The ubiquitous radio continuum emission from the most massive early-type galaxies

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/192963

Title: The ubiquitous radio continuum emission from the most massive early-type galaxies
Author(s): Brown, Michael J. I.; Jannuzi, Buell T.; Floyd, David J. E.; Mould, Jeremy R.
Abstract: We have measured the radio continuum emission of 396 early-type galaxies brighter than K = 9, using 1.4 GHz imagery from the NRAO Very Large Array Sky Survey, Green Bank 300 ft Telescope, and 64 m Parkes Radio Telescope. For MK < –24 early-type galaxies, the distribution of radio powers at fixed absolute magnitude spans four orders of magnitude and the median radio power is proportional to K-band luminosity to the power 2.78 ± 0.16. The measured flux densities of MK < –25.5 early-type galaxies are greater than zero in all cases. It is thus highly likely that the most massive galaxies always host an active galactic nucleus or have recently undergone star formation.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
Source: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 731, no. 2 (Apr 2011), paper no. L41
Publication year: 2011
FOR Code(s): 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences
Keyword(s): Elliptical galaxies; Lenticular galaxies; Radio continuum
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing
ISSN: 2041-8205
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/731/2/l41
Peer reviewed