arXiv subjects

K. Thorat

Publications and source records attributed to K. Thorat.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

GASP XVII. HI imaging of the jellyfish galaxy JO206: gas stripping and enhanced star formation

We present VLA HI observations of JO206, a prototypical ram-pressure stripped galaxy in the GASP sample. This massive galaxy (M$_{\ast} =$ 8.5 $\times$ 10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$) is located at a redshift of $z =$ 0.0513, near the centre of the low-mass galaxy cluster, IIZw108 ($σ\sim575$ km/s). JO206 is characterised by a long tail ($\geq$90 kpc) of ionised gas stripped away by ram-pressure. We find a similarly long HI tail in the same direction as the ionised gas tail and measure a total HI mass of $3.2 \times 10^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$. This is about half the expected HI mass given the stellar mass and surface density of JO206. A total of $1.8 \times 10^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$ (60%) of the detected HI is in the gas stripped tail. An analysis of the star formation rate shows that the galaxy is forming more stars compared to galaxies with the same stellar and HI mass. On average we find a HI gas depletion time of $\sim$0.5 Gyr which is about four times shorter than that of "normal" spiral galaxies. We performed a spatially resolved analysis of the relation between star formation rate density and gas density in the disc and tail of the galaxy at the resolution of our HI data. The star formation efficiency of the disc is about 10 times higher than that of the tail at fixed HI surface densities. Both the inner and outer parts of JO206 show an enhanced star formation compared to regions of similar HI surface density in field galaxies. The enhanced star formation is due to ram-pressure stripping during the galaxy's first infall into the cluster.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Primary beam effects of radio astronomy antennas: I. Modelling the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) L-band beam using holography

Modern interferometric imaging relies on advanced calibration that incorporates direction-dependent effects. Their increasing number of antennas (e.g. in LOFAR, VLA, MeerKAT/SKA) and sensitivity are often tempered with the accuracy of their calibration. Beam accuracy drives particularly the capability for high dynamic range imaging (HDR - contrast > 1:$10^6$). The Radio Interferometric Measurement Equation (RIME) proposes a refined calibration framework for wide field of views (i.e. beyond the primary lobe and first null) using beam models. We have used holography data taken on 12 antennas of the Very Large Array (VLA) with two different approaches: a `data-driven' representation derived from Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and a projection on the Zernike polynomials. We determined sparse representations of the beam to encode its spatial and spectral variations. For each approach, we compressed the spatial and spectral distribution of coefficients using low-rank approximations. The spectral behaviour was encoded with a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). We compared our modelling to that of the Cassbeam software which provides a parametric model of the antenna and its radiated field. We present comparisons of the beam reconstruction fidelity vs. `compressibility'. We found that the PCA method provides the most accurate model. In the case of VLA antennas, we discuss the frequency ripple over L-band which is associated with a standing wave between antenna reflectors. The results are a series of coefficients that can easily be used `on-the-fly' in calibration pipelines to generate accurate beams at low computing costs.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

Environments of Extended Radio Sources in the ATLBS Survey

We present a study of the environments of extended radio sources in the Australia Telescope Low Brightness Survey (ATLBS). The radio sources were selected from the Extended Source Sample (ATLBS-ESS), which is a well defined sample containing the most extended of radio sources in the ATLBS sky survey regions. The environments were analyzed using 4-m CTIO Blanco telescope observations carried out for ATLBS fields in the SDSS ${\rm r}^{\prime}$ band. We have estimated the properties of the environments using smoothed density maps derived from galaxy catalogs constructed using these optical imaging data. The angular distribution of galaxy density relative to the axes of the radio sources has been quantified by defining anisotropy parameters that are estimated using a new method presented here. Examining the anisotropy parameters for a sub-sample of extended double radio sources that includes all sources with pronounced asymmetry in lobe extents, we find good evidence for environmental anisotropy being the dominant cause for lobe asymmetry in that higher galaxy density occurs almost always on the side of the shorter lobe, and this validates the usefulness of the method proposed and adopted here. The environmental anisotropy parameters have been used to examine and compare the environments of FRI and FRII radio sources in two redshift regimes ($z<0.5$ and $z>0.5$). Wide-angle tail sources and Head-tail sources lie in the most overdense environments. The Head-tail source environments (for the HT sources in our sample) display dipolar anisotropy in that higher galaxy density appears to lie in the direction of the tails. Excluding the Head-tail and Wide-angle tail sources, subsamples of FRI and FRII sources from the ATLBS survey appear to lie in similar moderately overdense environments, with no evidence for redshift evolution in the regimes studied herein.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

High resolution imaging of the ATLBS regions: the radio source counts

The Australia Telescope Low-brightness survey (ATLBS; \cite{SESS10}) regions have been mosaic imaged at a radio frequency of 1.4 GHz with $6\arcsec$ angular resolution and 72 $μ$Jy beam$^{-1}$ rms noise. The images (centered at RA: $00^{h}\ 35^{m}\ 00^{s}$, DEC: $-67^{\circ}\ 00^{'}\ 00^{"}$ and RA: $00^{h}\ 59^{m}\ 17^{s}$, DEC: $-67^{\circ}\ 00^{'}\ 00^{"}$ (J2000 epoch)) cover 8.42 square degrees sky area and have no artifacts or imaging errors above the image thermal noise. Multi-resolution radio and optical r-band images (made using the 4-m CTIO Blanco telescope) were used to recognize multi-component sources and prepare a source list; the detection threshold was 0.38 mJy in a low resolution radio image made with beam FWHM of $50\arcsec$. Radio source counts in the flux density range 0.4-8.7 mJy are estimated, with corrections applied for noise bias, effective area correction and resolution bias. The resolution bias is mitigated using low resolution radio images, while effects of source confusion are removed by using high resolution images for identifying blended sources. Below 1 mJy the ATLBS counts are systematically lower than the previous estimates. Showing no evidence for an upturn down to 0.4 mJy, they do not require any changes in the radio source population down to the limit of the survey. The work suggests that automated image analysis for counts may be dependent on the ability of the imaging to reproduce connecting emission with low surface brightness and on the ability of the algorithm to recognize sources, which may require that source finding algorithms effectively work with multi-resolution and multi-wavelength data. The work underscores the importance of using source lists-as opposed to component lists-and correcting for the noise bias in order to precisely estimate counts close to the image noise and determine the upturn at sub-mJy flux density.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

ATLBS Extended Source Sample: The evolution in radio source morphology with flux density

Based on the ATLBS survey we present a sample of extended radio sources and derive morphological properties of faint radio sources. 119 radio galaxies form the ATLBS-Extended Source Sample (ATLBS-ESS) consisting of all sources exceeding 30" in extent and integrated flux densities exceeding 1 mJy. We give structural details along with information on galaxy identifications and source classifications. The ATLBS-ESS, unlike samples with higher flux-density limits, has almost equal fractions of FR-I and FR-II radio galaxies with a large fraction of the FR-I population exhibiting 3C31-type structures. Significant asymmetry in lobe extents appears to be a common occurrence in the ATLBS-ESS FR-I sources compared to FR-II sources. We present a sample of 22 FR-Is at z>0.5 with good structural information. The detection of several giant radio sources, with size exceeding 0.7 Mpc, at z>1 suggests that giant radio sources are not less common at high redshifts. The ESS also includes a sample of 28 restarted radio galaxies. The relative abundance of dying and restarting sources is indicative of a model where radio sources undergo episodic activity in which an active phase is followed by a brief dying phase that terminates with restarting of the central activity; in any massive elliptical a few such activity cycles wherein adjacent events blend may constitute the lifetime of a radio source and such bursts of blended activity cycles may be repeated over the age of the host. The ATLBS-ESS includes a 2-Mpc giant radio galaxy with the lowest surface brightness lobes known to date.

astro-ph.CO↗