• Title/Summary/Keyword: radio astronomy

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Identifying Young AGNs using the Korean VLBI Network

  • Jeong, Yongjin;Sohn, Bong Won;Chung, Aeree
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.42.2-42.2
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    • 2015
  • High frequency peakers (HFPs) are promising candidates for young active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Their small physical scale (< 1 kpc) and radio spectrum peaked at high frequency (> 5 GHz) are suggestive that it has been only about $10^2-10^3$ years since a central massive black hole in their host galaxies was launched. Until recently however, long-term monitoring radio observations at frequencies which are high enough to cover the true peak of HFP candidates were rare. Therefore, previous HFP samples are often contaminated by blazars, which are highly variable, hence may show a similar radio spectrum as HFPs depending on the observational epoch. In this work, we challenge to identify genuine young AGNs by monitoring HFP candidates at high radio frequencies. We performed single-dish monitoring of 19 candidates in 18 epochs over 2.5 years at 22 and 43 GHz using the Korean VLBI Network (KVN). Also, using KaVA, a combined array of the KVN and the VERA in Japan, we carried out 22 GHz VLBI observations of two HFPs and one blazar selected from our sample in order to compare their parsec scale (milli-arcsecond scale) morphology. HFPs are expected to have double/triple features, so called compact symmetric objects, which are scaled-down versions of extended radio galaxies, while blazars typically show core-jet morphology. We discuss the properties of AGNs at their very early evolutionary stage based on the results of the KVN and KaVA observations.

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VLBI NETWORK SIMULATOR: AN INTEGRATED SIMULATION TOOL FOR RADIO ASTRONOMERS

  • Zhao, Zhen;An, Tao;Lao, Baoqiang
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.52 no.5
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    • pp.207-216
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    • 2019
  • In this paper we introduce a software package, the Very long baseline interferometry Network SIMulator (VNSIM), which provides an integrated platform assisting radio astronomers to design Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) experiments and evaluate the network performance, with a user-friendly interface. Though VNSIM is primarily motivated by the East Asia VLBI Network, it can also be used for other VLBI networks and generic interferometers. The software package not only integrates the functionality of plotting (u, v) coverage, scheduling the observation, and displaying the dirty and CLEAN images, but also adds new features including sensitivity calculations for a given VLBI network. VNSIM provides flexible interactions on both command line and graphical user interface and offers friendly support for log reports and database management. Multi-processing acceleration is also supported, enabling users to handle large survey data. To facilitate future developments and updates, all simulation functions are encapsulated in separate Python modules, allowing independent invoking and testing. In order to verify the performance of VNSIM, we performed simulations and compared the results with other simulation tools, showing good agreement.

LOW-LEVEL RADIO EMISSION FROM RADIO GALAXIES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE LARGE SCALE STRUCTURE

  • KRISHNA GOPAL;WIITA PAUL J.;BARAI PARAMITA
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.37 no.5
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    • pp.517-525
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    • 2004
  • We present an update on our proposal that during the 'quasar era' (1.5 $\le$ z $\le$ 3), powerful radio galaxies could have played a major role in the enhanced global star-formation, and in the widespread magnetization and metal pollution of the universe. A key ingredient of this proposal is our estimate that the true cosmological evolution of the radio galaxy population is likely to be even steeper than what has been inferred from flux-limited samples of radio sources with redshift data, when an allowance is made for the inverse Compton losses on the cosmic microwave background which were much greater at higher redshifts. We thus estimate that a large fraction of the clumps of proto-galactic material within the cosmic web of filaments was probably impacted by the expanding lobes of radio galaxies during the quasar era. Some recently published observational evidence and simulations which provide support for this picture are pointed out. We also show that the inverse Compton x-ray emission from the population of radio galaxies during the quasar era, which we inferred to be largely missing from the derived radio luminosity function, is still only a small fraction of the observed soft x-ray background (XRB) and hence the limit imposed on this scenario by the XRB is not violated.

G192.8-1.1: A CANDIDATE OF AN EVOLVED THERMAL COMPOSITE SUPERNOVA REMNANT REIGNITED BY NEARBY MASSIVE STARS

  • Kang, Ji-Hyun;Koo, Bon-Chul;Byun, Do-Young
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.47 no.6
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    • pp.259-277
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    • 2014
  • G192.8-1.1 has been known as one of the faintest supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Galax until the radio continuum of G192.8-1.1 is proved to be thermal by Gao et al. (2011). Yet, the nature of G192.8-1.1 has not been fully investigated. Here, we report the possible discovery of faint non-thermal radio continuum components with a spectral index ${\alpha}{\sim}0.56(S_{\nu}{\propto}{\nu}^{-{\alpha}})$ around G192.8-1.1, while of the radio continuum emission is thermal. Also, our Arecibo $H_I$ data reveal an $H_I$ shell, expanding with an expansion velocity of $20-60km\;s^{-1}$, that has an excellent morphological correlation with the radio continuum emission. The estimated physical parameters of the $H_I$ shell and the possible association of non-thermal radio continuum emission with it suggest G192.8-1.1 to be an~0.3 Myr-old SNR. However, the presence of thermal radio continuum implies the presence of early-type stars in the same region. One possibility is that a massive star is ionizing the interior of an old SNR. If it is the case, the electron distribution assumed by the centrally-peaked surface brightness of thermal emission implies that G192.8-1.1 is a "thermal-composite" SNR, rather than a typical shell-type SNR, where the central hot gas that used to be bright in X-rays has cooled down. Therefore, we propose that G192.8-1.1 is an old evolved thermal-composite SNR showing recurring emission in the radio continuum due to a nearby massive star. The infrared image supports that the $H_I$ shell of G192.8-1.1 is currently encountering a nearby star forming region that possibly contains an early type star(s).