Abstract

Imaging the jets of the naked quasar
From galaxies to cosmology: Science with the new generation of radio Telescopes
Daniel Csaba Molnar
University of Sussex
HE0450-2958 is a puzzling system made of a QSO (z=0.2864), an adjacent emission line ”blob” (z=0.2864) and a companion galaxy (z=0.2865). It is interesting because it is the only QSO with no clearly detected host galaxy, and its companion galaxy is a ULIRG. Various scenarios have been proposed to explain the observations, e.g. a merger of the massive companion galaxy and a dwarf elliptical with an AGN (Papadopoulos et al. 2008), quasar-jet-induced star formation in the companion galaxy (Elbaz et al. 2009) or a highly asymmetric host with an offset active nucleus (Letawe & Magain 2010). Earlier radio imaging has indeed provided tentative evidence for a jet, but at low detection significance and angular resolution. In order to decide which of the above scenarios is most likely we need to confirm the presence of a jet emanating from the QSO, map the extent of the jet and study its effect on the companion galaxy. For that we have requested new multi-frequency JVLA data with 10 times better sensitivity and resolution compared to previous existing radio imaging. I will present the outcome of our new measurements, where we now conclusively detect the jet and can study its morphology. I will also report on our spectral index map of the HE0450 system, which provides insight into the purported mechanism of jet-induced star-formation.

Schedule

09:00 - 10:30
09:45
Tuesday

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