Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userCassiopeia A, Cygnus A, Taurus A, and Virgo A at ultra-low radio frequencies
113
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
Francesco de Gasperin
Publication date
2020
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
The four persistent radio sources in the northern sky with the highest flux density at metre wavelengths are Cassiopeia A, Cygnus A, Taurus A, and Virgo A; collectively they are called the A-team. Their flux densities at ultra-low frequencies (<100 MHz) can reach several thousands of janskys, and they often contaminate observations of the low-frequency sky by interfering with image processing. Furthermore, these sources are foreground objects for all-sky observations hampering the study of faint signals, such as the cosmological 21 cm line from the epoch of reionisation. We aim to produce robust models for the surface brightness emission as a function of frequency for the A-team sources at ultra-low frequencies. These models are needed for the calibration and imaging of wide-area surveys of the sky with low-frequency interferometers. This requires obtaining images at an angular resolution better than 15 arcsec with a high dynamic range and good image fidelity. We observed the A-team with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) at frequencies between 30 MHz and 77 MHz using the Low Band Antenna (LBA) system. We reduced the datasets and obtained an image for each A-team source. The paper presents the best models to date for the sources Cassiopeia A, Cygnus A, Taurus A, and Virgo A between 30 MHz and 77 MHz. We were able to obtain the aimed resolution and dynamic range in all cases. Owing to its compactness and complexity, observations with the long baselines of the International LOFAR Telescope will be required to improve the source model for Cygnus A further.
rate research
Read More
The radio sky at lower frequencies, particularly below 20 MHz, is expected to be a combination of increasingly bright non-thermal emission and significant absorption from intervening thermal plasma. The sky maps at these frequencies cannot therefore be obtained by simple extrapolation of those at higher frequencies. However, due to severe constraints in ground-based observations, this spectral window still remains greatly unexplored. In this paper, we propose and study, through simulations, a novel minimal configuration for a space interferometer system which would enable imaging of the radio sky at frequencies well below 20 MHz with angular resolutions comparable to those achieved at higher radio frequencies in ground-based observations by using the aperture-synthesis technique. The minimal configuration consists of three apertures aboard Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites orbiting the Earth in mutually orthogonal orbits. Orbital periods for the satellites are deliberately chosen to differ from each other so as to obtain maximum (u, v) coverage in short time spans with baselines greater than 15000 km, thus, giving us angular resolutions finer than 10 arcsec even at these low frequencies. The sensitivity of the (u, v) coverage is assessed by varying the orbit and the initial phase of the satellites. We discuss the results obtained from these simulations and highlight the advantages of such a system.
We present new, low-frequency images of the powerful FR I radio galaxy Hydra A (3C 218). Images were made with the Very Large Array (VLA) at frequencies of 1415, 330, and 74 MHz, with resolutions on the order of 20. The morphology of the source is seen to be more complex and even larger than previously known, and extends nearly 8 (530 kpc) in a North-South direction. The southern lobe is bent to the east and extends in that direction for nearly 3 (200 kpc). In addition, we find that the northern lobe has a flatter spectral slope than the southern lobe, consistent with the appearance of greater confinement to the south. We measure overall spectral indices alpha^{330}_{74} = -0.83 and alpha^{1415}_{330} = -0.89.
We present high signal-to-noise, full polarization pulse profiles for 40 bright, slowly-rotating (non-recycled) pulsars using the new Ultra-Wideband Low-frequency (UWL; 704-4032 MHz) receiver on the Parkes radio telescope. We obtain updated and accurate interstellar medium parameters towards these pulsars (dispersion measures and Faraday rotation measures), and reveal Faraday dispersion towards PSR J1721-3532 caused by interstellar scattering. We find general trends in the pulse profiles including decreasing fractional linear polarization and increasing degree of circular polarization with increasing frequency, consistent with previous studies, while also revealing new features and frequency evolution. This demonstrates results that can be obtained using UWL monitoring observations of slow pulsars, which are valuable for improving our understanding of pulsar emission and the intervening interstellar medium. The calibrated data products are publicly available.
We present NuSTAR observations of the powerful radio galaxy Cygnus A, focusing on the central absorbed active galactic nucleus (AGN). Cygnus A is embedded in a cool-core galaxy cluster, and hence we also examine archival XMM-Newton data to facilitate the decomposition of the spectrum into the AGN and intracluster medium (ICM) components. NuSTAR gives a source-dominated spectrum of the AGN out to >70keV. In gross terms, the NuSTAR spectrum of the AGN has the form of a power law (Gamma~1.6-1.7) absorbed by a neutral column density of N_H~1.6x10^23 cm^-2. However, we also detect curvature in the hard (>10keV) spectrum resulting from reflection by Compton-thick matter out of our line-of-sight to the X-ray source. Compton reflection, possibly from the outer accretion disk or obscuring torus, is required even permitting a high-energy cutoff in the continuum source; the limit on the cutoff energy is E_cut>111keV (90% confidence). Interestingly, the absorbed power-law plus reflection model leaves residuals suggesting the absorption/emission from a fast (15,000-26,000km/s), high column-density (N_W>3x10^23 cm^-2), highly ionized (xi~2,500 erg cm/s) wind. A second, even faster ionized wind component is also suggested by these data. We show that the ionized wind likely carries a significant mass and momentum flux, and may carry sufficient kinetic energy to exercise feedback on the host galaxy. If confirmed, the simultaneous presence of a strong wind and powerful jets in Cygnus A demonstrates that feedback from radio-jets and sub-relativistic winds are not mutually exclusive phases of AGN activity but can occur simultaneously.
We have used archival 74 MHz VLA data spanning the last 15 years in combination with new data from the Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array (LWDA) and data from the literature covering the last 50 years to explore the evolution of Cas A at low radio frequencies. We find that the secular decrease of the flux density of Cas A at ~80 MHz is rather stable over five decades of time, decreasing at a rate of 0.7-0.8% yr^-1. This is entirely consistent with previous estimates at frequencies as low as 38 MHz, indicating that the secular decrease is roughly the same at low frequencies, at least between 38 and 80 MHz. We also find strong evidence for as many as four modes of flux density oscillation about the slower secular decrease with periods of 3.10+/-0.02$ yr, 5.1+/-0.3 yr, 9.0+/-0.2 yr, and 24+/-2 yr. These are also consistent with fluctuations seen previously to occur on scales of a few years. These results provide compelling motivation for a thorough low frequency monitoring campaign of Cas A to constrain the nature and physical origins of these fluctuations, and to be able to better predict the flux density of Cas A at any given epoch so that it may be used as a reliable low frequency calibrator.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
