No Arabic abstract
A new sample of very powerful radio sources, defined from the Molonglo Reference Catalogue, was recently compiled by Best, Rottgering and Lehnert (1999). These authors provided redshifts for 174 of the 178 objects in the sample, making the sample 98% spectroscopically complete. Here, redshifts for three of the remaining galaxies are presented, confirming the optical identifications and raising the spectroscopic completeness of the sample to 99.5%; only 1059-010 (3C249) is currently without redshift.
A new sample of very powerful radio galaxies is defined from the Molonglo Reference Catalogue, according to the criteria S (408 MHz) > 5 Jy, -30 < Dec < 10 degrees, |b| > 10 degrees. The sample is selected to have similar properties to the northern 3CR revised sample, and to be visible to a combination of existing northern telescopes such as the Very Large Array radio interferometer and large southern hemisphere telescope facilities. The sample contains 178 sources, of which spectroscopic redshifts are available in the literature for 128. For the remaining 50 sources, new radio imaging, optical imaging and spectroscopic observations are presented to identify the host galaxies and determine their redshifts. With these new observations the total sample is 100% optically identified and redshifts are available for 174 (98%) of the sources. The sample consists of one starburst galaxy, one Seyfert galaxy, 127 radio galaxies and 49 quasars. Basic properties of the sample, such as the distributions of the quasar and radio galaxy populations in redshift and their locations on the radio power versus linear size (P-D) diagram, show no significant differences from the revised 3CR sample. The equatorial location and the high spectroscopic completeness of this sample make it a valuable resource for detailed studies of the nature and environments of these important objects with the new generation of southern hemisphere telescopes.
We have measured the mid-infrared radiation from an orientation-unbiased sample of powerful 3C RR galaxies and quasars using the IRS and MIPS instruments aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. We fit the Spitzer data as well as other measurements from the literature with synchrotron and dust components. At 15 microns, quasars are typically four times brighter than radio galaxies with the same isotropic radio power. Based on our fits, half of this difference can be attributed to the presence of non-thermal emission in the quasars but not the radio galaxies. The other half is consistent with dust absorption in the radio galaxies but not the quasars.
We present a model for the compression and heating of the ICM by powerful radio galaxies and quasars. Based on a self-similar model of the dynamical evolution of FRII-type objects we numerically integrate the hydrodynamic equations governing the flow of the shocked ICM in between the bow shock and the radio lobes of these sources. The resulting gas properties are presented and discussed. The X-ray emission of the shocked gas is calculated and is found to be in agreement with observations. The enhancement of the X-ray emission of cluster gas due to the presence of powerful radio galaxies may play an important role in the direct detection of cluster gas at high redshifts.
We present deep near-infrared images, taken with Subaru Telescope, of the region around the z=1.08 radio source 3C 356 which show it to be associated with a poor cluster of galaxies. We discuss evidence that this cluster comprises two subclusters traced by the two galaxies previously proposed as identifications for 3C 356, which both seem to harbour AGN, and which have the disturbed morphologies expected if they underwent an interpenetrating collision at the time the radio jets were triggered. We explain the high luminosity and temperature of the diffuse X-ray emission from this system as the result of shock-heating of intracluster gas by the merger of two galaxy groups. Taken together with the results on other well-studied powerful radio sources, we suggest that the key ingredient for triggering a powerful radio source, at least at epochs corresponding to z~1, is a galaxy--galaxy interaction which can be orchestrated by the merger of their parent subclusters. This provides an explanation for the rapid decline in the number density of powerful radio sources since z~1. We argue that attempts to use distant radio-selected clusters to trace the formation and evolution of the general cluster population must address ways in which X-ray properties can be influenced by the radio source, both directly, by mechanisms such as inverse-Compton scattering, and indirectly, by the fact that the radio source may be preferentially triggered at a specific time during the formation of the cluster.
Giant radio sources form the linear size extreme of the extra-galactic radio source population. Using the WENSS survey, we have selected a complete sample of these sources. We have investigated the properties of their radio structures. We find, among other things, that these sources are old (50-100 Myr) and have higher advance velocities than smaller sources of similar radio power. We find pressure gradients in their radio lobes, suggesting that the lobes are still overpressured with respect to the environment. Further, we find no evidence for a cosmological evolution of the radio lobe pressures with increasing redshift, at least up to $zsim 0.4$, other than that caused by selection effects. We argue that a much fainter sample of giant sources than currently available is needed to constrain the pressure in their environments, the IGM. Another extremely important discovery is that of a population of radio sources with a so-called `double-double structure, i.e. that of a small two-sided radio source embedded inside a much larger two-sided structure. We argue that these sources result from an interrupted central jet-forming activity. As such, they are the most convincing examples of radio sources with a history of interrupted activity, yet. Since the inner lobes advance within the outer lobes, high resolution low frequency ($sim 200$ MHz) polarization studies may reveal the constituents of radio lobes and cocoons. We thus argue for a SKA design that can provide low-frequency images at arcsec resolution, but which is also sensitive to structures as large as a few tens of arcminute on the sky.