Imaging on PAPER: Centaurus a at 148MHz

Abstract

We present observations taken with the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) of the Centaurus A field in the frequency range 114-188 MHz. The resulting image has a 25 arcmin resolution, a dynamic range of 3500 and an rms of 0.5 Jy beam-1 (for a beam size of 25 arcmin × 23 arcmin). A spectral index map of Cen A is produced across the full band. The spectral index distribution is qualitatively consistent with electron reacceleration in regions of excess turbulence in the radio lobes, as previously identified morphologically. Hence, there appears to be an association of 'severe weather' in radio lobes with energy input into the relativistic electron population. We compare the PAPER large-scale radio image with the X-ray image from the ROSAT All Sky Survey. There is a tentative correlation between radio and X-ray features at the end of the southern lobe, some 200 kpc from the nucleus, as might be expected from inverse Compton (IC) scattering of the cosmic microwave background by the relativistic electrons also responsible for the radio synchrotron emission. The magnetic fields derived from the (possible) IC and radio emission are of similar magnitude to fields derived under the minimum pressure assumptions, ~1 μG. However, the X-ray field is complex, with large-scale gradients and features possibly unrelated to Cen A. If these X-ray features are unrelated to Cen A, then these fields are lower limits. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.