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PKS 2250–351: A giant radio galaxy in Abell 3936

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

N. Seymour*
Affiliation:
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Bentley, WA6102, Australia
M. Huynh
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA6151, Australia International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
S. S. Shabala
Affiliation:
School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 37, Hobart, TAS7001, Australia
J. Rogers
Affiliation:
School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 37, Hobart, TAS7001, Australia
L. J. M. Davies
Affiliation:
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
R. J. Turner
Affiliation:
School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 37, Hobart, TAS7001, Australia
A. O’Brien
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW1710, Australia
C. H. Ishwara-Chandra
Affiliation:
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, TIFR, Post Bag No. 3, Ganeshkhind Post, 411007Pune, India
J. E. Thorne
Affiliation:
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
T. J. Galvin
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA6151, Australia
T. Jarrett
Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
H. Andernach
Affiliation:
Departamento de Astronomía, DCNE, Universidad de Guanajuato, Apdo. Postal 144, Guanajuato, CP 36000, Gto., Mexico
C. Anderson
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA6151, Australia
J. Bunton
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW1710, Australia
K. Chow
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW1710, Australia
J. D. Collier
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, The Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA), University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW2751, Australia
S. Driver
Affiliation:
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
M. D. Filipovic
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, The Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA), University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
G. Gürkan
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA6151, Australia
A. M. Hopkins
Affiliation:
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Australian Astronomical Optics, AAO-Macquarie, Macquarie University, 105 Delhi Road, North Ryde, NSW2113, Australia
A. D. Kapińska
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM87801, USA
D. A. Leahy
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
J. Marvil
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM87801, USA
P. Manojlovic
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW1710, Australia School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW2751, Australia
R. P. Norris
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW1710, Australia School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW2751, Australia
C. Phillips
Affiliation:
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW1710, Australia
A. Robotham
Affiliation:
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
L. Rudnick
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN55455, USA
V. Singh
Affiliation:
Astronomy and Astrophysics Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad380009, India
S. V. White
Affiliation:
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Bentley, WA6102, Australia Department of Physics and Electronics, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, 6140Grahamstown, South Africa
*
Author for correspondence: Nicholas Seymour, E-mail: nick.seymour@curtin.edu.au
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Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the radio galaxy PKS $2250{-}351$, a giant of 1.2 Mpc projected size, its host galaxy, and its environment. We use radio data from the Murchison Widefield Array, the upgraded Giant Metre-wavelength Radio Telescope, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array to model the jet power and age. Optical and IR data come from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and provide information on the host galaxy and environment. GAMA spectroscopy confirms that PKS $2250{-}351$ lies at $z=0.2115$ in the irregular, and likely unrelaxed, cluster Abell 3936. We find its host is a massive, ‘red and dead’ elliptical galaxy with negligible star formation but with a highly obscured active galactic nucleus dominating the mid-IR emission. Assuming it lies on the local M$\sigma$ relation, it has an Eddington accretion rate of $\lambda_{\rm EDD}\sim 0.014$. We find that the lobe-derived jet power (a time-averaged measure) is an order of magnitude greater than the hotspot-derived jet power (an instantaneous measure). We propose that over the lifetime of the observed radio emission (${\sim} 300\,$Myr), the accretion has switched from an inefficient advection-dominated mode to a thin disc efficient mode, consistent with the decrease in jet power. We also suggest that the asymmetric radio morphology is due to its environment, with the host of PKS $2250{-}351$ lying to the west of the densest concentration of galaxies in Abell 3936.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Astronomical Society of Australia 2020; published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Table 1. Radio flux densities of the components of PKS $\text{2250-351}$. The GLASS, ATCA green time, ASKAP and uGMRT data are presented here for the first time. The other data here come from AT20G (Murphy et al. 2010), NVSS (Condon et al. 1998), SUMSS (Bock, Large, & Sadler 1999), GLEAM DR1 (Hurley-Walker et al. 2017), and TGSS ADR1 (Intema et al. 2017). The extended lobe emission seen in the ASKAP and uGMRT images was determined by summing the flux density over an irregular polygon measured on the ASKAP image (see text for more details). For the higher resolution GLASS data, we present the flux densities of just the hotspots as the lobes are resolved out. The columns are: radio telescope used, survey the data are from, the component measured depending on resolution and brightness sensitivity, the observed frequency, the bandwidth, then the flux density (with uncertainty${^{\rm f}}$) of the east lobe, core, west lobe, and the total flux.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Greyscale image of PKS $\text{2250-351}$ from our 888 MHz ASKAP continuum data. The local RMS is ${\sim} \text{64}\,\mu$Jy/beam and the restoring beam has a full-width half maximum of $\text{10.55}$ arcsec $\times \text{7.82}$ arcsec (indicated in the lower left). The greyscale is a linear stretch in Jy/beam as indicated by the colour bar. The red contours start at $\text{4}\sigma$ and increase by factors of $\sqrt{\text{2}}$. The two black rectangles indicate the regions of the GLASS data presented in Figure 2. The core is clearly identified as well as hotspots positioned on top of diffuse emission from the lobes. Within the eastern lobe, the jet is observed with several knots. The total angular size is $\text{5.66}$ arcmin ($\equiv\,\text{1.17}\,$Mpc$^{\text{1}}$) with equal lobe lengths. However, the width of each lobe is markedly different with the western lobe being $\text{1.4}\times$ wider than the eastern lobe.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Greyscale ATCA 9.5 GHz images with 5.5 GHz images overlaid as red contours. The contours of the main panel (from the ‘green time’ data) start at $\text{3}\times\sigma$ ($\sigma \text{=} \text{200}\,\mu$Jy/beam). The contours of the inset panels (close-ups of the hotspots from GLASS) start at $\text{3}\times\sigma$ ($\sigma\text{=} \text{24}\,\mu$Jy/beam). Both sets of contours increase by factors of $\sqrt{\text{2}}$. The resolution is indicated in the lower left of each panel by the ellipses (solid 9.5 GHz and dashed 5.5 GHz). The greyscale stretch of the main figure, indicated by the colour bar, is in Jy/beam. The stretch of the inserts is a linear stretch from $\text{-0.2}$ to $\text{+0.3}\,$mJy/beam.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Greyscale image of the band-4 uGMRT image (central frequency 670 MHz). The greyscale stretch in Jy/beam is indicated in the side bar. The red contours of the band-3 legacy data image (central frequency 323 MHz) and start at 2 mJy increasing by $\sqrt{\text{2}}$. This image reveals the same structure (the hotspots, diffuse emission, and jet) which we see from the ASKAP image in Figure 1 although does not recover the extended emission quite as well. The restoring beams are shown in the lower left for the band-3 (dashed ellipse) and band-4 (solid ellipse) images.

Figure 4

Figure 4. (left) The recalibrated 2 dF spectrum of 2MASS J$\text{22533602-3455305}$. The vertical dashed lines indicate the observed wavelength for spectral lines at $\textit{z}\text{=}\text{0.2115}$ and the emission line ratios are indicative of an AGN (see text for more). (right) A false colour RGB image of the host galaxy of PKS $\text{2250-351}$ (2MASS J$\text{22533602-3455305}$). The imaging comes from GAMA with g-band (blue), r-band (green), and Z-band (red). The host galaxy appears elliptical in shape showing no signs of disturbance.

Figure 5

Table 2. The GAMA UV to far-IR photometry of 2MASS J$\text{22533602-3455305}$, the host galaxy of PKS $\text{2250-351}$. The WISE flux densities are converted from Vega magnitudes as explained in the text. PACS and SPIRE (100–500 $\mu$m) upper limits are determined from the public H-ATLAS images at $\text{2.5}\times$ the local RMS. The columns are: band, effective wavelength and observed flux density with uncertainty.

Figure 6

Figure 5. The radio (70 MHz to 20 GHz) SEDs of the core and each lobe of PKS $\text{2250-351}$ as indicated in the insert. The lobe SEDs (with the contribution of the hotspots subtracted) are well parameterised as a single power-law with the best fits overlaid: $\alpha_{\rm east}\text{=-0.94}\pm \text{0.01} $ and $\alpha_{\rm west}\text{=-1.03}\pm \text{0.01}$.

Figure 7

Figure 6. We plot the UV to far-IR SED of 2MASS J$\text{22533602-3455305}$, the host galaxy of PKS $\text{2250-351}$, with the data from Table 1. We show the best fit stellar SED model (dashed line) to these data (excluding the three longer wavelength WISE bands which are dominated by the AGN). We overlay an AGN model (dash-dot line) from Symeonidis et al. (2016) to demonstrate how it dominates the WISE bands.

Figure 8

Figure 7. Sky distribution of spectroscopically confirmed GAMA sources lying at $\text{0.207}\le \textit{z}\le \text{0.2180}$ (i.e. $\Delta(\textit{cz})\le \text{1}\,\text{500}\,$km s–1). PKS $\text{2250-351}$ is indicated by a larger black dot surrounded by a 1 Mpc radius circle. The large black square is the Abell cluster position and the ‘$\text{+}$’, ‘X’, and diamond indicate three different estimates of the cluster centre from the GAMA group catalogue. The colour code of the galaxies indicate their stellar masses. The radio galaxy lies to the west of our most confident estimate of the cluster centre, the Iterative Centre of Light (IterCoL).