arXiv subjects

Enno Middelberg

Publications and source records attributed to Enno Middelberg.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Spectral index properties of milliJansky radio sources

At the faintest radio flux densities (S_1.4 < 10 mJy), conflicting results have arisen regarding whether there is a flattening of the average spectral index between a low radio frequency (325 or 610 MHz), and e.g. 1.4 GHz. We present a new catalogue of 843 MHz radio sources in the ELAIS-S1 field that contains the sources, their ATLAS counterparts, and the spectral index distributions of the sources as a function of flux density. We do not find any statistically significant evidence for a trend towards flatter spectral indices with decreasing flux density. We then investigate the spectral index distribution with redshift for those sources with reliable redshifts and explore the infrared properties. An initial sample of faint Compact Steep Spectrum sources in ATLAS is also presented, with a brief overview of their properties.

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arXiv2011

The radio continuum structure of Centaurus A at 1.4 GHz

A 45 deg2 radio continuum imaging campaign of the nearest radio galaxy, Centaurus A, is reported. Using the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the Parkes 64m radio telescope at 1.4 GHz, the spatial resolution of the resultant image is ~600 pc, resolving the ~500 kpc giant radio lobes with approximately five times better physical resolution compared to any previous image, and making this the most detailed radio continuum image of any radio galaxy to date. In this paper, we present these new data and discuss briefly some of the most interesting morphological features that we have discovered in the images... abstract truncated.

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arXiv2011

Deep Spitzer observations of infrared-faint radio sources: high-redshift radio-loud AGN?

Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRSs) are a rare class of object which are relatively bright at radio wavelengths but very faint at infrared and optical wavelengths. Here we present sensitive near-infrared observations of a sample of these sources taken as part of the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS). Nearly all the IFRSs are undetected at a level of ~ 1 μ$Jy in these new deep observations, and even the detections are consistent with confusion with unrelated galaxies. A stacked image implies that the median flux density is $S_{3.6μm} ~ 0.2$ μ$Jy or less, giving extreme values of the radio-infrared flux density ratio. Comparison of these objects with known classes of object suggests that the majority are probably high-redshift radio-loud galaxies, possibly suffering from significant dust extinction.

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arXiv2011

Infrared-Faint Radio Sources: A Cosmological View - AGN Number Counts, the Cosmic X-Ray Background and SMBH Formation

Context. Infrared Faint Radio Sources (IFRS) are extragalactic emitters clearly detected at radio wavelengths but barely detected or undetected at optical and infrared wavelengths, with 5 sigma sensitivities as low as 1 uJy. Aims. Recent SED-modelling and analysis of their radio properties shows that IFRS are consistent with a population of (potentially extremely obscured) high-redshift AGN at 3<z<6. We demonstrate some astrophysical implications of this population and compare them to predictions from models of galaxy evolution and structure formation. Methods. We compiled a list of IFRS from four deep extragalactic surveys and extrapolated the IFRS number density to a survey-independent value of (30.8 +- 15.0) per square degree. We computed the IFRS contribution to the total number of AGN in the Universe to account for the Cosmic X-ray Background. By estimating the black hole mass contained in IFRS, we present conclusions for the SMBH mass density in the early universe and compare it to relevant simulations of structure formation after the Big Bang. Results. The number density of AGN derived from the IFRS density was found to be about 310 deg^-2, which is equivalent to a SMBH mass density of the order of 10^3 M_sun Mpc^-3 in the redshift range 3<z<6. This produces an X-ray flux of 9 10^-16 W m^-2 deg^-2 in the 0.5-2.0 keV band and 3 10^-15 W m^-2 deg^-2 in the 2.0-10 keV band, in agreement with the missing unresolved components of the Cosmic X-ray Background. Concerning the problem of SMBH formation after the Big Bang we find evidence for a scenario involving both halo gas accretion and major mergers.

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arXiv2010

Finding AGN with wide-field VLBI observations

VLBI observations are a reliable method to identify AGN, since they require high brightness temperatures for a detection to be made. However, because of the tiny fields of view it is unpractical to carry out VLBI observations of many sources using conventional methods. We used an extension of the DiFX software correlator to image with high sensitivity 96 sources in the Chandra Deep Field South, using only 9h of observing time with the VLBA. We detected 20 sources, 8 of which had not been identified as AGN at any other wavelength, despite the comprehensive coverage of this field. The lack of X-ray counterparts to 1/3 of the VLBI-detected sources, despite the sensitivity of co-located X-ray data, demonstrates that X-ray observations cannot be solely relied upon when searching for AGN activity. Surprisingly, we find that sources classified as type 1 QSOs using X-ray data are always detected, in contrast to the 10% radio-loud objects which are found in optically-selected QSOs. We present the continuation of this project with the goal to image 1450 sources in the Lockman Hole/XMM region.

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arXiv2010

The radio properties of infrared-faint radio sources

Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are objects that have flux densities of several mJy at 1.4GHz, but that are invisible at 3.6um when using sensitive Spitzer observations with uJy sensitivities. Their nature is unclear and difficult to investigate since they are only visible in the radio. High-resolution radio images and comprehensive spectral coverage can yield constraints on the emission mechanisms of IFRS and can give hints to similarities with known objects. We imaged a sample of 17 IFRS at 4.8GHz and 8.6GHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array to determine the structures on arcsecond scales. We added radio data from other observing projects and from the literature to obtain broad-band radio spectra. We find that the sources in our sample are either resolved out at the higher frequencies or are compact at resolutions of a few arcsec, which implies that they are smaller than a typical galaxy. The spectra of IFRS are remarkably steep, with a median spectral index of -1.4 and a prominent lack of spectral indices larger than -0.7. We also find that, given the IR non-detections, the ratio of 1.4GHz flux density to 3.6um flux density is very high, and this puts them into the same regime as high-redshift radio galaxies. The evidence that IFRS are predominantly high-redshift sources driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) is strong, even though not all IFRS may be caused by the same phenomenon. Compared to the rare and painstakingly collected high-redshift radio galaxies, IFRS appear to be much more abundant, but less luminous, AGN-driven galaxies at similar cosmological distances.

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arXiv2010

Wide-field VLBA Observations of the Chandra Deep Field South

Wide-field surveys are a commonly-used method for studying thousands of objects simultaneously, to investigate, e.g., the joint evolution of star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei. VLBI observations can yield valuable input to such studies because they are able to identify AGN. However, VLBI observations of large swaths of the sky are impractical using standard methods, because the fields of view of VLBI observations are of the order of 10" or less. We have embarked on a project to carry out Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of all 96 known radio sources in one of the best-studied areas in the sky, the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS). The challenge was to develop methods which could significantly reduce the amount of observing (and post-processing) time. We have developed an extension to the DiFX software correlator which allows one to correlate hundreds of positions within the primary beams. This extension enabled us to target many sources, at full resolution and high sensitivity, using only a small amount of observing time. The combination of wide fields-of-view and high sensitivity across the field in this survey is unprecedented. We have observed with the VLBA a single pointing containing the Chandra Deep Field South, in which 96 radio sources were known from previous observations with the ATCA. From our input sample, 20 were detected with the VLBA. The majority of objects have flux densities in agreement with arcsec-scale observations, implying that their radio emission comes from very small regions. One VLBI-detected object had earlier been classified as a star-forming galaxy. Comparing the VLBI detections to sources found in sensitive, co-located X-ray observations we find that X-ray detections are not a good indicator for VLBI detections. Wide-field VLBI survey science is now coming of age.

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arXiv2010

Wide-angle tail galaxies in ATLAS

We present radio images of a sample of six Wide-Angle Tail (WAT) radio sources identified in the ATLAS 1.4 GHz radio survey, and new spectroscopic redshifts for four of these sources. These WATs are in the redshift range of 0.1469 - 0.3762, and we find evidence of galaxy overdensities in the vicinity of four of the WATs from either spectroscopic or photometric redshifts. We also present follow-up spectroscopic observations of the area surrounding the largest WAT, S1189, which is at a redshift of ~0.22. The spectroscopic observations, taken using the AAOmega spectrograph on the AAT, show an overdensity of galaxies at this redshift. The galaxies are spread over an unusually large area of ~12 Mpc with a velocity spread of ~4500 km/s. This large-scale structure includes a highly asymmetric FRI radio galaxy and also appears to host a radio relic. It may represent an unrelaxed system with different sub-structures interacting or merging with one another. We discuss the implications of these observations for future large-scale radio surveys.

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arXiv2009

Faraday Rotation Structure on Kiloparsec Scales in the Giant Radio Lobes of Centaurus A

We present the results of an Australia Telescope Compact Array 1.4 GHz spectropolarimetric aperture synthesis survey of 34 square degrees centred on Centaurus A - NGC 5128. A catalogue of 1005 extragalactic compact radio sources in the field to a continuum flux density of 3 mJy/beam is provided along with a table of Faraday rotation measures (RMs) and linear polarised intensities for the 28 percent of sources with high signal-to-noise in linear polarisation. We use the ensemble of 281 background polarised sources as line-of-sight probes of the structure of the giant radio lobes of Centaurus A. This is the first time such a method has been applied to radio galaxy lobes and we explain how it differs from the conventional methods that are often complicated by depth and beam depolarisation effects. We use an RM structure function analysis and report the detection of a turbulent RM signal, with rms of 17 rad/m^2 and scale size 0.3 degrees, associated with the southern giant lobe. We cannot verify whether this signal arises from turbulent structure throughout the lobe or only in a thin skin (or sheath) around the edge, although we favour the latter. The RM signal is modelled as possibly arising from a thin skin with a thermal plasma density equivalent to the Centaurus intragroup medium density and a coherent magnetic field that reverses its sign on a spatial scale of 20 kpc.

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arXiv2008

The evolving starburst-AGN connection: Implications for SKA and its pathfinders

How well is the modern-day starburst-AGN connection mirrored in the early Universe? This is starting to be answered by deep wide radio surveys such as ATLAS, which are giving us a new view of high redshift galaxies. For example, we find powerful radio-loud AGNs which look like star-forming spirals in the optical and infrared, a composite which is almost unknown in the modern Universe. We find radio-bright objects which are unexpectedly invisible in the infrared, and which may be very high redshift radio galaxies and quasars. And although the radio-far-infrared correlation for star-forming galaxies has now been extended down to microJy levels, we still cannot reliably distinguish between starburst and AGN. So what do we need to do to ensure that SKA and its pathfinders will be able to understand galaxy evolution in the early Universe?

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arXiv2008

High Resolution Radio Astronomy Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry

Very Long Baseline Interferometry, or VLBI, is the observing technique yielding the highest-resolution images today. Whilst a traditionally large fraction of VLBI observations is concentrating on Active Galactic Nuclei, the number of observations concerned with other astronomical objects such as stars and masers, and with astrometric applications, is significant. In the last decade, much progress has been made in all of these fields. We give a brief introduction into the technique of radio interferometry, focussing on the particularities of VLBI observations, and review recent results which would not have been possible without VLBI observations.

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arXiv2007

Deep ATLAS Radio Observations of the ELAIS-S1/Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalctic field

We have conducted sensitive (1 sigma<30 uJy) 1.4 GHz radio observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array of a field largely coincident with infrared observations of the Spitzer Wide-Area Extragalactic Survey. The field is centred on the European Large Area ISO Survey S1 region and has a total area of 3.9 deg. We describe the observations and calibration, source extraction, and cross-matching to infrared sources. Two catalogues are presented; one of the radio components found in the image and one of radio sources with counterparts in the infrared and extracted from the literature. 1366 radio components were grouped into 1276 sources, 1183 of which were matched to infrared sources. We discover 31 radio sources with no infrared counterpart at all, adding to the class of Infrared-Faint Radio Sources.

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arXiv2007

VLBI detection of an Infrared-Faint Radio Source

Infrared-Faint Radio Sources represent a new and unexpected class of object which is bright at radio wavelengths but unusually faint at infrared wavelengths. If, like most mJy radio sources, they were either conventional active or star-forming galaxies in the local Universe, we would expect them to be detectable at infrared wavelengths, and so their non-detection by the Spitzer Space Telescope is surprising. Here we report the detection of one of these sources using Very Long Baseline Interferometry, from which we conclude that the sources are driven by Active Galactic Nuclei. We suggest that these sources are either normal radio-loud quasars at high redshift or abnormally obscured radio galaxies.

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arXiv2007

Dressing a naked quasar: star formation and AGN feedback in HE0450-2958

We present Australia Telescope Compact Array radio continuum observations of the quasar/galaxy system HE0450-2958. An asymetric triple linear morphology is observed, with the central radio component coincident with the quasar core and a second radio component associated with a companion galaxy at a projected distance of 7kpc from the quasar. The system obeys the far-infrared to radio continuum correlation, implying the radio emission is energetically dominated by star formation activity. However, there is undoubtedly some contribution to the overall radio emission from a low-luminosity AGN core and a pair of radio lobes. Long baseline radio interferometric observations of the quasar core place a 3sigma upper limit of 0.6mJy at 1400MHz on the AGN contribution to the quasar's radio emission; less than 30% of the total. The remaining 70% of the radio emission from the quasar is associated with star formation activity and provides the first direct evidence for the quasar's host galaxy. A re-anlaysis of the VLT spectroscopic data shows extended emission line regions aligned with the radio axis and extended on scales of ~20kpc. This is interpreted as evidence for jet-cloud interactions, similar to those observed in radio galaxies and Seyferts. The emission lines in the companion galaxy are consistent with radiative shocks and its spatial association with the eastern radio lobe implies large-scale jet-induced star formation has played a role in this galaxy's evolution.

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arXiv2007

Jet-cloud collisions in the jet of the Seyfert galaxy NGC3079

We report the results from a six-year, multi-epoch very long baseline interferomertry monitoring of the Seyfert galaxy NGC3079. We have observed NGC3079 during eight epochs between 1999 and 2005 predominantly at 5GHz, but covering the frequency range of 1.7GHz to 22GHz. Using our data and observations going back to 1985, we find that the separation of two of the three visible nuclear radio components underwent two decelerations. At the time of these decelerations, the flux density of one of the components increased by factors of five and two, respectively. We interpret these events as a radio jet component undergoing compression, possibly as a result of a collision with ISM material. This interpretation strongly supports the existence of jets surrounded by a clumpy medium of dense clouds within the first few parsecs from the central engine in NGC3079. Moreover, based on recently published simulations of jet interactions with clumpy media, this scenario is able to explain the nature of two additional regions of ageing synchrotron material detected at the lower frequencies as by-products of such interactions, and also the origin of the kpc-scale super bubble observed in NGC3079 as the result of the spread of the momentum of the jets impeded from propagating freely. The generalization of this scenario provides an explanation why jets in Seyfert galaxies are not able to propagate to scales of kpc as do jets in radio-loud AGN.

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arXiv2007

ATLAS: Deep Radio Observations of Six Square Degrees

We are using the Australia Telescope Compact Array to image about six square degrees surrounding the Chandra Deep Field South and European Large Area ISO Survey - South 1 regions, with the aim of producing the widest deep radio survey ever attempted, in fields with deep optical, infrared, and X-ray data. Our goal is to penetrate the heavy dust extinction which is found in active galaxies at all redshifts, and study the star formation activity and active galactic nuclei buried within. Although we are only about half-way through the survey, our data are proving remarkably fruitful. For example, we have discovered a new and unexpected class of object (the Infrared-Faint Radio Sources), we have found that the radio-FIR correlation extends to low flux densities, and we havefound powerful AGN-like radio objects in galaxies with a star-forming SED.

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arXiv2006

Deep ATLAS radio observations of the CDFS-SWIRE field

We present the first results from the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS), which consist of deep radio observations of a 3.7 square degree field surrounding the Chandra Deep Field South, largely coincident with the infrared Spitzer Wide-Area Extragalactic (SWIRE) Survey. We also list cross-identifications to infrared and optical photometry data from SWIRE, and ground-based optical spectroscopy. A total of 784 radio components are identified, corresponding to 726 distinct radio sources, nearly all of which are identified with SWIRE sources. Of the radio sources with measured redshifts, most lie in the redshift range 0.5-2, and include both star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN). We identify a rare population of infrared-faint radio sources which are bright at radio wavelengths but are not seen in the available optical, infrared, or X-ray data. Such rare classes of sources can only be discovered in wide, deep surveys such as this.

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arXiv2006

The ATCA Seeing Monitor

We present the design of, and a first analysis of data from, the atmospheric seeing monitor at the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The seeing monitor has been operational almost continuously since May 2004 and every 10min delivers a measurement of the atmospheric phase stability at the observatory. Its measurements can be used by observers to help deciding whether it is worth carrying out observations at millimetre wavelengths or whether a longer-wavelength backup project should be observed. We present a statistical analysis of the data recorded since September 2004 to characterize the annual variations in atmospheric path length fluctuations. Our analysis shows that in terms of phase stability, nights in spring, summer, and autumn are as good as, or better than, days in winter. We also find that the data imply that the turbulence in the lower few hundred metres of the atmosphere is predominantly responsible for the atmospheric seeing.

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