Variable 1.4GHz radio sources from NVSS and FIRST Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Ofek E.O.
  2. Frail D.A.
  3. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

We augment the two widest/deepest 1.4GHz radio surveys, the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) and the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters (FIRST), with the mean epoch in which each source was observed. We use these catalogs to search for unresolved sources that vary between the FIRST and NVSS epochs. We find 43 variable sources (0.1% of the sources) that vary by more than 4{sigma}, and we construct the mean structure function of these objects. This enables us to explore radio variability on timescales between several months and about five years. We find that, on these timescales, the mean structure function of the variable sources is consistent with a flat structure function. A plausible explanation to these observations is that a large fraction of the variability at 1.4GHz is induced by scintillations in the interstellar medium, rather than by intrinsic variability. Finally, for a subsample of the variables for which the redshift is available, we do not find strong evidence for a correlation between the variability amplitude and the source redshift.

Keywords
  1. radio-sources
  2. radio-continuum-emission
  3. surveys
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2011ApJ...737...45O
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/737/45
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/737/45
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.17370045

Access

IVOA Table Access TAP
https://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table2?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table2?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table2?
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table3?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table3?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table3?
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table1?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table1?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/737/45/table1?

History

2013-02-08T09:21:05Z
Resource record created
2013-02-08T09:21:05Z
Created
2013-02-23T22:26:08Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr