Are wide-angle radio-tail QSOs members of clusters of galaxies. I. VLA maps at 20 cm of 117 radio quasars
We report snapshot VLA observations obtained in the A array at 1413 MHz for 117 strong radio sources associated with QSOs, most of which have z<1.5 and 3C, 4C, or Molonglo identifications. Data from the literature and our observations now provide structural information for all but 8 of the 263 QSOs in the Hewitt and Burbidge compilation which are 3C, 4C, MC2, or MC3 sources and which have z<1.5. Of the 255 objects in the resulting sample, 113 are triple sources with well-defined radio axes. An appreciable portion of these triple sources has slightly bent radio axes, but 19 objects have radio axes bent more than 20/sup 0/, and six of these have bending angles exceeding 40/sup 0/. If we assume that these larger distortions are caused by interaction with an intracluster medium, as is believed to be the case for wide-angle radio-tail galaxies, then at least 5%--17% of the quasars in our sample of triple radio sources are associated with clusters having intracluster medium (ICM) densities exceeding 10/sup -3/ particles/cm/sup 3/. Perrenod's models of ICM evolution suggest that the percentage of sources showing distortions might decrease with increasing redshift. It is therefore interesting that all five sources with bending angles exceeding 50/sup 0/ have z<0.9.Several of the bent triples are boomerang shaped, with straight bridges connecting each outer component with the central source. On the other hand, a few of the distorted objects (e.g., 0232-042) show curved bridges connecting off-axis outer components with the central sources. Study of the relationship between bending angle and physical size demonstrates that all of the strongly bent sources (theta>20/sup 0/) have comparatively small physical sizes. We have also used data for 299 3C, 4C, MC2, and MC3 radio sources associated with quasars in the Hewitt-Burbidge catalog to re-examine the relationship between largest angular size (LAS) and redshift.
- Research Organization:
- Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
- OSTI ID:
- 5759863
- Journal Information:
- Astron. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astron. J.; (United States) Vol. 88:6; ISSN ANJOA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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