We explore the properties of the large-scale environment of FR0 radio galaxies belonging to the FR0CAT sample which includes 104 compact radio sources associated with nearby (z<0.05) early-type galaxies. By using various estimators we find that FR0s live in regions of higher than the average galaxies density and a factor two lower density, on average, with respect to FRI radio galaxies. This latter difference is driven by the large fraction (63%) of FR0s located in groups formed by less than 15 galaxies, an environment which FRIs rarely (17%) inhabit. Beside the lack of substantial extended radio emission defining the FR0s class, this is the first significant difference between the properties of these two populations of low power radio galaxies. We interpret the differences in environment between FR0s and FRIs as the due to an evolutionary link between local galaxies density, BH spin, jet power, and extended radio emission.
So-called FR0 radio galaxies have recently emerged as a family of active galaxies with all the same properties as FRI radio galaxies except for their ratio of core to total emission which is about 30 times as high compared to FRI sources. We show how their properties fit within the gap paradigm as low prograde spinning black holes whose progenitors are powerful FRII quasars that transitioned rapidly from cold mode into advection dominated accretion in a few million years. The prediction is that if sufficient fuel exists, FR0 radio galaxies will evolve into full-fledged FRI radio galaxies and t…
Jet re-orientation associated with the time evolution of radio quasars explains the formation of X-shaped radio galaxies and their preference for isolated environments. But since X-shaped radio galaxies are generally not found in dense environments (e.g. groups/clusters), the jet re-orientation phenomenon for radio galaxies in groups and clusters has been ignored. We take a closer look at the re-orientation of FRI jets with respect to FRII jets, and find that it may constitute the as-yet unidentified trigger for star formation suppression in radio galaxies. We show how the recently explored ra…
Correlations between jet power and active time for z < 0.1 high excitation and low excitation radio galaxies are explored as well as evidence in favor of a specific, non-random distribution for these objects including mid-infrared emitting radio galaxies as a function of environment and redshift. In addition, so-called weak line radio galaxies with FRII jet morphology have been identified as a class of active galaxies in the process of shutting down. This paper identifies common features between these seemingly disparate phenomena described above for the population of radio galaxies, and strin…
We review current understanding of the population of radio galaxies and radio-loud quasars from an observational perspective, focusing on their large-scale structures and dynamics. We discuss the physical conditions in radio galaxies, their fuelling and accretion modes, host galaxies and large-scale environments, and the role(s) they play as engines of feedback in the process of galaxy evolution. Finally we briefly summarise other astrophysical uses of radio galaxy populations, including the study of cosmic magnetism and cosmological applications, and discuss future prospects for advancing our…
We have detected six narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies at 37 GHz that were previously classified as radio silent and two that were classified as radio quiet. These detections reveal the presumption that NLS1 galaxies labelled radio quiet or radio silent and hosted by spiral galaxies are unable to launch jets to be incorrect. The detections are a plausible indicator of the presence of a powerful, most likely relativistic jet because this intensity of emission at 37 GHz cannot be explained by, for example, radiation from supernova remnants. Additionally, one of the detected NLS1 galaxies is …
We present a catalog of 47 wide-angle tailed radio galaxies (WATs), the WATCAT; these galaxies were selected by combining observations from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory/Very Large Array Sky Survey (NVSS), the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST), and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and mainly built including a radio morphological classification. We included in the catalog only radio sources showing two-sided jets with two clear "warmspots" (i.e., jet knots as bright as 20% of the nucleus) lying on the opposite side of the radio core, and having classical…
Are the FRI and FRII radio galaxies representative of the radio-loud (RL) AGN population in the local Universe? Recent studies on the local low-luminosity radio sources cast lights on an emerging population of compact radio galaxies which lack extended radio emission. In a pilot JVLA project, we study the high-resolution images of a small but representative sample of this population. The radio maps reveal compact unresolved or slightly resolved radio structures on a scale of 1-3 kpc. We find that these RL AGN live in red massive early-type galaxies, with large black hole masses ($\gtrsim$10$^{…
The BH masses and the Eddington ratios for a sample of 65 young radio galaxies [27 GPS and 38 CSS sources] are estimated by various methods. We find that the average BH mass of these young radio galaxies is <log M_bh>=8.3, which is less than that of radio loud QSOs and low redshift radio galaxies(<log M_bh>=9.0). The CSS/GPS sources have relatively high Eddington ratios with average ratio <log L_bol/L_Edd>=-0.56, which are similar to those of narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). It suggests that the CSS/GPS sources may not only be in the early stage of radio activities, but also in the earl…
We have undertaken a Spitzer campaign to measure the IR structures and spectra of low-redshift 3CRR radio galaxies. The results show that the 3.6 - 160 micron infrared properties vary systematically with integrated source power, and so demonstrate that contemporary core activity is characteristic of the behaviour of sources over their lifetimes. IR synchrotron emission is seen from jets and hotspots in some cases. Thermal emission is found from a jet/gas interaction in NGC 7385. Most of the near-IR integrated colours of the low-redshift 3CRR radio galaxies are similar to those of passive galax…
We present an argument that radio galaxies (active galaxies with mis-aligned jets) are likely to be the primary sources of the high-energy astrophysical neutrinos observed by IceCube. In particular, if the gamma-ray emission observed from radio galaxies is generated through the interactions of cosmic-ray protons with gas, these interactions can also produce a population of neutrinos with a flux and spectral shape similar to that measured by IceCube. We present a simple physical model in which high-energy cosmic rays are confined within the volumes of radio galaxies, where they interact with ga…
We present 15-GHz Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array observations of a complete sample of radio galaxies selected at 15.7 GHz from the Tenth Cambridge (10C) survey. 67 out of the 95 sources (71 per cent) are unresolved in the new observations and lower-frequency radio observations, placing an upper limit on their angular size of ~2 arcsec. Thus compact radio galaxies, or radio galaxies with very faint jets, are the dominant population in the 10C survey. This provides support for the suggestion in our previous work that low-luminosity ($L<10^{25} \, \textrm{W Hz}^{-1}$) radio galaxies are core-dom…
The observed correlation between the far-infrared and radio luminosities of galaxies illustrates the close connection between star formation and cosmic-ray production. Intriguingly, recent gamma-ray observations indicate that recycled/millisecond pulsars (MSPs), which do not trace recent star formation, may also efficiently accelerate cosmic-ray electrons. We study the contribution of MSPs to the galactic non-thermal radio emission, finding that they can dominate the emission from massive quiescent galaxies. This model can explain recent LOFAR observations that found a peculiar radio excess in…
Images from recent radio surveys were used to determine the radio position angles for over 2000 extended radio galaxies with host galaxies brighter than m$_{r}\sim$18 mag. For 1509 of these their optical axis ratios were obtained, and for a subset of 857 also their major axis position angle. It is confirmed that the majority of radio galaxies have their jets or lobes ejected within $\sim30^{\circ}$ of the optical minor axis of their host, but no evidence is found for the minor-axis alignment to be stronger for physically larger radio sources, nor for the presence of a secondary population of b…
We examine the redshift evolution of density environments around 2,163 radio galaxies with the stellar masses of $\sim10^{9}-10^{12} M_\odot$ between redshifts of $z=0.3-1.4$, based on the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm (FIRST). We use the $k$-nearest neighbor method to measure the local galaxy number density around our radio galaxy sample. We find that the overdensities of the radio galaxies are weakly but significantly anti-correlated with redshift. This is consistent with the known result that the relative abundance of les…
Radio emission from 23 tidal disruption event host galaxies were searched in the 144 MHz LOFAR-LoTSS2 images. Three host galaxies are detected with diffuse radio emission, which can be interpreted as either galactic synchrotron radio emission or diffuse radio halo in dense galactic environments. Non-detection of (transient) radio emission in majority of galaxies could be due to self-absorption of radio emission associated with the tidal disruption event. The detected objects are AT2018iih, RBS 1032, and NGC 5905. Non-detection for Sw 1644+57 is also reported.
High-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs) are some of the rarest objects in the Universe. They are often found to be the most massive galaxies observed at any epoch and are known to harbour active supermassive black holes that give rise to powerful relativistic jets. Finding such galaxies at high redshifts can shed light on the processes that shaped the most massive galaxies very early in the Universe. We have started a new campaign to identify and follow-up promising radio sources selected at 150 MHz in a bid to identify the most distant radio galaxies and study their properties, both intrinsic an…
This thesis reports on the application of new wide-field Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) imaging techniques using real data for the first time. These techniques are used to target three specific science areas: (i) a sub-parsec-scale study of compact radio sources in nearby starburst galaxies, (ii) a study of jet interactions in active radio galaxies, and (iii) an unbiased study of the sub-arcsecond, 90 cm sky.
The unification model for powerful radio galaxies and radio-loud quasars postulates that these objects are intrinsically the same but viewed along different angles. Herschel Space Observatory data permit the assessment of that model in the far-infrared spectral window. We analyze photometry from Spitzer and Herschel for the distant 3CR hosts, and find that radio galaxies and quasars have different mid-infrared, but indistinguishable far-infrared colors. Both these properties, the former being orientation dependent and the latter orientation invariant, are in line with expectations from the uni…
Basing our analysis on ROGUE I, a catalog of over 32,000 radio sources associated with optical galaxies, we provide two diagnostics to select the galaxies where the radio emission is due to an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Each of these diagnostics can be applied independently. The first one, dubbed MIRAD, compares the flux $F_{W3}$ in the $W3$ mid-infrared band of the WISE telescope, with the radio flux at 1.4 GHz, $\Frad$. MIRAD requires no optical spectra. The second diagnostic, dubbed DLM, relates the 4000 Å break strength, $D_{\rm n}(4000)$, with the radio luminosity per unit stellar mas…
We use the semi-analytical model of galaxy formation GALFORM to characterise an indirect signature of AGN feedback in the environment of radio galaxies at high redshifts. The predicted environment of radio galaxies is denser than that of radio-quiet galaxies with the same stellar mass. This is consistent with observational results from the CARLA survey. Our model shows that the differences in environment are due to radio galaxies being hosted by dark matter haloes that are ~1.5 dex more massive than those hosting radio-quiet galaxies with the same stellar mass. By running a control-simulation …
The unique morphology of head-tail (HT) radio galaxies suggests that radio jets and their intra-cluster medium interact strongly. We conducted a systematic search for HT radio galaxies using the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey first data release (LoTSS DR1) at 144 MHz. In this paper, a catalogue of fifty-five new HT radio galaxies is presented, ten of which are narrow-angle tailed sources (NATs) and forty-five of which are wide-angle tailed sources (WATs). NATs are characterised by tails that are bent like a narrow `V' shape with a less than 90 degree opening angle. The opening angle between jets i…
We present a multifrequency radio continuum study of seven giant low surface brightness (GLSB) galaxies using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). GLSB galaxies are optically faint, dark-matter dominated systems that are poorly evolved and have large HI gas disks. Our sample consists of GLSB galaxies that show signatures of nuclear activity in their optical spectra. We detect radio emission from the nuclei of all the seven galaxies. Five galaxies have nuclear spectral indices that range from 0.12 to -0.44 and appear to be core-dominated; the two galaxies have a steeper spectrum. Two of …
We present results from the first twelve months of operation of Radio Galaxy Zoo, which upon completion will enable visual inspection of over 170,000 radio sources to determine the host galaxy of the radio emission and the radio morphology. Radio Galaxy Zoo uses $1.4\,$GHz radio images from both the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty Centimeters (FIRST) and the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) in combination with mid-infrared images at $3.4\,μ$m from the {\it Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer} (WISE) and at $3.6\,μ$m from the {\it Spitzer Space Telescope}. We present the ea…
Context: Giant radio galaxies (with projected linear size of radio structure larger than 0.7 Mpc) are very rare and unusual objects. Only $\sim$5% of extended radio sources reach such sizes. Understanding of the processes responsible for their large sizes is crucial to further our knowledge about the radio source's evolution. Aims: We check the hypothesis that giants become extremely large due to the specific history of their host galaxy formation, as well as in the context of the cluster or group of galaxies where they evolve. Therefore we study the star formation histories in their host gala…
Double-lobe radio galaxies in the local Universe have traditionally been found to be hosted in elliptical or lenticular galaxies. We report the discovery of four spiral-host double-lobe radio galaxies (J0836+0532, J1159+5820, J1352+3126 and J1649+2635) that are discovered by cross-matching a large sample of 187005 spiral galaxies from SDSS DR7 to the full catalogues of FIRST and NVSS. J0836+0532 is reported for the first time. The host galaxies are forming stars at an average rate of 1.7 $-$ 10 M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ and possess Super Massive Black Holes (SMBHs) with masses of a few times 10$^{…
The missing baryons are usually thought to reside in galaxy filaments as warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). From previous studies, giant radio galaxies are usually associated with galaxy groups, which normally trace the WHIM. We propose observations with the powerful SKA1 to make a census of giant radio galaxies in the southern hemisphere, which will probe the ambient WHIM. The radio galaxies discovered will also be investigated to search for dying radio sources. With the highly improved sensitivity and resolution of SKA1, more than 6,000 giant radio sources will be discovered within 250 ho…
Giant Radio Galaxies (GRG) are those whose linear size projected on the sky exceeds one Megaparsec (1 Mpc = 3.09e22 m = 3.3 million light years). Since only about 300 of these have been reported in literature, we used two recent deep radio surveys to search for further examples of these rare objects. Here we describe the discovery of several new GRGs in these surveys.
To understand the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet AGN and differentiate between the contributions from star formation, AGN accretion, and jets, we have observed a nearby sample of Seyfert galaxies along with a comparison sample of starburst galaxies using the EVLA in full-polarization mode in the B-array configuration. The radio morphologies of the Seyfert galaxies show lobe/bubble-like features or prominent cores in radio emission whereas the starburst galaxies show radio emission spatially coincident with the star-forming regions seen in optical images. There is tentative evidence th…
We compare the optical properties of the host galaxies of radio-quiet (RQ) and radio-loud (RL) Type 2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to infer whether the jet production efficiency depends on the host properties or is determined just by intrinsic properties of the accretion flows. We carefully select galaxies from SDSS, FIRST, and NVSS catalogs. We confirm previous findings that the fraction of RL AGNs depends on the black-hole (BH) masses, and on the Eddington ratio. The comparison of the nature of the hosts of RL and RQ AGNs, therefore, requires pair-matching techniques. Matching in BH mass an…
Double radio lobes are generally believed to be produced by active nuclei of elliptical galaxies. However, several double-lobed radio sources have been solidly found to be associated with spiral galaxies. By cross-matching $\sim9\times10^5$ spiral galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR8 data with the full 1.4-GHz radio source catalogs of NRAO VLA Sky Survey and Faint Images of Radio Sky at Twenty-centimeters, we identify three new spiral galaxies: J0326$-$0623, J1110+0321 and J1134+3046 that produce double radio lobes, and five double-lobed spirals previously known. By combinin…
We use the new release of the AKARI Far-Infrared all sky Survey matched with the NVSS radio database to investigate the local ($z<0.25$) far infrared-radio correlation (FIRC) of different types of extragalactic sources. To obtain the redshift information for the AKARI FIS sources we crossmatch the catalogue with the SDSS DR8. This also allows us to use emission line properties to divide sources into four categories: i) star-forming galaxies (SFGs), ii) composite galaxies (displaying both star-formation and active nucleus components), iii) Seyfert galaxies, and iv) low-ionization nuclear emissi…
We present the catalog of Radio sources associated with Optical Galaxies and having Unresolved or Extended morphologies I (ROGUE~I), consisting of 32,616 spectroscopically selected galaxies. It is the largest handmade catalog of this kind, obtained by cross-matching galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 and radio sources from both the First Images of Radio Sky at Twenty Centimetre (FIRST) survey and the NRAO VLA Sky Survey \textit{without imposing a limit to the radio flux densities}. The catalog provides a \textit{visual} classification of radio and optical morpholo…
We study the morphology of the radio emission of giant radio galaxies (GRGs), a rare type of active galaxies, in order to find new clues for the reasons of their large size. Using radio images from two sky surveys at 1.4 GHz we quantified their radio morphology by measuring the geometry (armlength, bending angle, etc.) and flux symmetry for 58 such objects. Preliminary analysis suggests that radio source symmetry does not differ between galaxies and quasars, that there is no evidence for a decrease in linear size with redshift, and only a marginal trend for increasing symmetry with larger size…
We present radio observations of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and combine them with archival multi-frequency observations to understand whether ULIRGs are the progenitors of the powerful radio loud galaxies in the local Universe. ULIRGs are characterized by large infrared luminosities ($L_{IR}>$10$^{12}$L$\odot$), large dust masses ($\sim10^{8}M_{\odot}$) and vigorous star formation (star formation rates $\sim$10-100 $M_{\odot}~$yr$^{-1}$). Studies show that they represent the end stages of mergers of gas-rich spiral galaxies. Their …
We explore radio and spectroscopic properties of a sample of 14 miniature radio galaxies, i.e. early-type core galaxies hosting radio-loud AGN of extremely low radio power, 10^(27-29) erg s^(-1) Hz^(-1) at 1.4 GHz. Miniature radio galaxies smoothly extend the relationships found for the more powerful FRI radio galaxies between emission line, optical and radio nuclear luminosities to lower levels. However, they have a deficit of a factor of ~100 in extended radio emission with respect to that of the classical example of 3CR/FRI. This is not due to their low luminosity, since we found radio gala…
By cross-matching the currently largest optical catalog of galaxy clusters and the NVSS radio survey database, we obtain the largest complete sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in the redshift range of 0.05<z<0.45, which have radio emission and redshift information. We confirm that more powerful radio BCGs tend to be these optically very bight galaxies located in more relaxed clusters. We derived the radio luminosity functions of BCGs from the largest complete sample of BCGs, and find that the functions depend on the optical luminosity of BCGs and the dynamical state of galaxy cluster…
A Morphological Identification and Study of Radio Galaxies from LoTSS DR2. I. The "Winged'' Radio Galaxies
Xiamen University（厦门大学）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）；Institute of Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, NCU（尼古拉·哥白尼大学物理、天文与信息学学院天体物理研究所）；Jadavpur University（贾达普大学）
We use deep Herschel Space Observatory observations of a 90% complete sample of 32 intermediate-redshift 2Jy radio galaxies (0.05 < z < 0.7) to estimate the dust masses of their host galaxies and thereby investigate the triggering mechanisms for their quasar-like AGN. The dust masses derived for the radio galaxies (7.2x10^5 < M_d < 2.6x10^8 M_sun) are intermediate between those of quiescent elliptical galaxies on the one hand, and ultra luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) on the other. Consistent with simple models for the co-evolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, these…
With the unique advantage that radio galaxies have in delineating the central super-massive black hole axis along their radio axes they make useful probes for unseen central engine processes. In this paper I bring to attention the remarkable power of low axial ratio radio galaxy samples in opening up for examination this hard-to-probe regime of active galaxies. I present results from our recent EVLA observations of a large radio source sample originally selected on the basis of shapes. The observations have revealed a plethora of radio sources that potentially show signatures of axis changes o…
Radio galaxies are among the most massive galaxies in the high redshift universe and are known to often lie in protocluster environments. We have studied the fields of seven z = 2.2 radio galaxies with HAWK-I narrow-band and broad-band imaging in order to map out their environment using Halpha emitters (HAEs). The results are compared to the blank field HAE survey HiZELS. All of the radio galaxy fields are overdense in HAEs relative to a typical HiZELS field of the same area and four of the seven are richer than all except one of 65 essentially random HiZELS subfields of the same size. The sta…
We test the hypothesis that environments play a key role in enabling the growth of enormous radio structures spanning more than 700 kpc, an extreme population of radio galaxies called giant radio galaxies (GRGs). To achieve this, we explore (1) the relationships between the occurrence of GRGs and the surface number density of surrounding galaxies, including satellite galaxies and galaxies from neighboring halos, as well as (2) the GRG locations towards large-scale structures. The analysis is done by making use of a homogeneous sample of 110 GRGs detected from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey in …
We study the impact of cluster environment on the morphology of a sample of 4304 extended radio galaxies from Radio Galaxy Zoo. A total of 87% of the sample lies within a projected 15 Mpc of an optically identified cluster. Brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are more likely than other cluster members to be radio sources, and are also moderately bent. The surface density as a function of separation from cluster center of non-BCG radio galaxies follows a power law with index $-1.10\pm 0.03$ out to $10~r_{500}$ ($\sim 7~$Mpc), which is steeper than the corresponding distribution for optically sele…
Recent results indicate a correlation between nuclear radio-loudness of active galaxies and their central stellar surface-brightness profiles, in that `core' galaxies (with inner logarithmic slope γ<0.3) are significantly more radio loud than `power-law' galaxies (γ>0.5). This connection, which indicates possible links between radio-loudness and galaxy formation history (e.g. through black hole spin) has so far only been confirmed for a radio-selected sample of galaxies. Furthermore, it has since been shown that the Nuker law, which was used to parameterise the brightness profiles in these stu…
Hybrid morphology radio sources are a rare type of radio galaxy that display different Fanaroff-Riley classes on opposite sides of their nuclei. To enhance the statistical analysis of hybrid morphology radio sources, we embarked on a large-scale search of these sources within the international citizen science project, Radio Galaxy Zoo (RGZ). Here, we present 25 new candidate hybrid morphology radio galaxies. Our selected candidates are moderate power radio galaxies (L_median = 4.7x10^{24} W/(Hz sr) at redshifts 0.14<z<1.0. Hosts of nine candidates have spectroscopic observations, of which six …
