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63 records · Page 4

Time-variable Radio Recombination Line Emission in W49A

We present new Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) images of the central region of the W49A star-forming region at 3.6 cm and at 7 mm at resolutions of 0.″15 (1650 au) and 0.″04 (440 au), respectively. The 3.6 cm data reveal new morphological detail in the ultracompact H ii region population, as well as several previously unknown and unresolved sources. In particular, source A shows elongated, edge-brightened bipolar lobes, indicative of a collimated outflow, and source E is resolved into three spherical components. We also present VLA observations of radio recombination lines at 3.6 cm and 7 mm, and IRAM Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) observations at 1.2 mm. Three of the smallest ultracompact H ii regions (sources A, B2, and G2) all show broad kinematic linewidths, with ΔV {sub FWHM} ≳ 40 km s{sup −1}. A multi-line analysis indicates that broad linewidths remain after correcting for pressure broadening effects, suggesting the presence of supersonic flows. Substantial changes in linewidth over the 21 yr time baseline at both 3.6 cm and 7 mm are found for source G2. At 3.6 cm, the linewidth of G2 changed from 31.7 ± 1.8 km s{sup −1} to 55.6 ± 2.7 km s{sup −1}, an increase of +23.9 ± 3.4 km s{sup −1}. The G2 source was previously reported to have shown a 3.6 cm continuum flux density decrease of 40% between 1994 and 2015. This source sits near the center of a very young bipolar outflow whose variability may have produced these changes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The US Naval Observatory VLBI Spectroscopic Catalog

Despite their importance for astrometry and navigation, the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that comprise the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) are relatively poorly understood, with key information such as their spectroscopic redshifts, AGN spectral type, and emission-/absorption-line properties generally missing from the literature. Using an updated, publicly available, state-of-the-art spectroscopic fitting code optimized for the spectra of AGNs from low to high redshift, we present a catalog of emission-line and spectral continuum parameters for 1014 unique ICRF3 objects with single-fiber spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR16. We additionally present black hole virial mass scaling relationships that use Hα-, Hβ-, Mg II -, and C IV -based line widths, all consistent with each other, which can be used in studies of radio-loud objects across a wide range of redshifts, and we use these scaling relationships to provide derived properties such as black hole masses and bolometric luminosities for the catalog. We briefly comment on these properties for the ICRF objects, as well as their overall spectroscopic characteristics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The SOUX AGN sample: SDSS– XMM-Newton optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray selected active galactic nuclei spanning a wide range of parameter space – sample definition

Abstract We assemble a sample of 696 type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGN) up to a redshift of z = 2.5, all of which have an SDSS spectrum containing at least one broad emission line (H α, H β, or Mg ii) and an XMM-Newton X-ray spectrum containing at least 250 counts in addition to simultaneous optical/ultraviolet photometry from the XMM Optical Monitor. Our sample includes quasars and narrow-line Seyfert 1s: thus our AGN span a wide range in luminosity, black hole mass, and accretion rate. We determine single-epoch black hole mass relations for the three emission lines and find that they provide broadly consistent mass estimates whether the continuum or emission line luminosity is used as the proxy for the broad emission line region radius. We explore variations of the UV/X-ray energy index αox with the UV continuum luminosity and with black hole mass and accretion rate, and make comparisons to the physical quasar spectral energy distribution model qsosed. The majority of the AGN in our sample lie in a region of parameter space with 0.02 < L/LEdd < 2 as defined by this model, with narrow-line type 1 AGN offset to lower masses and higher accretion rates than typical broad-line quasars. We find differences in the dependence of αox on UV luminosity between both narrow/broad-line and radio-loud/quiet subsets of AGN: αox has a slightly weaker dependence on UV luminosity for broad-line AGN and radio-loud AGN have systematically harder αox.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

FAST Drift Scan Survey for Ηι Intensity Mapping: I. Preliminary Data Analysis

This work presents the initial results of the drift-scan observation for the neutral hydrogen (Hi) intensity mapping survey with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The data analyzed in this work were collected in night observations from 2019 through 2021. The primary findings are based on 28 hr of drift-scan observation carried out over 7 nights in 2021, which covers 60 deg 2 sky area. Our main findings are, first, our calibration strategy can successfully correct both the temporal and bandpass gain variation over the 4 hr drift-scan observation. Second, the continuum maps of the surveyed region are made with frequency resolution of 28 kHz and pixel area of $_{2.95\,{\mathrm{arcmin}}^{2}}$. The pixel noise levels of the continuum maps are slightly higher than the forecast assuming $T$ sys = 20 K, which are 36.0 mK (for 10.0 s integration time) at the 1050–1150 MHz band, and 25.9 mK (for 16.7 s integration time) at the 1323–1450 MHz band, respectively. Third, the flux-weighted differential number count is consistent with the NRAO-VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) catalog down to the confusion limit ~7 mJy beam –1 . Finally, the continuum flux measurements of the sources are consistent with those found in the literature. The difference in the flux measurement of 81 isolated NVSS sources is about 6.3%. Our research offers a systematic analysis for the FAST Hi intensity mapping drift-scan survey and serves as a helpful resource for further cosmology and associated galaxies sciences with the FAST drift-scan survey.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Discovery of a bright extended X-ray jet in RGB J1512+020A

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a bright, extended X-ray jet in the quasar RGB J1512+020A (z = 0.22). Chandra observations show the X-ray core and 13 arcsec (∼45 kpc projected) extended emission coincident with the radio jet. The jet stands out as one of brightest X-ray jets (LX ∼ 7 × 1043 erg s−1) at low redshift (z < 0.5) discovered so far, with remarkably large X-ray to radio luminosity ratios (LX/Lr up to ∼50). We identified four main components, two unresolved knots and two extended structures, one being the jet brightest feature (JBF). All jet features are also detected in ALMA archival observations. The radio, sub-mm to X-ray spectra of the two knots can be modelled with a single synchrotron component. For the two resolved structures, the ALMA data unveil a turnover of the low-energy continuum at ∼460 GHz. External Comptonization of cosmic microwave background photons can account for the observed X-ray emission if the jet speed remains highly relativistic, with bulk motion Γbulk > 15, up to tens of kiloparsec from the core. However, the comparison with the spectral energy distribution of similar X-ray detected jets shows that the alternative hypothesis of synchrotron emission from an additional population of ultra-high-energy electrons is also possible. We report a tentative (≳2σ) optical detection of the JBF in images of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey. If confirmed, the optical emission should be either the low-energy tail of the radiative component responsible for the X-ray emission or a third, separate component.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Constraints on the origin of the radio synchrotron background via angular correlations

ABSTRACT The origin of the radio synchrotron background (RSB) is currently unknown. Its understanding might have profound implications in fundamental physics or might reveal a new class of radio emitters. In this work, we consider the scenario in which the RSB is due to extragalactic radio sources and measure the angular cross-correlation of Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) images of the diffuse radio sky with matter tracers at different redshifts, provided by galaxy catalogues and cosmic microwave background lensing. We compare these measured cross-correlations to those expected for models of RSB sources. We find that low-redshift populations of discrete sources are excluded by the data, while higher redshift explanations are compatible with available observations. We also conclude that at least 20 per cent of the RSB surface brightness level must originate from populations tracing the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe, indicating that at least this fraction of the RSB is of extragalactic origin. Future measurements of the correlation between the RSB and tracers of high-redshift sources will be crucial to constraining the source population of the RSB.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Radio transients and variables in the tenth Deeper, Wider, Faster observing run

The Deeper, Wider, Faster (DWF) program coordinates observations with telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum, searching for transients on time-scales of milliseconds to days. The tenth DWF observing run was carried out in near real-time during September 2021, and consisted of six consecutive days of observations of the NGC 6744 galaxy group and a field containing the repeating fast radio burst FRB 190711 with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, the Dark Energy Camera, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope, and the Parkes 64-m ‘Murriyang’ radio telescope. Here, in this work, we present the results of an image-domain search for transient, variable, and circularly polarized sources carried out with ASKAP, using data from the observing run along with test observations prior to the run and follow-up observations carried out during and after the run. We identified eight variable radio sources, consisting of one pulsar, six stellar systems (five of which exhibit circularly polarized emission), and one previously uncatalogued source. Of particular interest is the detection of pulses from the ultra-cool dwarf SCR J1845–6357 with a period of 14.2 ± 0.3 h in good agreement with the known optical rotation period, making this the slowest rotating radio-loud ultra-cool dwarf discovered.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The H I absorption zoo: JVLA extension to z ~ 0.4

Here, we present an H I 21 cm absorption study of a sample of 26 radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) at 0.25 < z < 0.4 carried out with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. Our aim was to study the rate of incidence of H I in different classes of radio AGN, the morphology and kinematics of the detected H I, and the nature of the interaction between the H I and the radio source at these redshifts. Our sample consists of 14 sources with sizes of up to tens of kpc and 12 compact sources (< a few kpc) in the radio-power range 10 25.7 W Hz –1 –10 26.5 W Hz –1 . We detect H I in five sources, corresponding to a detection rate of ~19%. Within the error bars, this agrees with the detection rate found at lower redshifts. We find that the rest-frame UV luminosities of most of the sources in the sample, including all the detections, are below the proposed threshold above which the H I is supposed to have been ionised. An analysis of the optical emission-line spectra of the sources shows that despite their high radio powers, about one-third of the sample, including two detections, are low-ionisation sources. The radio continuum emission from the sources detected in H I is unresolved at ~5 to 10 kpc scales in our observations, but shows extended structure on parsec scales. We analysed the H I 21 cm absorption spectra of the detections to understand the morphology and kinematics of H I. The absorption profiles are mostly complex with widths between the nulls ranging from ~60 km s –1 to 700 km s –1 . These detections also exhibit remarkably high H I column densities in the range ~10 21 cm –2 –10 22 cm –2 for T spin = 100 K and unit covering factor. Our modelling of the H I 21 cm absorption profiles suggests that in two sources the gas appears to be disturbed, and in three cases, including one with disturbed H I, the majority of the absorption is consistent with it arising from an H I disc. Despite the high radio power of our sources, we do not detect fast outflows. However, the optical emission lines in these detections show the presence of significantly disturbed gas in the nuclear regions in the form of very wide and highly blueshifted emission-line components. Since some of our detections are also low-ionisation AGN, it is quite possible that this disturbance is caused by the radio jets. Overall, our findings point towards a continuation of the low-z trends in the H I detection rate and the incidence of H I in radio AGN up to z ~ 0.4.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

JWST Observations of Starbursts: Dust Processing in the M82 Superwind

We present JWST MIRI and NIRCam imaging of the inner ∼5 kpc of the M82 superwind at ~ $0''_{.}05 - 0''_{.}375$(∼0.9–6.5 pc) resolution. Targeted filters probe emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; F335M, F360M, F770W, F1130W) and continuum (F250M, F360M) The images reveal a network of cool wind filaments traced by PAHs. PAH surface brightness declines with the inverse square of distance to the midplane, suggesting that the incident radiation field from the starburst drives the observed PAH intensity out to ±2.5 kpc. The 3.3/11.3 and 3.3/7.7 μm band ratios show uniformity with distance from the starburst, though comparisons with mid-IR dust emission models indicate a modest shift toward larger PAHs. Outside the disk, 11.3/7.7 μm increases moderately, reflecting that PAHs become more neutral with distance from the starburst as they are exposed to a declining radiation field and ionization parameter. Overall, PAHs in the wind are consistent with standard-to-large sizes and standard-to-high ionization states. Including Spitzer and Herschel data, PAH abundance (q PAH ) is set at ∼1% in the starburst and remains unchanging out to ±5 kpc off the disk. This flat q PAH profile suggests that PAHs are shielded from the hot wind, perhaps residing in the surface layers of cool clouds, with possible replenishment from cloud interiors and enrichment of the halo from previous bursts. In this picture, clouds are not dense enough to promote PAH growth, and they likely undergo radiative cooling and mixing with the hot phase to survive the gauntlet for at least ∼20 Myr.

Cronin, Serena A. [University of Maryland, College↗