- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/520/A113
- Title:
- VLBI detection of 398 extragalactic radio sources
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/520/A113
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The European space astrometry mission Gaia will construct a dense optical QSO-based celestial reference frame. For consistency between optical and radio positions, it will be important to align the Gaia and VLBI frames with the highest possible accuracy. It has been found that only 70 (10%) of the sources from the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) are suitable for establishing this link, either because they are not bright enough at optical wavelengths or because they have significant extended radio emission which precludes reaching the highest astrometric accuracy. In order to improve the situation, we have initiated a VLBI survey dedicated to finding additional suitable radio sources for aligning the two frames. The sample consists of 447 optically- bright (magnitude <=18) extragalactic radio sources, typically 20 times weaker than the ICRF sources, which have been selected by cross-correlating an optical quasar catalog with the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS, Cat. VIII/65). This paper presents the observing strategy to detect, image, and measure accurate radio positions for these sources. It also provides results on the VLBI detectability of the sources, as derived from initial observations with the European VLBI Network in June and October 2007. Based on these observations, a high detection rate of 89% is found, which is promising for the continuation of this project. This high VLBI detection rate for sources from the NVSS catalog is probably due to the selection process, suggesting that optically-bright quasars have compact radio structures.
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Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/526/A102
- Title:
- VLBI imaging of 105 extragalactic radio sources
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/526/A102
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The European space astrometry mission Gaia, to be launched by 2012, will construct a dense optical QSO-based celestial reference frame which will need to be linked to the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF; the IAU fundamental frame), with the highest accuracy. However, it has been found that only 10% of the ICRF sources (70 sources) are suitable to establish this link. The remaining sources are not useful either because they are not bright enough at optical wavelengths or because they have significant extended radio emission which precludes reaching the highest astrometric accuracy. In order to improve the accuracy of this alignment, we have developed a program of VLBI observations based on three steps to detect, image and measure astrometric positions of weak extragalactic radio sources, with bright optical counterparts, from a sample of 447 candidate sources. The experiments devoted to VLBI detection, carried out with the European VLBI Network (EVN) in June and October 2007, were very successful, with 398 sources detected at both S- and X-bands. From these, 105 sources were observed in March 2008 with a global VLBI array (EVN and VLBA; Very Long Baseline Array) for imaging their VLBI structures. All sources were successfully imaged in both bands and about 50% (47 sources) were found to be point-like on VLBI scales. These images are available at http://www.obs.u-bordeaux1.fr/BVID/GC030/. VLBI positions of these sources will be measured accurately in future astrometric experiments.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/772/13
- Title:
- VLBI observations of 3C 279 at 230GHz
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/772/13
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We report results from five day very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of the well-known quasar 3C 279 at 1.3mm (230GHz) in 2011. The measured nonzero closure phases on triangles including stations in Arizona, California, and Hawaii indicate that the source structure is spatially resolved. We find an unusual inner jet direction at scales of ~1pc extending along the northwest-southeast direction (P.A.=127{deg}+/-3{deg}), as opposed to other (previously) reported measurements on scales of a few parsecs showing inner jet direction extending to the southwest. The 1.3mm structure corresponds closely with that observed in the central region of quasi-simultaneous super-resolution Very Long Baseline Array images at 7mm. The closure phase changed significantly on the last day when compared with the rest of observations, indicating that the inner jet structure may be variable on daily timescales. The observed new direction of the inner jet shows inconsistency with the prediction of a class of jet precession models. Our observations indicate a brightness temperature of ~8x10^10^K in the 1.3mm core, much lower than that at centimeter wavelengths. Observations with better uv coverage and sensitivity in the coming years will allow the discrimination between different structure models and will provide direct images of the inner regions of the jet with 20-30{mu}as (5-7 light months) resolution.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/418/2260
- Title:
- VLBI observations of NRAO 530 at 22, 43 and 86GHz
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/418/2260
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- NRAO 530 is an optically violent variable source and has been studied with multi-epoch multifrequency high-resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. NRAO 530 was monitored with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at three frequencies (22, 43 and 86GHz) on 10 consecutive days in 2007 May during observations of the Galactic Centre (Sgr A*). Furthermore, analysis of archival data of NRAO 530 at 15GHz over the last 10 years allows us to study its detailed jet kinematics. We identified the compact component located at the southern-end of the jet as the VLBI core, consistent with previous studies.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/127/3609
- Title:
- VLBI observations of southern ICRF sources
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/127/3609
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present 8.4GHz very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of 69 southern hemisphere extragalactic sources in the International Celestial Reference Frame. These are the first in a series of observations intended to image all such sources at milliarcsecond resolution in order to determine their continued suitability for reference-frame use based on intrinsic structure. We use the resultant images to calculate a core fraction, that is, the ratio of core flux density to total flux density, for all observed sources. The resulting distribution, with a mean value of 0.83, suggests that most sources are relatively compact. However, just over half the observed sources show significant extended emission in the form of multiple compact components. These sources are probably poorly suited for high-accuracy reference-frame use unless intrinsic structure and potential variability can be taken into account. Our observations represent the first large, comprehensive VLBI imaging survey in the southern hemisphere, significantly extending the existing limited VLBI surveys and, along with some well-known objects, containing many sources that have never been imaged at milliarcsecond resolution. The overlap with Very Long Baseline Array images of sources between 0{deg} and -35{deg} declination helps determine the limits to imaging with the southern hemisphere-accessible telescopes.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/589/733
- Title:
- VLBI polarimetry of CJF sources
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/589/733
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present Very Long Baseline Array observations and a statistical analysis of 5GHz 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 active galactic nucleus evolution.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/414/28
- Title:
- VLT Lyman-break galaxy redshift survey. II.
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/414/28
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We have measured redshifts for 243 z~~3 quasars in nine Very Large Telescope (VLT) Visible Imaging and Multi-Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) Lyman-break galaxy (LBG) redshift survey areas, each of which is centred on a known bright quasar. Using the spectra of these quasars, we measure the cross-correlation between neutral hydrogen gas causing the Ly{alpha} forest and 1020 LBGs at z~~3.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/440/53
- Title:
- VRc light curves of SBSG 1520+530
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/440/53
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The files table1.dat and table2.dat contain light curves of the double quasar SBS1520+530 obtained at Maidanak observatory from April 2003 to August 2004. table1.dat contains the R-band light curve. table2.dat contains the V-R light curve.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/886/150
- Title:
- VRI and K-band light curves of type 1 AGNs
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/886/150
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the results of a dust-reverberation survey of quasars at redshifts z<0.6. We found a delayed response of the K-band flux variation after the optical flux variation in 25 out of 31 targets, and obtained the lag time between them for 22 targets. Combined with the results for nearby Seyfert galaxies, we provide the largest homogeneous collection of K-band dust-reverberation data for 36 type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This doubles the sample and includes the most distant AGN and the largest lag so far measured. We estimated the optical luminosity of the AGN component of each target using three different methods: spectral decomposition, the flux-variation-gradient method, and image decomposition. We found a strong correlation between the reverberation radius for the innermost dust torus and the optical luminosity over a range of approximately four orders of magnitude in luminosity, as is already known for Seyfert galaxies. We estimated the luminosity distances of the AGNs based on their dust-reverberation lags, and found that the data in the redshift-distance diagram are consistent with the current standard estimates of the cosmological parameters. We also present the radius-luminosity relations for isotropic luminosity indicators such as the hard X-ray (14-195keV), [OIV]25.89{mu}m, and mid-infrared (12{mu}m) continuum luminosities, which are applicable to obscured AGNs.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/151/54
- Title:
- VRIJHK photometry of 3C 279
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/151/54
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We searched for quasi-periodicities on year-like timescales in the light curves of six blazars in the optical--near-infrared bands and we made a comparison with the high energy emission. We obtained optical/NIR light curves from Rapid Eye Mounting photometry plus archival Small & Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System data and we accessed the Fermi light curves for the {gamma}-ray data. The periodograms often show strong peaks in the optical and {gamma}-ray bands, which in some cases may be inter-related. The significance of the revealed peaks is then discussed, taking into account that the noise is frequency dependent. Quasi-periodicities on a year-like timescale appear to occur often in blazars. No straightforward model describing these possible periodicities is yet available, but some plausible interpretations for the physical mechanisms causing periodic variabilities of these sources are examined.
