- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/649/A94
- Title:
- A universal pattern in halo magnetic fields
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/649/A94
- Date:
- 22 Feb 2022
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Magnetic fields in galaxy halos are in general very difficult to observe. Most recently, the Continuum HAlos in Nearby Galaxies - an EVLA Survey (CHANG-ES) collaboration investigated the radio halos of 35 nearby edge-on spiral galaxies in detail and detected large-scale magnetic fields in 16 of them. We used the CHANG-ES radio polarization data to create rotation measure (RM) maps for all galaxies in the sample and stack them with the aim of amplifying any underlying universal toroidal magnetic field pattern in the halo above and below the disk of the galaxy. We discovered a large-scale magnetic field in the central region of the stacked galaxy profile, which is attributable to an axial electric current that universally outflows from the center, both above and below the plane of the disk. A similar symmetry-breaking has also been observed in astrophysical jets, but never before in galaxy halos. This is an indication that galaxy halo magnetic fields are probably not generated by pure magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) processes in the central regions of galaxies. One such promising physical mechanism is the Cosmic Battery operating in the innermost accretion disk around the central supermassive black hole. We anticipate that our discovery will stimulate a more general discussion on the origin of astrophysical magnetic fields.
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/415/3831
- Title:
- AzTEC/ASTE source catalogue
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/415/3831
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present a 0.72deg^2^ contiguous 1.1-mm survey in the central area of the Cosmological Evolution Survey field carried out to a 1{sigma}~1.26mJy/beam depth with the AzTEC camera mounted on the 10-m Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment. We have uncovered 189 candidate sources at a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N)>=3.5, out of which 129, with S/N>=4, can be considered to have little chance of being spurious (<~2 per cent). We present the number counts derived with this survey, which show a significant excess of sources when compared to the number counts derived from the ~0.5deg^2^ area sampled at similar depths in the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES).
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/423/529
- Title:
- AzTEC deep-field observations
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/423/529
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Instruments using arrays of many bolometers have become increasingly common in the past decade. The maps produced by such instruments typically include the filtering effects of the instrument as well as those from subsequent steps performed in the reduction of the data. Therefore interpretation of the maps is dependent upon accurately calculating the transfer function of the chosen reduction technique on the signal of interest. Many of these instruments use non-linear and iterative techniques to reduce their data because such methods can offer an improved signal-to-noise ratio over those that are purely linear, particularly for signals at scales comparable to that subtended by the array. We discuss a general approach for measuring the transfer function of principal component analysis on point sources that are small compared to the spatial extent seen by any single bolometer within the array. The results are applied to previously released AzTEC catalogues of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), Lockman Hole, Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Field, Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS)-North and GOODS-South fields. Source flux density and noise estimates increase by roughly +10 per cent for fields observed while AzTEC was installed at the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment and +15-25 per cent while AzTEC was installed at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. Detection significance is, on average, unaffected by the revised technique. The revised photometry technique will be used in subsequent AzTEC releases.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/453/1223
- Title:
- BCG high radio-frequency properties
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/453/1223
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We consider the high radio-frequency (15-353GHz) properties and variability of 35 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). These are the most core-dominated sources drawn from a parent sample of more than 700 X-ray selected clusters, thus allowing us to relate our results to the general population. We find that >=6.0 percent of our parent sample (>=15.1 percent if only cool-core clusters are considered) contain a radio source at 150GHz of at least 3mJy (~1x10^23^W/Hz at our median redshift of z~0.13). Furthermore, >=3.4 percent of the BCGs in our parent sample contain a peaked component (Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum, GPS) in their spectra that peaks above 2GHz, increasing to >=8.5 percent if only cool-core clusters are considered. We see little evidence for strong variability at 15GHz on short (week-month) time-scales although we see variations greater than 20 percent at 150GHz over six-month time frames for 4 of the 23 sources with multi-epoch observations. Much more prevalent is long-term (year-decade time-scale) variability, with average annual amplitude variations greater than 1 percent at 15GHz being commonplace. There is a weak trend towards higher variability as the peak of the GPS-like component occurs at higher frequency. We demonstrate the complexity that is seen in the radio spectra of BCGs and discuss the potentially significant implications of these high-peaking components for Sunyaev-Zel'dovich cluster searches.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/148/75
- Title:
- Bent-tailed radio galaxies Chandra Deep Field South
- Short Name:
- J/AJ/148/75
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Using the 1.4GHz Australia Telescope Large Area Survey, supplemented by the 1.4GHz Very Large Array images, we undertook a search for bent-tailed (BT) radio galaxies in the Chandra Deep Field South. Here we present a catalog of 56 detections, which include 45 BT sources, 4 diffuse low-surface-brightness objects (1 relic, 2 halos, and 1 unclassified object), and a further 7 complex, multi-component sources. We report BT sources with rest-frame powers in the range 10^22^<=P_1.4 GHz_<=10^26^W/Hz, with redshifts up to 2 and linear extents from tens of kiloparsecs up to about 1Mpc. This is the first systematic study of such sources down to such low powers and high redshifts and demonstrates the complementary nature of searches in deep, limited area surveys as compared to shallower, large surveys. Of the sources presented here, one is the most distant BT source yet detected at a redshift of 2.1688. Two of the sources are found to be associated with known clusters: a wide-angle tail source in A3141 and a putative radio relic which appears at the infall region between the galaxy group MZ 00108 and the galaxy cluster AMPCC 40. Further observations are required to confirm the relic detection, which, if successful, would demonstrate this to be the least powerful relic yet seen with P_1.4GHz_=9x10^22^W/Hz. Using these data, we predict future 1.4GHz all-sky surveys with a resolution of ~10 arcsec and a sensitivity of 10{mu}Jy will detect of the order of 560,000 extended low-surface-brightness radio sources of which 440,000 will have a BT morphology.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/457/4160
- Title:
- BETA pilot multi-epoch continuum survey
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/457/4160
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The Boolardy Engineering Test Array is a 6x12m dish interferometer and the prototype of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), equipped with the first generation of ASKAP's phased array feed (PAF) receivers. These facilitate rapid wide-area imaging via the deployment of simultaneous multiple beams within an ~30deg^2^ field of view. By cycling the array through 12 interleaved pointing positions and using nine digitally formed beams, we effectively mimic a traditional 1hx108 pointing survey, covering ~150deg^2^ over 711-1015MHz in 12h of observing time. Three such observations were executed over the course of a week. We verify the full bandwidth continuum imaging performance and stability of the system via self-consistency checks and comparisons to existing radio data. The combined three epoch image has arcminute resolution and a 1{sigma} thermal noise level of 375{mu}Jy/beam, although the effective noise is a factor of ~3 higher due to residual sidelobe confusion. From this we derive a catalogue of 3722 discrete radio components, using the 35 per cent fractional bandwidth to measure in-band spectral indices for 1037 of them. A search for transient events reveals one significantly variable source within the survey area. The survey covers approximately two-thirds of the Spitzer South Pole Telescope Deep Field. This pilot project demonstrates the viability and potential of using PAFs to rapidly and accurately survey the sky at radio wavelengths.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/900/L34
- Title:
- BL Lac objects and radio galaxies comparison
- Short Name:
- J/ApJ/900/L34
- Date:
- 15 Feb 2022 00:20:41
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- The most elusive and extreme subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), known as BL Lac objects, shows features that can only be explained as the result of relativistic effects occurring in jets pointing at a small angle with respect to the line of sight. A longstanding issue is the identification of the BL Lac parent population with jets oriented at larger angles. According to the "unification scenario" of AGNs, radio galaxies with low luminosity and an edge-darkened radio morphology are the most promising candidate parent population of BL Lacs. Here we compare the large-scale environment, an orientation-independent property, of well-defined samples of BL Lacs with samples of radio galaxies all lying in the local universe. Our study reveals that BL Lacs and radio galaxies live in significantly different environments, challenging predictions of the unification scenario. We propose a solution to this problem proving that large-scale environments of BL Lacs are statistically consistent with those of compact radio sources, known as FR 0s, and share similar properties. This implies that highly relativistic jets are ubiquitous and are the natural outcome of the accretion of gas into the deep gravitational potential well produced by supermassive black holes.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/600/A65
- Title:
- B2 0924+30 LOFAR HBA and WSRT maps
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/600/A65
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- Using LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray), Westerbork telescope and survey data, we map the spectral index and age of the remnant radio galaxy by using different ageing models.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/620/A74
- Title:
- Bootes field deep LOFAR 150MHz imaging
- Short Name:
- J/A+A/620/A74
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We have conducted a deep survey (with a central rms of 55uJy) with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) at 120-168MHz of the Bootes field, with an angular resolution of 3.98"x6.45", and obtained a sample of 10091 radio sources (5{sigma} limit) over an area of 20deg^2^. 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 150MHz 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 Bootes mosaic into 10 non-overlapping circular sectors, each one with an approximate area of 2deg^2^. 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 150MHz, we find that the 1{sigma} 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<1mJy. This work demonstrates the feasibility of achieving deep radio imaging at low-frequencies with LOFAR.
- ID:
- ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/460/2385
- Title:
- Bootes field LOFAR 150-MHz observations
- Short Name:
- J/MNRAS/460/2385
- Date:
- 21 Oct 2021
- Publisher:
- CDS
- Description:
- We present the first wide area (19 deg^2^), deep (~=120-150 {mu}Jy/beam), high-resolution (5.6x7.4-arcsec) LOFAR High Band Antenna image of the Bootes field made at 130-169MHz. This image is at least an order of magnitude deeper and 3-5 times higher in angular resolution than previously achieved for this field at low frequencies. The observations and data reduction, which includes full direction-dependent calibration, are described here. We present a radio source catalogue containing 6276 sources detected over an area of 19deg^2^, with a peak flux density threshold of 5{sigma}. As the first thorough test of the facet calibration strategy, introduced by van Weeren et al. (2016ApJS..223....2V), we investigate the flux and positional accuracy of the catalogue. We present differential source counts that reach an order of magnitude deeper in flux density than previously achieved at these low frequencies, and show flattening at 150-MHz flux densities below 10 mJy associated with the rise of the low flux density star-forming galaxies and radio-quiet AGN.
