The Angular Size Distribution of mu Jy Radio Sources

W. D. Cotton, J. J. Condon, K. I. Kellermann, M. Lacy, R. A. Perley, A. M. Matthews, T. Vernstrom, Douglas Scott, J. V. Wall

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42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We made two new sensitive (rms noise sigma n approximate to 1 mu Jy beam(-1)) high-resolution (theta = 3 ''.0 and theta = 0 ''.66 FWHM) S-band (2 < nu < 4 GHz) images covering a single JVLA primary beam (FWHM approximate to 14') centered on J2000 alpha = 10(h) 46(m), delta = +59 degrees 01'. in the Lockman Hole. These images yielded a catalog of 792 radio sources, 97.7 +/- 0.8% of which have infrared counterparts stronger than S approximate to 2 mu Jy at lambda = 4.5 mu m. About 91% of the radio sources found in our previously published, comparably sensitive low-resolution (0 - 8 '' FWHM) image covering the same area were also detected at 0 ''.66 resolution, so most radio sources with S(3 GHz) greater than or similar to 5 mu Jy have angular structure phi less than or similar to 0 ''.66. The ratios of peak brightness in the 0 ''.66 and 3 '' images have a distribution indicating that most mu Jy radio sources are quite compact, with a median Gaussian angular diameter = 0 ''.3 +/- 0 ''.1 FWHM and an rms scatter sigma(phi) less than or similar to 0 ''.3 of individual sizes. Most of our mu Jy radio sources obey the tight far-infrared/radio correlation, indicating that they are powered by star formation. The median effective angular radius enclosing half the light emitted by an exponential disk is approximate to /2.43 approximate to 0 ''.12, so the median effective radius of star-forming galaxies at redshifts z similar to 1 is < r(e)> approximate to 1.0 kpc.

Original languageEnglish
Article number67
Number of pages11
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume856
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Mar 2018
Externally publishedYes

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