Spectral Indices of Core and Extended Components of Extragalactic Radio Sources

We use observed peak and total flux densities at 6cm and 20cm to determine the spectral indices separately for the core and extended components of QSOs and galaxies, as well as their core-dominance parameters. Our results indicate that 1) Nine QSOs show both greater than 1.0 core-dominance parameters (those objects should be blazars) and greater than 0.5 spectral indices. The average core spectral index is αCore = 0.85±0.21 for the nine blazars, which implies that it is not reliable to use αradio = 0.0 for blazars. For the different subclasses, the core and extended spectral indices are as follows: for the blazars, αCore = 0.22±0.06 and αExt =0.77±0.12; the galaxies,αCore = 1.01±0.13 and αExt =0.83±0.21, and for the QSOs, αCore = 0.28±0.10 and αExt =0.68±0.08. 2) The core spectral index and core dominance parameter (R) show an anti-correlation, αC = (-1.28±0.26) log R+ (0.65 ± 0.11); 3) R is approximately linearly correlated with redshift (z).     

Discovery of Three Large HII Regions in the Galactic Plane

We discovered three large HII regions:G148.8 2.3,G149.5 0.0 and G169.9 2.0 in the Sino-German λ6 cm polarization survey of the Galactic plane.They have been identi fied based on the flat spectral indexes and the strong infrared emission properties.     

A Composite Model for GHz Peaked Spectra of Radio Sources

GHz-Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio sources are powerful and compact sources with convex spectra. With increasing observational findings, it has been realized that either Synchrotron Self-Absorption (SSA) alone or Free-Free Absorption (FFA) alone is not enough to account for all the spectral features. We present a model consisting of an SSA region partially covered by FFA plasma, and derive a composite spectral formula. By applying the model to a sample of 19 GPS sources having strong absorption, it is found that the external FFA process makes the SSA peak frequency linearly shift to a higher (observed) peak frequency. The shift indicates that the FFA does play a role at the frequency close to the observed peak frequency.     

Radio source calibration for the Very Small Array and other cosmic microwave background instruments at around 30 GHz

Accurate calibration of data is essential for the current generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Using data from the Very Small Array (VSA), we describe procedures which will lead to an accuracy of 1 per cent or better for experiments such as the VSA and CBI. Particular attention is paid to the stability of the receiver systems, the quality of the site and frequent observations of reference sources. At 30 GHz the careful correction for atmospheric emission and absorption is shown to be essential for achieving 1 per cent precision.
The sources for which a 1 per cent relative flux density calibration was achieved included Cas A, Cyg A, Tau A and NGC 7027 and the planets Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. A flux density, or brightness temperature in the case of the planets, was derived at 33 GHz relative to Jupiter which was adopted as the fundamental calibrator. A spectral index at ∼30 GHz is given for each.
Cas A, Tau A, NGC 7027 and Venus were examined for variability. Cas A was found to be decreasing at 0.394 ± 0.019 per cent yr⁻¹ over the period 2001 March to 2004 August. In the same period Tau A was decreasing at 0.22 ± 0.07 per cent yr⁻¹. A survey of the published data showed that the planetary nebula NGC 7027 decreased at 0.16 ± 0.04 per cent yr⁻¹ over the period 1967–2003. Venus showed an insignificant (1.5 ± 1.3 per cent) variation with Venusian illumination. The integrated polarization of Tau A at 33 GHz was found to be 7.8 ± 0.6 per cent at position angle =148°± 3°.     

High Brightness Temperatures in IDV Sources

High brightness temperatures are a characteristic feature of IntraDay Variability (IDV) of extragalactic radio sources. Recent studies of the polarization properties of some IDV sources (e.g., 1150 812, PKS 0405-385 and 0716 714) have shown that these sources harbor several compact IDV components with angular sizes of -10-30/uas and very high polarizations (of up to -50%-70%). These results indicate the possibility of the existence of uniform magnetic fields in the IDV components. We investigate the incoherent synchrotron and self- Compton radiation of an anisotropic distribution of relativistic electrons which spin around the magnetic field lines at small pitch angles. The brightness temperature limit caused by second-order Compton losses is discussed and compared to the brightness temperatures derived from energy equipartition arguments. It is found that anisotropic distributions of electrons moving in ordered magnetic fields can raise the equipartition and Compton brightness temperatures by a factor of up to -3-5. This would remove some of the difficulties in the interpretation of extremely high intrinsic brightness temperatures of > 1012 K (or apparent brightness temperatures of - 1014 K with a Doppler factor of -30).     

Radio properties of FIRST radio sources at 1 mJy

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the radio properties for the sample of faint radio sources introduced by Magliocchetti et al. in 2000. The sample comprises mainly intrinsically low-power sources, the majority of which (≳70 per cent) are FR I radio galaxies. These objects show some degree (at 1 σ confidence level) of luminosity evolution, which is also needed to reproduce correctly the total number and shape of the counts distribution at 1.4 GHz. Analysis of the de-evolved local radio luminosity function shows a good agreement between data and model predictions for this class of sources. Particular care has been devoted to the issue of 'lined' galaxies (i.e. objects presenting in their spectra a continuum typical of early-type galaxies plus emission lines of different nature), which appear as an intermediate class of sources between AGN-dominated and starburst galaxies. Different evolutionary behaviour is seen in the two subpopulations of lined and non-lined low-power radio galaxies, the first class indicating a tendency for the radio luminosity to decrease with look-back time, the second one showing positive evolution. We note that different evolutionary properties also seem to characterize BL Lacs selected in different bands, so that one might envisage an association between lined FR I and the subclass of BL Lacs selected in the X-ray band. Lastly, we find evidence for a negligible contribution of starburst galaxies at these low flux levels.     

Anisotropic Beam Model for the Spectral Observations of Radio Burst Fine Structures on 1998 April 15

A fine structure consisting of three almost equidistant frequency bands was observed in the high frequency part of a solar burst on 1998 April 15 by the spectrometer of Beijing Astronomical Observatory in the range 2.6-3.8GHz. A model for this event based on beam-anisotropic instability in the solar corona is presented. Longitudinal plasma waves are excited at cyclotron resonance and then transformed into radio emission at their second harmonic.The model is in accordance with the observations if we suppose a magnetic field strength in the region of emission generation of about 200G.     

A Study of the Fitting Accuracy of the Active Reflector for a Large Spherical Radio Telescope

We propose a spatial three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) parallel mechanism combining two degrees of rotations and one degree of translation to support the active reflector units of a large spherical radio telescope. The kinematics, workspace and accuracy of the mechanism are analyzed. One-dimensional and two-dimensional fitting errors to the working region of active reflector are investigated. Dimensional parameters of the mechanism and active reflector unit are examined with respect to the requirement of fitting accuracy. The result of accuracy analysis shows the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed mechanism, and gives a design rule to guarantee the highest working frequency required by large radio telescope.     

ARCS, the Arcminute Radio Cluster-lens Search – I. Selection criteria and initial results

We present the results of an unbiased radio search for gravitational lensing events with image separations between 15 and 60 arcsec, which would be associated with clusters of galaxies with masses >10^13–14 M_⊙. A parent population of 1023 extended radio sources stronger than 35 mJy with stellar optical identifications was selected using the FIRST radio catalogue at 1.4 GHz and the APM optical catalogue. The FIRST catalogue was then searched for companions to the parent sources stronger than 7 mJy and with separation in the range 15 to 60 arcsec. Higher-resolution observations of the resulting 38 lens candidates were made with the VLA at 1.4 and 5 GHz, and with MERLIN at 5 GHz in order to test the lens hypothesis in each case. None of our targets was found to be a gravitational lens system. These results provide the best current constraint on the lensing rate for this angular scale, but improved calculations of lensing rates from realistic simulations of the clustering of matter on the relevant scales are required before cosmologically significant constraints can be derived from this null result. We now have an efficient, tested observational strategy with which it will be possible to make an order-of-magnitude larger unbiased search in the near future.