| 1. |
- Combes, Françoise, et al.
(författare)
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PKS 1413+135: OH and H i at z = 0.247 with MeerKAT
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 671
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The BL Lac object PKS 1413+135 was observed by the Large Survey Project MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) in the L-band, at 1139 MHz and 12931379 MHz, targeting the HI and OH lines in absorption at z=0.24671. The radio continuum might come from the nucleus of the absorbing galaxy or from a background object at redshift lower than 0.5, as suggested by the absence of gravitational images. The HI absorption line is detected at a high signal-To-noise ratio, with a narrow central component, and with a red wing, confirming previous results. The OH 1720 MHz line is clearly detected in (maser) emission, peaking at a velocity shifted by-10 to-15 km s-1 with respect to the HI peak. The 1612 MHz line is lost due to radio frequency interference. The OH 1667 MHz main line is tentatively detected in absorption, but not the 1665 MHz line. Over 30 years a high variability is observed in optical depths, due to the rapid changes of the line of sight caused by the superluminal motions of the radio knots. The HI line has varied by 20% in depth, while the OH-1720 MHz depth has varied by a factor of ∼3. The position of the central velocity and the widths also varied. The absorbing galaxy is an early-Type spiral (maybe S0) seen edge-on, with a prominent dust lane, covering the whole disk. Given the measured mass concentration and the radio continuum size at centimeter wavelengths (100 mas corresponding to 400 pc at z=0.25), the width of the absorption lines from the nuclear regions are expected up to 250 km s-1. The narrowness of the observed lines (< 15 km s-1) suggests that the absorption comes from an outer gas ring, as frequently observed in S0 galaxies. The millimetric lines are even narrower (< 1 km s-1), which corresponds to the continuum size restricted to the core. The radio core is covered by individual 1 pc molecular clouds, whose column density is a few 1022 cm-2, which is compatible with the gas screen detected in X-rays.
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| 2. |
- Combes, F., et al.
(författare)
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PKS 1830-211: OH and HI at z = 0.89 and the first MeerKAT UHF spectrum
- 2021
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 648
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Large Survey Project (LSP) "MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey"(MALS) is a blind H I 21 cm and OH 18 cm absorption line survey in the L- and UHF-bands, primarily designed to better determine the occurrence of atomic and molecular gas in the circumgalactic and intergalactic medium, and its redshift evolution. Here we present the first results using the UHF band obtained towards the strongly lensed radio source PKS 1830-211, revealing the detection of absorption produced by the lensing galaxy. With merely 90 min of data acquired on-source for science verification and processed using the Automated Radio Telescope Imaging Pipeline (ARTIP), we detect in absorption the known H I 21 cm and OH 18 cm main lines at z = 0.89 at an unprecedented signal-to-noise ratio (4000 in the continuum, in each 6 km s-1 wide channel). For the first time we report the detection of OH satellite lines at z = 0.89, which until now have not been detected at z > 0.25. We decompose the OH lines into a thermal and a stimulated contribution, where the 1612 and 1720 MHz lines are conjugate. The total OH 1720 MHz emission line luminosity is 6100 L⊙. This is the most luminous known 1720 MHz maser line and is also among the most luminous of the OH main line megamasers. The absorption components of the different images of the background source sample different light paths in the lensing galaxy, and their weights in the total absorption spectrum are expected to vary in time on daily and monthly time scales. We compare our normalized spectra with those obtained more than 20 years ago, and find no variation. We interpret the absorption spectra with the help of a lens galaxy model derived from an N-body hydrodynamical simulation, with a morphology similar to its optical HST image. The resulting absorption lines depend mainly on the background continuum and the radial distribution of the gas surface density for each atomic and molecular species. We show that it is possible to reproduce the observations assuming a realistic spiral galaxy disk without invoking any central gas outflows. However, there are distinct and faint high-velocity features in the ALMA millimeter absorption spectra that most likely originate from high-velocity clouds or tidal features. These clouds may contribute to broaden the H I and OH spectra.
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| 3. |
- Deka, P. P., et al.
(författare)
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The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) Data Release. I. Stokes I Image Catalogs at 1-1.4 GHz
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series. - 1538-4365 .- 0067-0049. ; 270:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) has observed 391 telescope pointings at the L band (900-1670 MHz) at delta less than or similar to +20 degrees. We present radio continuum images and a catalog of 495,325 (240,321) radio sources detected at a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) > 5 over an area of 2289 deg(2) (1132 deg(2)) at 1006 MHz (1381 MHz). Every MALS pointing contains a central bright radio source (S 1 GHz greater than or similar to 0.2 Jy). The median spatial resolution is 12 ''(8 ''). The median rms noise away from the pointing center is 25 mu Jy beam(-1) (22 mu Jy beam-1) and is within similar to 15% of the achievable theoretical sensitivity. The flux density scale ratio and astrometric accuracy deduced from multiply observed sources in MALS are <1% (8% scatter) and 1 '', respectively. Through comparisons with NVSS and FIRST at 1.4 GHz, we establish the catalog's accuracy in the flux density scale and astrometry to be better than 6% (15% scatter) and 0.'' 8, respectively. The median flux density offset is higher (9%) for an alternate beam model based on holographic measurements. The MALS radio source counts at 1.4 GHz are in agreement with literature. We estimate spectral indices (alpha) of a subset of 125,621 sources (S/N > 8), confirm the flattening of spectral indices with decreasing flux density, and identify 140 ultra-steep-spectrum (alpha < -1.3) sources as prospective high-z radio galaxies (z > 2). We have identified 1308 variable and 122 transient radio sources comprising primarily active galactic nuclei that demonstrate long-term (26 yr) variability in their observed flux densities. The MALS catalogs and images are publicly available at https://mals.iucaa.in.
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| 4. |
- Emig, K.L., et al.
(författare)
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Discovery of Hydrogen Radio Recombination Lines at z = 0.89 toward PKS 1830-211
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 944:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the detection of stimulated hydrogen radio recombination line (RRL) emission from ionized gas in a z = 0.89 galaxy using 580-1670 MHz observations from the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey. The RRL emission originates in a galaxy that intercepts and strongly lenses the radio blazar PKS 1830−211 (z = 2.5). This is the second detection of RRLs outside of the local Universe and the first clearly associated with hydrogen. We detect effective H144α (and H163α) transitions at observed frequencies of 1156 (798) MHz by stacking 17 (27) RRLs with 21σ (14σ) significance. The RRL emission contains two main velocity components and is coincident in velocity with H i 21 cm and OH 18 cm absorption. We use the RRL spectral line energy distribution and a Bayesian analysis to constrain the density (n e ) and the volume-averaged path length (ℓ) of the ionized gas. We determine log ( n e ) = 2.0 − 0.7 + 1.0 cm−3 and log ( ℓ ) = − 0.7 − 1.1 + 1.1 pc toward the northeast (NE) lensed image, likely tracing the diffuse thermal phase of the ionized ISM in a thin disk. Toward the southwest (SW) lensed image, we determine log ( n e ) = 3.2 − 1.0 + 0.4 cm−3 and log ( ℓ ) = − 2.7 − 0.2 + 1.8 pc, tracing gas that is more reminiscent of H scii regions. We estimate a star formation (surface density) rate of ΣSFR ∼ 0.6 M ⊙ yr−1 kpc−2 or SFR ∼ 50 M ⊙ yr−1, consistent with a star-forming main-sequence galaxy of M ⋆ ∼ 1011 M ⊙. The discovery presented here opens up the possibility of studying ionized gas at high redshifts using RRL observations from current and future (e.g., SKA and ngVLA) radio facilities.
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| 5. |
- Gorski, Mark, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Discovery of methanimine (CH 2 NH) megamasers toward compact obscured galaxy nuclei
- 2021
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 654
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first search for the 5.29 GHz methanimine (CH2NH) 110 - 111 transition toward a sample of galaxy nuclei. We target seven galaxies that host compact obscured nuclei (CONs) with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. These galaxies are characterized by Compton-thick cores. CH2NH emission is detected toward six CONs. The brightness temperatures measured toward Arp 220 indicate maser emission. Isotropic luminosities of the CH2NH transition, from all sources where it is detected, exceed 1 Lpdbl and thus may be considered megamasers. We also detect formaldehyde (H2CO) emission toward three CONs. The isotropic CH2NH luminosities are weakly correlated with the infrared luminosity of the host galaxy and strongly correlated with OH megamaser luminosities from the same galaxies. Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer models suggest that the maser is pumped by the intense millimeter-to-submillimeter Our study suggests that CH2NH megamasers are linked to the nuclear processes within 100 pc of the Compton-thick nucleus within CONs.
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| 6. |
- Robishaw, T., et al.
(författare)
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Measuring magnetic fields near and far with the SKA via the zeeman effect
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of Science. - 1824-8039.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The measurement of Zeeman splitting in spectral lines-both in emission and absorption-can provide direct estimates of the magnetic field strength and direction in atomic and molecular clouds, both in our own MilkyWay and in external galaxies. This method will probe the magnetic field in the warm and cold neutral components of the interstellar medium, providing a complement to the extensive SKA Faraday studies planning to probe the field in the ionized components.
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| 7. |
- Wagenveld, Jonah D., et al.
(författare)
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The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey: Homogeneous continuum catalogues towards a measurement of the cosmic radio dipole
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 673
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The number counts of homogeneous samples of radio sources are a tried and true method of probing the large-scale structure of the Universe, as most radio sources outside the Galactic plane are at cosmological distances. As such, they are expected to trace the cosmic radio dipole, an anisotropy analogous to the dipole seen in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Results have shown that although the cosmic radio dipole matches the direction of the CMB dipole, it has a significantly larger amplitude. This unexplained result challenges our assumption of the Universe being isotropic, which can have large repercussions for the current cosmological paradigm. Though significant measurements have been made, sensitivity to the radio dipole is generally hampered by systematic effects that can cause large biases in the measurement. Here we assess these systematics with data from the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS), a blind search for absorption lines with pointings centred on bright radio sources. With the sensitivity and field of view of MeerKAT, thousands of sources are observed in each pointing, allowing for the possibility of measuring the cosmic radio dipole given enough pointings. We present the analysis of ten MALS pointings, focusing on systematic effects that could lead to an inhomogeneous catalogue. We describe the calibration and creation of full band continuum images and catalogues, producing a combined catalogue containing 16 307 sources and covering 37.5 square degrees of sky down to a sensitivity of 10 μJy beam-1. We measure the completeness, purity, and flux recovery statistics for these catalogues using simulated data. We investigate different source populations in the catalogues by looking at flux densities and spectral indices and how they might influence source counts. Using the noise characteristics of the pointings, we find global measures that can be used to correct for the incompleteness of the catalogue, producing corrected number counts down to 100-200 μJy. We show that we can homogenise the catalogues and properly account for systematic effects. We determine that we can measure the dipole to 3significance with 100 MALS pointings.
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