Dying radio galaxies fade faster than previously thought, study finds

The short version

• Researchers identified 12 confirmed remnant radio galaxies with surprisingly short spectral ages ranging from 8 to 42 million years.
• The study identified a negative correlation between redshift and spectral age, indicating that more distant remnants fade more rapidly.
• Astronomers anticipate future deep surveys with the Square Kilometre Array will detect larger numbers of these faint remnants.

Key facts

• Spectral modeling of 14 candidates in the XMM-LSS field confirmed 12 genuine remnant radio galaxies and two active sources.[ScienceDaily]
• The confirmed remnant galaxies exhibited total spectral ages between 8 and 42 million years, with a median age of roughly 12 million years.[ScienceDaily]
• The researchers utilized multi-frequency radio observations ranging from 144 MHz to 1.5 GHz from facilities including MeerKAT, uGMRT, LOFAR, GMRT, and the Jansky Very Large Array.[ScienceDaily]
• The research was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society by a team led by scientists from the University of Cape Town and the Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy.[ScienceDaily]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.

• Dying radio galaxies fade faster than scientists expectedScienceDaily - Science