The spectral structure and energetics of powerful radio sources
Abstract
Determining the energy spectrum of an electron population can give key insights into the underlying physics of a radio source; however, the lack of high resolution, broad-bandwidth observations has left many ambiguities in our understanding of radio galaxies. The improved capabilities of telescopes such as the JVLA and LOFAR mean that within the bandwidth of any given observation, a detailed spectral shape can now be produced. We present recent investigations of powerful FR-II radio galaxies at GHz and MHz frequencies and show for the first time their small-scale spectral structure. We highlight problems in traditional methods of analysis and demonstrate how these issues can now be addressed. We present the latest results from low frequency studies which suggest a potential increase in the total energy content of radio galaxy lobes with possible implications for the energetics of the population as a whole.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1404.7499,
title = {The spectral structure and energetics of powerful radio sources},
author = {J. J. Harwood and M. J. Hardcastle and J. H. Croston and A. Stroe and R. Morganti and E. Orru},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1404.7499},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
4 Pages, 1 Figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference `The Metre Wavelength Sky: Celebrating 50 years of Radio Astronomy at TIFR'