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K. M. Hess

Publications and source records attributed to K. M. Hess.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A fast radio burst with sub-millisecond quasi-periodic structure

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are extragalactic radio transients of extraordinary luminosity. Studying the diverse temporal and spectral behaviour recently observed in a number of FRBs may help determine the nature of the entire class. For example, a fast spinning or highly magnetised neutron star might generate the rotation-powered acceleration required to explain the bright emission. Periodic, sub-second components, suggesting such rotation, were recently reported in one FRB, and potentially in two more. Here we report the discovery of FRB 20201020A with Apertif, an FRB showing five components regularly spaced by 0.415 ms. This sub-millisecond structure in FRB 20201020A carries important clues about the progenitor of this FRB specifically, and potentially about that of FRBs in general. We thus contrast its features to the predictions of the main FRB source models. We perform a timing analysis of the FRB 20201020A components to determine the significance of the periodicity. We compare these against the timing properties of the previously reported CHIME FRBs with sub-second quasi-periodic components, and against two Apertif bursts from repeating FRB 20180916B that show complex time-frequency structure. We find the periodicity of FRB 20201020A to be marginally significant at 2.5$σ$. Its repeating subcomponents cannot be explained as a pulsar rotation since the required spin rate of over 2 kHz exceeds the limits set by typical neutron star equations of state and observations. The fast periodicity is also in conflict with a compact object merger scenario. These quasi-periodic components could, however, be caused by equidistant emitting regions in the magnetosphere of a magnetar. The sub-millisecond spacing of the components in FRB 20201020A, the smallest observed so far in a one-off FRB, may rule out both neutron-star rotation and binary mergers as the direct source of quasi-periodic FRBs.

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The Westerbork Coma Survey: A blind, deep, high-resolution HI survey of the Coma cluster

We present the blind Westerbork Coma Survey probing the HI content of the Coma galaxy cluster with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. The survey covers the inner $\sim$ 1 Mpc around the cluster centre, extending out to 1.5 Mpc towards the south-western NGC 4839 group. The survey probes the atomic gas in the entire Coma volume down to a sensitivity of $\sim$ 10$^{19}$ cm$^{-2}$ and 10$^8$ M$_{\odot}$. Combining automated source finding with source extraction at optical redshifts and visual verification, we obtained 40 HI detections of which 24 are new. Over half of the sample displays perturbed HI morphologies indicative of an ongoing interaction with the cluster environment. With the use of ancillary UV and mid-IR, data we measured their stellar masses and star formation rates and compared the HI properties to a set of field galaxies spanning a similar stellar mass and star formation rate range. We find that $\sim$ 75 % of HI-selected Coma galaxies have simultaneously enhanced star formation rates (by $\sim$ 0.2 dex) and are HI deficient (by $\sim$ 0.5 dex) compared to field galaxies of the same stellar mass. According to our toy model, the simultaneous HI deficiency and enhanced star formation activity can be attributed to either HI stripping of already highly star forming galaxies on a very short timescale, while their H$_2$ content remains largely unaffected, or to HI stripping coupled to a temporary boost of the HI-to-H$_2$ conversion, causing a brief starburst phase triggered by ram pressure before eventually quenching the galaxy.

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CHILES VII: Deep Imaging for the CHILES project, a SKA prototype

Radio Astronomy is undergoing a renaissance, as the next-generation of instruments provides a massive leap forward in collecting area and therefore raw sensitivity. However, to achieve this theoretical level of sensitivity in the science data products we need to address the much more pernicious systematic effects, which are the true limitation. These become all the more significant when we consider that much of the time used by survey instruments, such as the SKA, will be dedicated to deep surveys. CHILES is a deep HI survey of the COSMOS field, with 1,000 hours of VLA time. We present our approach for creating the image cubes from the first Epoch, with discussions of the methods and quantification of the data quality from 946 to 1420MHz -- a redshift range of 0.5 to 0. We layout the problems we had to solve and describe how we tackled them. These are of importance as CHILES is the first deep wideband multi-epoch HI survey and it has relevance for ongoing and future surveys. We focus on the accumulated systematic errors in the imaging, as the goal is to deliver a high-fidelity image that is only limited by the random thermal errors. To understand and correct these systematic effects we ideally manage them in the domain in which they arise, and that is predominately the visibility domain. CHILES is a perfect test bed for many of the issues we can expect for deep imaging with the SKA or ngVLA and we discuss the lessons we have learned.

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Apercal -- The Apertif Calibration Pipeline

Apertif (APERture Tile In Focus) is one of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder facilities. The Apertif project is an upgrade to the 50-year-old Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) using phased-array feed technology. The new receivers create 40 individual beams on the sky, achieving an instantaneous sky coverage of 6.5 square degrees. The primary goal of the Apertif Imaging Survey is to perform a wide survey of 3500 square degrees (AWES) and a medium deep survey of 350 square degrees (AMES) of neutral atomic hydrogen (up to a redshift of 0.26), radio continuum emission and polarisation. Each survey pointing yields 4.6 TB of correlated data. The goal of Apercal is to process this data and fully automatically generate science ready data products for the astronomical community while keeping up with the survey observations. We make use of common astronomical software packages in combination with Python based routines and parallelisation. We use an object oriented module-based approach to ensure easy adaptation of the pipeline. A Jupyter notebook based framework allows user interaction and execution of individual modules as well as a full automatic processing of a complete survey observation. If nothing interrupts processing, we are able to reduce a single pointing survey observation on our five node cluster with 24 physical cores and 256 GB of memory each within 24h keeping up with the speed of the surveys. The quality of the generated images is sufficient for scientific usage for 44 % of the recorded data products with single images reaching dynamic ranges of several thousands. Future improvements will increase this percentage to over 80 %. Our design allowed development of the pipeline in parallel to the commissioning of the Apertif system.

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Apertif, Phased Array Feeds for the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope

We describe the APERture Tile In Focus (Apertif) system, a phased array feed (PAF) upgrade of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope which has transformed this telescope into a high-sensitivity, wide field-of-view L-band imaging and transient survey instrument. Using novel PAF technology, up to 40 partially overlapping beams can be formed on the sky simultaneously, significantly increasing the survey speed of the telescope. With this upgraded instrument, an imaging survey covering an area of 2300 deg2 is being performed which will deliver both continuum and spectral line data sets, of which the first data has been publicly released. In addition, a time domain transient and pulsar survey covering 15,000 deg2 is in progress. An overview of the Apertif science drivers, hardware and software of the upgraded telescope is presented, along with its key performance characteristics.

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A search for radio emission from double-neutron star merger GW190425 using Apertif

Detection of the electromagnetic emission from coalescing binary neutron stars (BNS) is important for understanding the merger and afterglow. We present a search for a radio counterpart to the gravitational-wave source GW190425, a BNS merger, using Apertif on the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). We observe a field of high probability in the associated localisation region for 3 epochs at 68, 90 and 109 days post merger. We identify all sources that exhibit flux variations consistent with the expected afterglow emission of GW190425. We also look for possible transients. These are sources which are only present in one epoch. In addition, we quantify our ability to search for radio afterglows in fourth and future observing runs of the gravitational-wave detector network using Monte Carlo simulations. We found 25 afterglow candidates based on their variability. None of these could be associated with a possible host galaxy at the luminosity distance of GW190425. We also found 55 transient afterglow candidates that were only detected in one epoch. All turned out to be image artefacts. In the fourth observing run, we predict that up to three afterglows will be detectable by Apertif. While we did not find a source related to the afterglow emission of GW190425, the search validates our methods for future searches of radio afterglows.

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The best of both worlds: Combining LOFAR and Apertif to derive resolved radio spectral index images

Supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies can cycle through periods of activity and quiescence. Characterising the duty cycle of active galactic nuclei is crucial for understanding the impact of the energy they release on the host galaxy. For radio AGN, this can be done by identifying dying (remnant) and restarted radio galaxies from their radio spectral properties. Using the combination of images at 1400 MHz produced by Apertif, the new phased-array feed receiver installed on the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, and images at 150 MHz provided by LOFAR, we have derived resolved spectral index images (at a resolution of ~15 arcsec) for all the sources within ~6 deg^2 area of the Lockman Hole region. We were able to select 15 extended radio sources with emission (partly or entirely) characterised by extremely steep spectral indices (steeper than 1.2). These objects represent radio sources in the remnant or the restarted phases of their life cycle. Our findings suggest this cycle to be relatively fast. They also show a variety of properties relevant for modelling the evolution of radio galaxies. For example, the restarted activity can occur while the remnant structure from a previous phase of activity is still visible. This provides constraints on the duration of the 'off' (dying) phase. In extended remnants with ultra-steep spectra at low frequencies, the activity likely stopped a few hundred megayears ago, and they correspond to the older tail of the age distribution of radio galaxies, in agreement with simulations of radio source evolution. We find remnant radio sources with a variety of structures (from double-lobed to amorphous), suggesting different types of progenitors. The present work sets the stage for exploiting low-frequency spectral index studies of extended sources by taking advantage of the large areas common to the LOFAR and the Apertif surveys.

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H I content in Coma cluster substructure

Galaxy clusters are some of largest structures in the universe. These very dense environments tend to be home to higher numbers of evolved galaxies that what is found in lower density environments. It is well known that dense environments can influence the evolution of galaxies through the removal of the neutral gas (HI) reservoirs which fuel star formation. It is unclear which environment has a stronger effect: the local environment (i.e. the substructure within the cluster), or the cluster itself. Using the new HI data from the Westerbork Coma Survey, we explore the average HI content of galaxies across the cluster comparing galaxies that reside in substructure to those that do not. We apply to the Dressler-Shectman test to our newly compiled redshift catalogue of the Coma cluster to search for substructure. With so few of the Coma galaxies directly detected in HI, we use the HI stacking technique to probe average HI content below what can be directly detected. Using the Dressler-Shectman test, we find 15 substructures within the footprint of the Westerbork Coma Survey. We compare the average HI content for galaxies within substructure to those not in substructure. Using the HI stacking technique, we find that the Coma galaxies (for which are not detected in HI) are more than 10--50 times more HI deficient than expected which supports the scenario of an extremely efficient and rapid quenching mechanism. By studying the galaxies that are not directly detected in HI, we also find Coma to be more HI deficient than previously thought.

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A bright, high rotation-measure FRB that skewers the M33 halo

We report the detection of a bright fast radio burst, FRB\,191108, with Apertif on the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). The interferometer allows us to localise the FRB to a narrow $5\arcsec\times7\arcmin$ ellipse by employing both multibeam information within the Apertif phased-array feed (PAF) beam pattern, and across different tied-array beams. The resulting sight line passes close to Local Group galaxy M33, with an impact parameter of only 18\,kpc with respect to the core. It also traverses the much larger circumgalactic medium of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. We find that the shared plasma of the Local Group galaxies could contribute $\sim$10\% of its dispersion measure of 588\,pc\,cm$^{-3}$. FRB\,191108 has a Faraday rotation measure of +474\,$\pm\,3$\,rad\,m$^{-2}$, which is too large to be explained by either the Milky Way or the intergalactic medium. Based on the more moderate RMs of other extragalactic sources that traverse the halo of M33, we conclude that the dense magnetised plasma resides in the host galaxy. The FRB exhibits frequency structure on two scales, one that is consistent with quenched Galactic scintillation and broader spectral structure with $Δν\approx40$\,MHz. If the latter is due to scattering in the shared M33/M31 CGM, our results constrain the Local Group plasma environment. We found no accompanying persistent radio sources in the Apertif imaging survey data.

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Effect of the environment on star formation activity and stellar mass for star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field

We investigate the relationship between environment and the galaxy main sequence (the relationship between stellar mass and star formation rate) and also the relationship between environment and radio luminosity (P$_{\rm 1.4GHz}$) to shed new light on the effects of the environments on galaxies. We use the VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz catalogue that consists of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and quiescent galaxies (AGN) in three different environments (field, filament, cluster) and for three different galaxy types (satellite, central, isolated). We perform for the first time a comparative analysis of the distribution of SFGs with respect to the main sequence (MS) consensus region from the literature, taking into account galaxy environment and using radio observations at 0.1 $\leq$ z $\leq$ 1.2. Our results corroborate that SFR is declining with cosmic time which is consistent with the literature. We find that the slope of the MS for different $z$ and M$_{*}$ bins is shallower than the MS consensus with a gradual evolution towards higher redshift bins, irrespective of environments. We see no SFR trends on both environments and galaxy type given the large errors. In addition, we note that the environment does not seem to be the cause of the flattening of MS at high stellar masses for our sample.

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Extreme intra-hour variability of the radio source J1402+5347 discovered with Apertif

The propagation of radio waves from distant compact radio sources through turbulent interstellar plasma in our Galaxy causes these sources to twinkle, a phenomenon called interstellar scintillation. Such scintillations are a unique probe of the micro-arcsecond structure of radio sources as well as of the sub-AU-scale structure of the Galactic interstellar medium. Weak scintillations (i.e. an intensity modulation of a few percent) on timescales of a few days or longer are commonly seen at centimetre wavelengths and are thought to result from the line-of-sight integrated turbulence in the interstellar plasma of the Milky Way. So far, only three sources were known that show more extreme variations, with modulations at the level of some dozen percent on timescales shorter than an hour. This requires propagation through nearby (d <~10 pc) anomalously dense (n_e ~10^2 cm^-3) plasma clouds. Here we report the discovery with Apertif of a source (J1402+5347) showing extreme (~50%) and rapid variations on a timescale of just 6.5 minutes in the decimetre band (1.4 GHz). The spatial scintillation pattern is highly anisotropic, with a semi-minor axis of about 20,000 km. The canonical theory of refractive scintillation constrains the scattering plasma to be within the Oort cloud. The sightline to J1402+5347, however, passes unusually close to the B3 star Alkaid (eta UMa) at a distance of 32 pc. If the scintillations are associated with Alkaid, then the angular size of J1402+5347 along the minor axis of the scintels must be smaller than ~10 micro arcsec yielding an apparent brightness temperature for an isotropic source of >~ 10^ 14K. }

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WALLABY -- An SKA Pathfinder HI Survey

The Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY (WALLABY) is a next-generation survey of neutral hydrogen (HI) in the Local Universe. It uses the widefield, high-resolution capability of the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), a radio interferometer consisting of 36 x 12-m dishes equipped with Phased-Array Feeds (PAFs), located in an extremely radio-quiet zone in Western Australia. WALLABY aims to survey three-quarters of the sky (-90 degr < Dec < +30 degr) to a redshift of z < 0.26, and generate spectral line image cubes at ~30 arcsec resolution and ~1.6 mJy/beam per 4 km/s channel sensitivity. ASKAP's instantaneous field of view at 1.4 GHz, delivered by the PAF's 36 beams, is about 30 sq deg. At an integrated signal-to-noise ratio of five, WALLABY is expected to detect over half a million galaxies with a mean redshift of z ~ 0.05 (~200 Mpc). The scientific goals of WALLABY include: (a) a census of gas-rich galaxies in the vicinity of the Local Group; (b) a study of the HI properties of galaxies, groups and clusters, in particular the influence of the environment on galaxy evolution; and (c) the refinement of cosmological parameters using the spatial and redshift distribution of low-bias gas-rich galaxies. For context we provide an overview of previous large-scale HI surveys. Combined with existing and new multi-wavelength sky surveys, WALLABY will enable an exciting new generation of panchromatic studies of the Local Universe. - First results from the WALLABY pilot survey are revealed, with initial data products publicly available in the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA).

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Repeating fast radio bursts with WSRT/Apertif

Repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) present excellent opportunities to identify FRB progenitors and host environments, as well as decipher the underlying emission mechanism. Detailed studies of repeating FRBs might also hold clues to the origin of FRBs as a population. We aim to detect the first two repeating FRBs: FRB 121102 (R1) and FRB 180814.J0422+73 (R2), and characterise their repeat statistics. We also want to significantly improve the sky localisation of R2. We use the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope to conduct extensive follow-up of these two repeating FRBs. The new phased-array feed system, Apertif, allows covering the entire sky position uncertainty of R2 with fine spatial resolution in one pointing. We characterise the energy distribution and the clustering of detected R1 bursts. We detected 30 bursts from R1. Our measurements indicate a dispersion measure of 563.5(2) pc cm$^{-3}$, suggesting a significant increase in DM over the past few years. We place an upper limit of 8% on the linear polarisation fraction of the brightest burst. We did not detect any bursts from R2. A single power-law might not fit the R1 burst energy distribution across the full energy range or widely separated detections. Our observations provide improved constraints on the clustering of R1 bursts. Our stringent upper limits on the linear polarisation fraction imply a significant depolarisation, either intrinsic to the emission mechanism or caused by the intervening medium, at 1400 MHz that is not observed at higher frequencies. The non-detection of any bursts from R2 implies either a highly clustered nature of the bursts, a steep spectral index, or a combination of both. Alternatively, R2 has turned off completely, either permanently or for an extended period of time.

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CHILES VI: HI and H$α$ Observations for z < 0.1 Galaxies; Probing HI Spin Alignment with Filaments in the Cosmic Web

We present neutral hydrogen (HI) and ionized hydrogen (H$α$) observations of ten galaxies out to a redshift of 0.1. The HI observations are from the first epoch (178 hours) of the COSMOS HI Large Extragalactic Survey (CHILES). Our sample is HI biased and consists of ten late-type galaxies with HI masses that range from $1.8\times10^{7}$ M$_{\odot}$ to $1.1\times10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$. We find that although the majority of galaxies show irregularities in the morphology and kinematics, they generally follow the scaling relations found in larger samples. We find that the HI and H$α$ velocities reach the flat part of the rotation curve. We identify the large-scale structure in the nearby CHILES volume using DisPerSE with the spectroscopic catalog from SDSS. We explore the gaseous properties of the galaxies as a function of location in the cosmic web. We also compare the angular momentum vector (spin) of the galaxies to the orientation of the nearest cosmic web filament. Our results show that galaxy spins tend to be aligned with cosmic web filaments and show a hint of a transition mass associated with the spin angle alignment.

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LOFAR reveals the giant: a low-frequency radio continuum study of the outflow in the nearby FR I radio galaxy 3C 31

We present a deep, low-frequency radio continuum study of the nearby Fanaroff--Riley class I (FR I) radio galaxy 3C 31 using a combination of LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR; 30--85 and 115--178 MHz), Very Large Array (VLA; 290--420 MHz), Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT; 609 MHz) and Giant Metre Radio Telescope (GMRT; 615 MHz) observations. Our new LOFAR 145-MHz map shows that 3C 31 has a largest physical size of $1.1$ Mpc in projection, which means 3C 31 now falls in the class of giant radio galaxies. We model the radio continuum intensities with advective cosmic-ray transport, evolving the cosmic-ray electron population and magnetic field strength in the tails as functions of distance to the nucleus. We find that if there is no in-situ particle acceleration in the tails, then decelerating flows are required that depend on radius $r$ as $v\propto r^β$ ($β\approx -1$). This then compensates for the strong adiabatic losses due to the lateral expansion of the tails. We are able to find self-consistent solutions in agreement with the entrainment model of Croston & Hardcastle, where the magnetic field provides $\approx$$1/3$ of the pressure needed for equilibrium with the surrounding intra-cluster medium (ICM). We obtain an advective time-scale of $\approx$$190$ Myr, which, if equated to the source age, would require an average expansion Mach number ${\cal M} \approx 5$ over the source lifetime. Dynamical arguments suggest that instead, either the outer tail material does not represent the oldest jet plasma or else the particle ages are underestimated due to the effects of particle acceleration on large scales.

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Engineering and Science Highlights of the KAT-7 Radio Telescope

The construction of the KAT-7 array in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape in South Africa was intended primarily as an engineering prototype for technologies and techniques applicable to the MeerKAT telescope. This paper looks at the main engineering and scien- tific highlights from this effort, and discusses their applicability to both MeerKAT and other next-generation radio telescopes. In particular we found that the composite dish surface works well, but it becomes complicated to fabricate for a dish lacking circular symmetry; the Stir- ling cycle cryogenic system with ion pump to achieve vacuum works but demands much higher maintenance than an equivalent Gifford-McMahon cycle system; the ROACH (Recon- figurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware)-based correlator with SPEAD (Stream- ing Protocol for Exchanging Astronomical Data) protocol data transfer works very well and KATCP (Karoo Array Telescope Control Protocol) control protocol has proven very flexible and convenient. KAT-7 has also been used for scientific observations where it has a niche in mapping low surface-brightness continuum sources, some extended HI halos and OH masers in star-forming regions. It can also be used to monitor continuum source variability, observe pulsars, and make VLBI observations

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Exploring Neutral Hydrogen and Galaxy Evolution with the SKA

One of the key science drivers for the development of the SKA is to observe the neutral hydrogen, HI, in galaxies as a means to probe galaxy evolution across a range of environments over cosmic time. Over the past decade, much progress has been made in theoretical simulations and observations of HI in galaxies. However, recent HI surveys on both single dish radio telescopes and interferometers, while providing detailed information on global HI properties, the dark matter distribution in galaxies, as well as insight into the relationship between star formation and the interstellar medium, have been limited to the local universe. Ongoing and upcoming HI surveys on SKA pathfinder instruments will extend these measurements beyond the local universe to intermediate redshifts with long observing programmes. We present here an overview of the HI science which will be possible with the increased capabilities of the SKA and which will build upon the expected increase in knowledge of HI in and around galaxies obtained with the SKA pathfinder surveys. With the SKA1 the greatest improvement over our current measurements is the capability to image galaxies at reasonable linear resolution and good column density sensitivity to much higher redshifts (0.2 < z < 1.7). So one will not only be able to increase the number of detections to study the evolution of the HI mass function, but also have the sensitivity and resolution to study inflows and outflows to and from galaxies and the kinematics of the gas within and around galaxies as a function of environment and cosmic time out to previously unexplored depths. The increased sensitivity of SKA2 will allow us to image Milky Way-size galaxies out to redshifts of z=1 and will provide the data required for a comprehensive picture of the HI content of galaxies back to z~2 when the cosmic star formation rate density was at its peak.

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The Far-Infrared-Radio Correlation in MS0451-03

We present a multi-wavelength analysis of star-forming galaxies in the massive cluster MS0451.6-0305 at z $\sim$ 0.54 to shed new light on the evolution of the far-infrared-radio relationship in distant rich clusters. We have derived total infrared luminosities for a spectroscopically confirmed sample of cluster and field galaxies through an empirical relation based on $Spitzer$ MIPS 24 $μ$m photometry. The radio flux densities were measured from deep Very Large Array 1.4 GHz radio continuum observations. We find the ratio of far-infrared to radio luminosity for galaxies in an intermediate redshift cluster to be $q_{\rm FIR}$ = 1.80$\pm$0.15 with a dispersion of 0.53. Due to the large intrinsic dispersion, we do not find any observable change in this value with either redshift or environment. However, a higher percentage of galaxies in this cluster show an excess in their radio fluxes when compared to low redshift clusters ($27^{+23}_{-13}\%$ to $11\%$), suggestive of a cluster enhancement of radio-excess sources at this earlier epoch. In addition, the far-infrared-radio relationship for blue galaxies, where $q_{\rm FIR}$ = 2.01$\pm$0.14 with a dispersion of 0.35, is consistent with the predicted value from the field relationship, although these results are based on a sample from a single cluster.

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