we report the first stages of an investigation into the X-ray properties of extragalactic jets (XJET project). Our approach is to subject all sources for which X-ray emission has been detected by Chandra to uniform reduction procedures. Using Chandra archival data for 106 such sources, we measure X-ray fluxes in three bands and compare these to radio fluxes. We discuss the sample, the reduction methods, and present first results for the ratio of X-ray to radio flux for jet knots and hotspots. In particular, we apply statistical tests to various distributions of key observational parameters to evaluate differences between the different classes of sources.
We present the first part of the observations made for the Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies, an EVLA Survey (CHANG-ES) project. The aim of the CHANG-ES project is to study and characterize the nature of radio halos, their prevalence as well as their magnetic fields, and the cosmic rays illuminating these fields. This paper reports observations with the compact D configuration of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) for the sample of 35 nearby edge-on galaxies of CHANG-ES. With the new wide bandwidth capabilities of the VLA, an unprecedented sensitivity was achieved for all polarization products. The beam resolution is an average of 9.6" and 36" with noise levels reaching approximately 6 and 30{mu}Jy/beam for C- and L-bands, respectively (robust weighting). We present intensity maps in these two frequency bands (C and L), with different weightings, as well as spectral index maps, polarization maps, and new measurements of star formation rates (SFRs). The data products described herein are available to the public in the CHANG-ES data release available at http://www.queensu.ca/changes. We also present evidence of a trend among galaxies with larger halos having higher SFR surface density, and we show, for the first time, a radio continuum image of the median galaxy, taking advantage of the collective signal-to-noise ratio of 30 of our galaxies. This image shows clearly that a "typical" spiral galaxy is surrounded by a halo of magnetic fields and cosmic rays.
Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) show episodic activity, which can be evident in galaxies that exhibit restarted radio jets. These restarted jets can interact with their environment, leaving signatures on the radio spectral energy distribution. Tracing these signatures is a powerful way to explore the life of radio galaxies. This requires resolved spectral index measurements over a broad frequency range including low frequencies. We present such a study for the radio galaxy 3C293, which has long been thought to be a restarted galaxy on the basis of its radio morphology. Using the International LOFAR telescope (ILT) we probed spatial scales as fine as ~0.2-arcsec at 144MHz, and to constrain the spectrum we combined these data with Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) and Very Large Array (VLA) archival data at frequencies up to 8.4GHz that have a comparable resolution. In the inner lobes (~2kpc), we detect the presence of a spectral turnover that peaks at ~225MHz and is most likely caused by free-free absorption from the rich surrounding medium. We confirm that these inner lobes are part of a jet-dominated young radio source (spectral age ~0.17Myr), which is strongly interacting with the rich int <0.27Myr. The outer lobes (extending up to ~100kpc) have a spectral index of ~0.6-0.8 from 144-4850MHz with a remarkably uniform spatial distribution and only mild spectral curvature. We propose that intermittent fuelling and jet flow disruptions are powering the mechanisms that keep the spectral index in the outer lobes from steepening and maintain the spatial uniformity of the spectral index. Overall, it appears that 3C293 has gone through multiple (two to three) epochs of activity. This study adds 3C293 to the new sub-group of restarted galaxies with short interruption time periods. This is the first time a spatially resolved study has been performed that simultaneously studies a young source as well as the older outer lobes at such low frequencies. This illustrates the potential of the International LOFAR telescope to expand such studies to a larger sample of radio galaxies.
