The Intrinsic Sizes of Odd Radio Circles

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Rupke, David, Coil, Alison, Whalen, Kelly, Moustakas, John, Tremonti, Christy, Perrotta, Serena
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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_version_ 1866917635755606016
author Rupke, David
Coil, Alison
Whalen, Kelly
Moustakas, John
Tremonti, Christy
Perrotta, Serena
author_facet Rupke, David
Coil, Alison
Whalen, Kelly
Moustakas, John
Tremonti, Christy
Perrotta, Serena
contents A new class of radio source, the so-called Odd Radio Circles (ORCs), have been discovered by recent sensitive, large-area radio continuum surveys. The distances of these sources have so far relied on photometric redshifts of optical galaxies found at the centers of or near the ORCs. Here we present Gemini rest-frame optical spectroscopy of six galaxies at the centers of, or potentially associated with, the first five ORC discoveries. We supplement this with Legacy Survey imaging and Prospector fits to their griz+W1/W2 photometry. Of the three ORCs with central galaxies, all lie at distances (z = 0.27-0.55) that confirm the large intrinsic diameters of the radio circles (300-500 kpc). The central galaxies are massive ($M_*\sim10^{11}M_\odot$), red, unobscured ellipticals with old ($\gtrsim$1~Gyr) stellar populations. They have LINER spectral types that are shock- or AGN-powered. All three host low-luminosity, radio-quiet AGN. The similarity of their central galaxies are consistent with a common origin, perhaps as a blastwave from an ancient starburst. The other two ORCs are adjacent and have no prominent central galaxies. However, the z=0.25 disk galaxy that lies between them hosts a Type 2, moderate-luminosity AGN. They may instead be the lobes of a radio jet from this AGN.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_06387
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Intrinsic Sizes of Odd Radio Circles
Rupke, David
Coil, Alison
Whalen, Kelly
Moustakas, John
Tremonti, Christy
Perrotta, Serena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
A new class of radio source, the so-called Odd Radio Circles (ORCs), have been discovered by recent sensitive, large-area radio continuum surveys. The distances of these sources have so far relied on photometric redshifts of optical galaxies found at the centers of or near the ORCs. Here we present Gemini rest-frame optical spectroscopy of six galaxies at the centers of, or potentially associated with, the first five ORC discoveries. We supplement this with Legacy Survey imaging and Prospector fits to their griz+W1/W2 photometry. Of the three ORCs with central galaxies, all lie at distances (z = 0.27-0.55) that confirm the large intrinsic diameters of the radio circles (300-500 kpc). The central galaxies are massive ($M_*\sim10^{11}M_\odot$), red, unobscured ellipticals with old ($\gtrsim$1~Gyr) stellar populations. They have LINER spectral types that are shock- or AGN-powered. All three host low-luminosity, radio-quiet AGN. The similarity of their central galaxies are consistent with a common origin, perhaps as a blastwave from an ancient starburst. The other two ORCs are adjacent and have no prominent central galaxies. However, the z=0.25 disk galaxy that lies between them hosts a Type 2, moderate-luminosity AGN. They may instead be the lobes of a radio jet from this AGN.
title The Intrinsic Sizes of Odd Radio Circles
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.06387