Faint Radio Sources in the NOAO Bootes Field. VLBA Imaging and Optical Identifications

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

As a step toward investigating the parsec-scale properties of faint extragalactic radio sources, the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) was used at 5.0 GHz to obtain phase-referenced images of 76 sources in the NOAO Bootes field. These 76 sources were selected from the FIRST catalog to have peak flux densities above 10 mJy at 5-arcsecond resolution and deconvolved major diameters of less than 3 arcseconds at 1.4 GHz. Fifty-seven of these faint radio sources were identified with accretion-powered radio galaxies and quasars brighter than 25.5 mag in the optical I band. On VLA scales at 1.4 GHz, a measure of the compactness of the faint sources (the ratio of the peak flux density from FIRST to the integrated flux density from the NVSS catalog) spans the full range of possibilites arising from source-resolution effects. Thirty of the faint radio sources, or 39(+9,-7) percent, were detected with the VLBA at 5.0 GHz with peak flux densities above 6sigma 2 mJy at 2-milliarcsecond resolution. The VLBA detections occur through the full range of compactness ratios. The stronger VLBA detections can themselves serve as phase-reference calibrators, boding well for opening up much of the radio sky to VLBA imaging. For the adopted cosmology, the VLBA resolution correponds to 17 pc or finer. Most VLBA detections are unresolved or slightly resolved but one is diffuse and five show either double or core-jet structures; the properties of these latter six are discussed in detail. Three VLBA detections are unidentified and fainter than 25.5 mag in the optical I band; their properties are highlighted because they likely mark optically-obscured active nuclei at high redshift.
For details, please see Wrobel et al. (2005, AJ, 130, 923).
The VLBA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Faint Radio Sources in the NOAO Bootes Field. VLBA Imaging and Optical Identifications does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Faint Radio Sources in the NOAO Bootes Field. VLBA Imaging and Optical Identifications, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Faint Radio Sources in the NOAO Bootes Field. VLBA Imaging and Optical Identifications will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1288221

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.