2000/02/21 by Ignas Snellen, Wolfgang Tschager, Snellen, Ignas +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0002393
LaTeX, 8 pages & 2 figs. Invited talk at the VSOP symposium:" High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Revealed by Space-VLBI" eds. Edwards & Hirabayashi
arxiv created 2000/02/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) sources form a key element in the study of the onset and evolution of radio-loud AGN, since they are most likely the young counterparts of extended radio sources. Here we discuss space-VLBI observations of GPS sources, which enable us to obtain unprecedented angular resolution at frequencies near their spectral turnovers. Observed peak brightness temperatures of Log[T]=10.5-11 Kelvin indicate that synchrotron self absorption is responsible for their spectral turnovers. This is in close agreement with previous size - spectral turnover statistics for GPS sources. The combination of these new space-VLBI observations with ground-based VLBI observations taken at an earlier epoch, confirm the young ages for the most compact GPS galaxies of several hundred years.