The LOFAR view of giant, early-type galaxies: Radio emission from active nuclei and star formation
Bibliographic record
Abstract
We studied the properties and the origin of the radio emission in the most luminous, early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the nearby Universe (MK ≤ −25, recession velocity ≤7500 km s−1), as seen by the 150 MHz Low-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) observations. LOFAR images are available for 188 of these giant ETGs (gETGs), and 146 (78%) of them are detected above a typical luminosity of ∼1021 W Hz−1. They show a large spread in power, reaching up to ∼1026 W Hz−1. We confirm a positive link between the stellar luminosity of gETGs and their median radio power, the detection rate, and the fraction of extended sources. About two-thirds (91) of the detected gETGs are unresolved, with sizes ≲4 kpc, confirming the prevalence of compact radio sources in local sources. Forty-six gETGs show extended emission on scales ranging from 4 to 340 kpc, at least 80% of which have a FR I class morphology. Based on the morphology and spectral index of the extended sources, ∼30% of them might be remnant or restarted sources, but further studies are needed to confirm this. Optical spectroscopy (available for 44 gETGs) indicates that for seven gETGs the nuclear gas is ionized by young stars suggesting a contribution to their radio emission from star forming regions. Their radio luminosities correspond to a star formation rate (SFR) in the range 0.1−8 M⊙ yr−1 and a median specific SFR of 0.8 × 10−12 yr−1. The gas flowing toward the center of gETGs can accrete onto the supermassive black hole but also stall at larger radii and form new stars, an indication that feedback does not completely quench star formation. The most luminous gETGs (25 galaxies with MK < −25.8) are all detected at 150 MHz; however, they are not all currently turned on: at least four of them are remnant sources and at least one is likely powered by star formation.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".