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The SKA PAthfinder Radio Continuum Surveys (SPARCS) are providing deep-field imaging of the faint (sub-mJy) extra-galactic radio source populations through a series of reference surveys. One of the key science goals for SPARCS is to characterize the relative contribution of radio emission associated with AGN from star-formation (SF) in these faint radio source populations, using a combination of high sensitivity and high angular resolution imaging over a range of spatial scales (arcsec to mas). To isolate AGN contribution from SF, we hypothesise that there exists a brightness temperature cut-off point separating pure AGN from SF. We present a multi-resolution (10-100 mas) view of the transition between compact AGN and diffuse SF through a deep wide-field EVN+e-MERLIN, multiple phase centre survey of the centre of the Northern SPARCS (SLOAN) reference field at 1.6 GHz. This is the first (and only) VLBI (+e-MERLIN) milliarcsecond angular resolution observation of this field, and of the wider SPARCS reference field programme. Using these high spatial resolution (9 pc - 0.3 kpc at z ~ 1.25) data, 11 milliarcsecond-scale sources are detected from a targeted sample of 52 known radio sources from previous observations with the e-MERLIN, giving a VLBI detection fraction of ~ 21%. At spatial scales of ~ 9 pc, these sources show little to no jet structure whilst at ~ 0.3 kpc one-sided and two-sided radio jets begin to emerge on the same sources, indicating a possible transition from pure AGN emissions to AGN and star-formation systems., 14 pages, 10 figures

We present MeerKAT L-band (886-1682 MHz) observations of the extended radio structure of the peculiar galaxy pair PKS 2130-538 known as the "Dancing Ghosts". The complex of bending and possibly interacting jets and lobes originate from two Active Galactic Nuclei hosts in the Abell 3785 galaxy cluster, one of which is the brightest cluster galaxy. The radio properties of the PKS 2130-538 flux density, spectral index and polarization - are typical for large, bent-tail galaxies. We also investigate a number of thin extended low surface brightness filaments originating from the lobes. Southeast from the Dancing Ghosts, we detect a region of low surface brightness emission that has no clear origin. While it could originate from the Abell 3785 radio halo, we investigate the possibility that it is a radio relic or emission associated with the two PKS 2130-538 hosts. We find no evidence of interaction between the two PKS 2130-538 hosts., 13 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)

We present a novel natural language processing (NLP) approach to deriving plain English descriptors for science cases otherwise restricted by obfuscating technical terminology. We address the limitations of common radio galaxy morphology classifications by applying this approach. We experimentally derive a set of semantic tags for the Radio Galaxy Zoo EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe) project and the wider astronomical community. We collect 8,486 plain English annotations of radio galaxy morphology, from which we derive a taxonomy of tags. The tags are plain English. The result is an extensible framework which is more flexible, more easily communicated, and more sensitive to rare feature combinations which are indescribable using the current framework of radio astronomy classifications., Comment: 17 pages, 11 Figures, Accepted at MNRAS

New classes of astronomical objects are often discovered serendipitously. The enormous data volumes produced by recent high-time resolution, radio-telescope surveys imply that efficient algorithms are required for a discovery. Such algorithms are usually tuned to detect specific, known sources. Existing data sets therefore likely contain unknown astronomical sources, which will remain undetected unless algorithms are developed that can detect a more diverse range of signals. We present the Single-dish PARKES data challenge for finding the uneXpected (SPARKESX), a compilation of real and simulated high-time resolution observations. SPARKESX comprises three mock surveys from the Parkes "Murriyang" radio telescope. A broad selection of simulated and injected expected signals (such as pulsars, fast radio bursts), poorly characterised signals (plausible flare star signatures) and unknown unknowns are generated for each survey. The goal of this challenge is to aid in the development of new algorithms that can detect a wide-range of source types. We show how successful a typical pipeline based on the standard pulsar search software, PRESTO, is at finding the injected signals. The dataset is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.25919/fd4f-0g20., Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 18 pages, 8 figures, 4 table

Cross-matching catalogues from radio surveys to catalogues of sources at other wavelengths is extremely hard, because radio sources are often extended, often consist of several spatially separated components, and often no radio component is coincident with the optical/infrared host galaxy. Traditionally, the cross-matching is done by eye, but this does not scale to the millions of radio sources expected from the next generation of radio surveys. We present an innovative automated procedure, using Bayesian hypothesis testing, that models trial radio-source morphologies with putative positions of the host galaxy. This new algorithm differs from an earlier version by allowing more complex radio source morphologies, and performing a simultaneous fit over a large field. We show that this technique performs well in an unsupervised mode., 9 pages, 7 figures

We present a set of peculiar radio sources detected using an unsupervised machine learning method. We use data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope to train a self-organizing map (SOM). The radio maps from three ASKAP surveys, Evolutionary Map of Universe pilot survey (EMU-PS), Deep Investigation of Neutral Gas Origins pilot survey (DINGO) and Survey With ASKAP of GAMA-09 + X-ray (SWAG-X), are used to search for the rarest or unknown radio morphologies. We use an extension of the SOM algorithm that implements rotation and flipping invariance on astronomical sources. The SOM is trained using the images of all "complex" radio sources in the EMU-PS which we define as all sources catalogued as "multi-component". The trained SOM is then used to estimate a similarity score for complex sources in all surveys. We select 0.5\% of the sources that are most complex according to the similarity metric, and visually examine them to find the rarest radio morphologies. Among these, we find two new odd radio circle (ORC) candidates and five other peculiar morphologies. We discuss multiwavelength properties and the optical/infrared counterparts of selected peculiar sources. In addition, we present examples of conventional radio morphologies including: diffuse emission from galaxy clusters, and resolved, bent-tailed, and FR-I and FR-II type radio galaxies. We discuss the overdense environment that may be the reason behind the circular shape of ORC candidates., Comment: Accepted in PASA, 23 pages, 16 figures

Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 492(2), 2606 - 2621 (2020). doi:10.1093/mnras/stz3439, We present 1–10 GHz radio continuum flux density, spectral index, polarization, and rotation measure (RM) images of the youngest known Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G1.9+0.3, using observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We have conducted an expansion study spanning eight epochs between 1984 and 2017, yielding results consistent with previous expansion studies of G1.9+0.3. We find a mean radio continuum expansion rate of (0.78 ± 0.09) per cent yr$^{−1}$ (or ∼8900 km s$^{−1}$ at an assumed distance of 8.5 kpc), although the expansion rate varies across the SNR perimetre. In the case of the most recent epoch between 2016 and 2017, we observe faster-than-expected expansion of the northern region. We find a global spectral index for G1.9+0.3 of −0.81 ± 0.02 (76 MHz–10 GHz). Towards the northern region, however, the radio spectrum is observed to steepen significantly (∼−1). Towards the two so-called (east and west) ‘ears’ of G1.9+0.3, we find very different RM values of 400–600 and 100–200 rad m$^2$, respectively. The fractional polarization of the radio continuum emission reaches (19 ± 2) per cent, consistent with other, slightly older, SNRs such as Cas A., Published by Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford

We describe the performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA), the prototype for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope ASKAP. BETA is the first aperture synthesis radio telescope to use phased array feed technology, giving it the ability to electronically form up to nine dual-polarization beams. We report the methods developed for forming and measuring the beams, and the adaptations that have been made to the traditional calibration and imaging procedures in order to allow BETA to function as a multi-beam aperture synthesis telescope. We describe the commissioning of the instrument and present details of BETA's performance: sensitivity, beam characteristics, polarimetric properties and image quality. We summarise the astronomical science that it has produced and draw lessons from operating BETA that will be relevant to the commissioning and operation of the final ASKAP telescope., Accepted for publication in PASA

In the broad context of the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) early-science phase and preparation for the related surveys, we report the first radio observations towards the Galactic plane. The targeted field was chosen to encompass the entire SCORPIO survey, one of the several pathfinder projects for the Evolutionary Map of the Universe survey planned with the ASKAP. The observations were carried out in 2018 January at a central frequency of 912 MHz, with 15 operational antennas, and covered a total area of about 40 square degrees in three different pointings. The final image has a resolution of 24.1 × 21.1 arcsec2 and a median rms of $541\ \mu \mathrm{Jy\ beam}^{-1}$. We were able to extract 3545 candidate sources, 75 per cent of them point sources. For a preliminary validation, a comparison with the 843 MHz Molonglo Galactic Plane Survey is presented. Although the present observations were obtained with the ASKAP only partially deployed, its unique capability to map complex sources, such as those inhabiting the Galactic plane, at different angular scales, is highlighted. Within the SCORPIO field all the previously classified H ii regions, Planetary Nebulae (PNe), and supernovae remnants (SNRs), previously known to be radio sources, were detected. We also report new radio detections from several H ii regions previously classified as ‘candidates’ or ‘radio quiet’ and from half of all the PNe in the SCORPIO field with robust classification. Most notably, we find numerous unclassified, extended sources which constitute a promising sample of candidates H ii regions and SNRs.

We present a comprehensive multi-frequency catalogue of radio sources behind the Large Magellanic Cloud between 0.2 and 20 GHz, gathered from a combination of new and legacy radio continuum surveys. This catalogue covers an area of $\sim$144~deg$^2$ at angular resolutions from 45 arcsec to $\sim$3 arcmin. We find 6434 discrete radio sources in total, of which 3789 are detected at two or more radio frequencies. We estimate the median spectral index ($\alpha$; where $S_{v}\sim\nu^\alpha$) of $\alpha = -0.89 $ and mean of $-0.88 \pm 0.48$ for 3636 sources detected exclusively at two frequencies (0.843 and 1.384 GHz) with similar resolution (FWHM $\sim$40-45 arcsec). The large frequency range of the surveys makes it an effective tool to investigate Gigahertz Peak Spectrum (GPS), Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) and Infrared Faint Radio sources populations within our sample. We find 10 GPS candidates with peak frequencies near 5 GHz, from which we estimate their linear size. 1866 sources from our catalogue are (CSS) candidates with $\alpha 0.5$. We found optical counterparts for 343 of the radio continuum sources, of which 128have a redshift measurement. Finally, we investigate the population of 123 Infrared Faint Radio Sources (IFRSs) found in this study., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a new image of the 9.0 GHz radio emission from the extended Chandra Deep Field South. A total of 181 hours of integration with the Australia Telescope Compact Array has resulted in a 0.276 square degree image with a median sensitivity of $\sim$20 $\mu$Jy/beam rms, for a synthesised beam of 4.0 $\times$ 1.3 arcsec. We present a catalogue of the 9.0 GHz radio sources, identifying 70 source components and 55 individual radio galaxies. Source counts derived from this sample are consistent with those reported in the literature. The observed source counts are also generally consistent with the source counts from simulations of the faint radio population. Using the wealth of multiwavelength data available for this region, we classify the faint 9 GHz population and find that 91% are radio loud AGN, 7% are radio quiet AGN and 2% are star forming galaxies. The 9.0 GHz radio sources were matched to 5.5 and 1.4 GHz sources in the literature and we find a significant fraction of flat or inverted spectrum sources, with 36% of the 9 GHz sources having $\alpha_{5.5GHz}^{9.0GHz}$ $>$ -0.3 (for $S \propto \nu^\alpha$). This flat or inverted population is not well reproduced by current simulations of radio source populations., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present the discovery of another Odd Radio Circle (ORC) with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) at 944 MHz. The observed radio ring, ORC J0102-2450, has a diameter of ~70 arcsec or 300 kpc, if associated with the central elliptical galaxy DES J010224.33-245039.5 (z ~ 0.27). Considering the overall radio morphology (circular ring and core) and lack of ring emission at non-radio wavelengths, we investigate if ORC J0102-2450 could be the relic lobe of a giant radio galaxy seen end-on or the result of a giant blast wave. We also explore possible interaction scenarios, for example, with the companion galaxy, DES J010226.15-245104.9, located in or projected onto the south-eastern part of the ring. We encourage the search for further ORCs in radio surveys to study their properties and origin., MNRAS Letters, accepted (5 pages, 3 figures)

In this paper we describe the system design and capabilities of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope at the conclusion of its construction project and commencement of science operations. ASKAP is one of the first radio telescopes to deploy phased array feed (PAF) technology on a large scale, giving it an instantaneous field of view that covers 31 square degrees at 800 MHz. As a two-dimensional array of 36x12m antennas, with baselines ranging from 22m to 6km, ASKAP also has excellent snapshot imaging capability and 10 arcsecond resolution. This, combined with 288 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth and a unique third axis of rotation on each antenna, gives ASKAP the capability to create high dynamic range images of large sky areas very quickly. It is an excellent telescope for surveys between 700 MHz and 1800 MHz and is expected to facilitate great advances in our understanding of galaxy formation, cosmology and radio transients while opening new parameter space for discovery of the unknown., 38 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in PASA

We have found a class of circular radio objects in the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Pilot Survey, using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. The objects appear in radio images as circular edge-brightened discs, about one arcmin diameter, that are unlike other objects previously reported in the literature. We explore several possible mechanisms that might cause these objects, but none seems to be a compelling explanation., Accepted for publication by PASA

We present observations of a region of the Galactic plane taken during the Early Science Program of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). In this context, we observed the SCORPIO field at 912 MHz with an uncompleted array consisting of 15 commissioned antennas. The resulting map covers a square region of ~40 deg^2, centred on (l, b)=(343.5{\deg}, 0.75{\deg}), with a synthesized beam of 24"x21" and a background rms noise of 150-200 {\mu}Jy/beam, increasing to 500-600 {\mu}Jy/beam close to the Galactic plane. A total of 3963 radio sources were detected and characterized in the field using the CAESAR source finder. We obtained differential source counts in agreement with previously published data after correction for source extraction and characterization uncertainties, estimated from simulated data. The ASKAP positional and flux density scale accuracy were also investigated through comparison with previous surveys (MGPS, NVSS) and additional observations of the SCORPIO field, carried out with ATCA at 2.1 GHz and 10" spatial resolution. These allowed us to obtain a measurement of the spectral index for a subset of the catalogued sources and an estimated fraction of (at least) 8% of resolved sources in the reported catalogue. We cross-matched our catalogued sources with different astronomical databases to search for possible counterparts, finding ~150 associations to known Galactic objects. Finally, we explored a multiparametric approach for classifying previously unreported Galactic sources based on their radio-infrared colors., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, 15 tables

T. H. Reiprich et al., arXiv:2012.08491v1, [Context]: Inferences about dark matter, dark energy, and the missing baryons all depend on the accuracy of our model of large-scale structure evolution. In particular, with cosmological simulations in our model of the Universe, we trace the growth of structure, and visualize the build-up of bigger structures from smaller ones and of gaseous filaments connecting galaxy clusters., [Aims]: Here we aim to reveal the complexity of the large-scale structure assembly process in great detail and on scales from tens of kiloparsecs up to more than 10 Mpc with new sensitive large-scale observations from the latest generation of instruments. We also aim to compare our findings with expectations from our cosmological model., [Methods]: We used dedicated SRG/eROSITA performance verification (PV) X-ray, ASKAP/EMU Early Science radio, and DECam optical observations of a ~15 deg2 region around the nearby interacting galaxy cluster system A3391/95 to study the warm-hot gas in cluster outskirts and filaments, the surrounding large-scale structure and its formation process, the morphological complexity in the inner parts of the clusters, and the (re-)acceleration of plasma. We also used complementary Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect data from the Planck survey and custom-made Galactic total (neutral plus molecular) hydrogen column density maps based on the HI4PI and IRAS surveys. We relate the observations to expectations from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations from the Magneticum suite., [Results]: We trace the irregular morphology of warm and hot gas of the main clusters from their centers out to well beyond their characteristic radii, r200. Between the two main cluster systems, we observe an emission bridge on large scale and with good spatial resolution. This bridge includes a known galaxy group but this can only partially explain the emission. Most gas in the bridge appears hot, but thanks to eROSITA’s unique soft response and large field of view, we discover some tantalizing hints for warm, truly primordial filamentary gas connecting the clusters. Several matter clumps physically surrounding the system are detected. For the “Northern Clump,” we provide evidence that it is falling towards A3391 from the X-ray hot gas morphology and radio lobe structure of its central AGN. Moreover, the shapes of these X-ray and radio structures appear to be formed by gas well beyond the virial radius, r100, of A3391, thereby providing an indirect way of probing the gas in this elusive environment. Many of the extended sources in the field detected by eROSITA are also known clusters or new clusters in the background, including a known SZ cluster at redshift z = 1. We find roughly an order of magnitude more cluster candidates than the SPT and ACT surveys together in the same area. We discover an emission filament north of the virial radius of A3391 connecting to the Northern Clump. Furthermore, the absorption-corrected eROSITA surface brightness map shows that this emission filament extends south of A3395 and beyond an extended X-ray-emitting object (the “Little Southern Clump”) towards another galaxy cluster, all at the same redshift. The total projected length of this continuous warm-hot emission filament is 15 Mpc, running almost 4 degrees across the entire eROSITA PV observation field. The Northern and Southern Filament are each detected at >4σ. The Planck SZ map additionally appears to support the presence of both new filaments. Furthermore, the DECam galaxy density map shows galaxy overdensities in the same regions. Overall, the new datasets provide impressive confirmation of the theoretically expected structure formation processes on the individual system level, including the surrounding warm-hot intergalactic medium distribution; the similarities of features found in a similar system in the Magneticum simulation are striking. Our spatially resolved findings show that baryons indeed reside in large-scale warm-hot gas filaments with a clumpy structure., N.O. acknowledges support by a Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 16KK0101). K.D. acknowledges support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC-2094 – 3907833. V.B. acknowledges support by the DFG project nr. 415510302 (BI 1699/2-1). Partial support for LR comes from US National Science Foundation grant AST17-14205 to the University of Minnesota.

We present the data and initial results from the first Pilot Survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), observed at 944 MHz with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. The survey covers 270 \sqdeg of an area covered by the Dark Energy Survey, reaching a depth of 25--30 \ujybm\ rms at a spatial resolution of $\sim$ 11--18 arcsec, resulting in a catalogue of $\sim$ 220,000 sources, of which $\sim$ 180,000 are single-component sources. Here we present the catalogue of single-component sources, together with (where available) optical and infrared cross-identifications, classifications, and redshifts. This survey explores a new region of parameter space compared to previous surveys. Specifically, the EMU Pilot Survey has a high density of sources, and also a high sensitivity to low surface-brightness emission. These properties result in the detection of types of sources that were rarely seen in or absent from previous surveys. We present some of these new results here., Accepted by PASA

There are two puzzles surrounding the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. First, why are the mythological stories surrounding them, typically involving seven young girls being chased by a man associated with the constellation Orion, so similar in vastly separated cultures, such as the Australian Aboriginal cultures and Greek mythology? Second, why do most cultures call them “Seven Sisters” even though most people with good eyesight see only six stars? Here I show that both these puzzles may be explained by a combination of the great antiquity of the stories combined with the proper motion of the stars, and that these stories may predate the departure of most modern humans out of Africa around 100,000 BC.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will observe several Deep Drilling Fields (DDFs) to a greater depth and with a more rapid cadence than the main survey. In this paper, we describe the ``DeepDrill'' survey, which used the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) to observe three of the four currently defined DDFs in two bands, centered on 3.6 $\mu$m and 4.5 $\mu$m. These observations expand the area which was covered by an earlier set of observations in these three fields by the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS). The combined DeepDrill and SERVS data cover the footprints of the LSST DDFs in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South field (ECDFS), the ELAIS-S1 field (ES1), and the XMM Large-Scale Structure Survey field (XMM-LSS). The observations reach an approximate $5\sigma$ point-source depth of 2 $\mu$Jy (corresponding to an AB magnitude of 23.1; sufficient to detect a 10$^{11} M_{\odot}$ galaxy out to $z\approx 5$) in each of the two bands over a total area of $\approx 29\,$deg$^2$. The dual-band catalogues contain a total of 2.35 million sources. In this paper we describe the observations and data products from the survey, and an overview of the properties of galaxies in the survey. We compare the source counts to predictions from the SHARK semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. We also identify a population of sources with extremely red ([3.6]$-$[4.5] $>1.2$) colours which we show mostly consists of highly-obscured active galactic nuclei., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures; MNRAS in press

In this paper, we present the identification of five previously unknown giant radio galaxies (GRGs) using Data Release 1 of the Radio Galaxy Zoo citizen science project and a selection method appropriate to the training and validation of deep learning algorithms for new radio surveys. We associate one of these new GRGs with the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the galaxy cluster GMBCG J251.67741+36.45295 and use literature data to identify a further 13 previously known GRGs as BCG candidates, increasing the number of known BCG GRGs by $\gt 60$ per cent. By examining local galaxy number densities for the number of all known BCG GRGs, we suggest that the existence of this growing number implies that GRGs are able to reside in the centres of rich (∼1014 M⊙) galaxy clusters and challenges the hypothesis that GRGs grow to such sizes only in locally underdense environments.

The ASKAP-EMU survey is a deep wide-field radio continuum survey designed to cover the entire southern sky and a significant fraction of the northern sky up to $+30^{\circ}$. Here, we report a discovery of a radio relic in the merging cluster SPT-CL 2023-5535 at z=0.23 from the ASKAP-EMU pilot 300 sq. deg survey (800-1088 MHz). The deep high-resolution data reveal a $\sim2$ Mpc-scale radio halo elongated in the east-west direction, coincident with the intracluster gas. The radio relic is located at the western edge of this radio halo stretched $\sim0.5$ Mpc in the north-south orientation. The integrated spectral index of the radio relic within the narrow bandwidth is $\alpha^{\scriptstyle \rm 1088~MHz}_{\scriptstyle \rm 800~MHz}=-0.76 \pm 0.06$. Our weak-lensing analysis shows that the system is massive ($M_{200}=1.04\pm0.36\times 10^{15} M_{\odot}$) and composed of at least three subclusters. We suggest a scenario, wherein the radio features arise from the collision between the eastern and middle subclusters. Our discovery illustrates the effectiveness of the ASKAP-EMU survey in detecting diffuse emissions in galaxy clusters and when completed, the survey will greatly increase the number of merging cluster detections with diffuse radio emissions.

Authors: Koribalski, Bärbel S.; Staveley-Smith, L.; Westmeier, T.; Serra, P.; Spekkens, K.; Wong, O. I.; Lee-Waddell, K.; Lagos, C. D. P.; Obreschkow, D.; Ryan-Weber, E. V.; Zwaan, M.; Kilborn, V.; Bekiaris, G.; Bekki, K.; Bigiel, F.; Boselli, A.; Bosma, A.; Catinella, B.; Chauhan, G.; Cluver, M. E. Colless, M.; Courtois, H. M.; Crain, R. A.; de Blok, W. J. G.; Dénes, H.; Duffy, A. R.; Elagali, A.; Fluke, C. J.; For, B. -Q.; Heald, G.; Henning, P. A.; Hess, K. M.; Holwerda, B. W.; Howlett, C.; Jarrett, T.; Jones, D. H.; Jones, M. G.; Józsa, G. I. G.; Jurek, R.; Jütte, E.; Kamphuis, P.; Karachentsev, I.; Kerp, J.; Kleiner, D.; Kraan-Korteweg, R. C.; López-Sánchez, Á. R.; Madrid, J.; Meyer, M.; Mould, J.; Murugeshan, C.; Norris, R. P.; Oh, S. -H.; Oosterloo, T. A.; Popping, A.; Putman, M.; Reynolds, T. N.; Rhee, J.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Ryder, S.; Schröder, A. C.; Shao, Li; Stevens, A. R. H.; Taylor, E. N.; van der Hulst, J. M.; Verdes-Montenegro, L.; Wakker, B. P.; Wang, J.; Whiting, M.; Winkel, B.; Wolf, C., The Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY (wallaby) is a next-generation survey of neutral hydrogen (H i) in the Local Universe. It uses the widefield, high-resolution capability of the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), a radio interferometer consisting of 36 × 12 -m dishes equipped with Phased-Array Feeds (PAFs), located in an extremely radio-quiet zone in Western Australia. wallaby aims to survey three-quarters of the sky (− 90 < δ< + 30 ) to a redshift of z≲ 0.26 , and generate spectral line image cubes at ∼30 arcsec resolution and ∼1.6 mJy beam per 4 km s channel sensitivity. ASKAP’s instantaneous field of view at 1.4 GHz, delivered by the PAF’s 36 beams, is about 30 sq deg. At an integrated signal-to-noise ratio of five, wallaby is expected to detect around half a million galaxies with a mean redshift of z∼ 0.05 (∼200 Mpc). The scientific goals of wallaby include: (a) a census of gas-rich galaxies in the vicinity of the Local Group; (b) a study of the H i properties of galaxies, groups and clusters, in particular the influence of the environment on galaxy evolution; and (c) the refinement of cosmological parameters using the spatial and redshift distribution of low-bias gas-rich galaxies. For context we provide an overview of recent and planned large-scale H i surveys. Combined with existing and new multi-wavelength sky surveys, wallaby will enable an exciting new generation of panchromatic studies of the Local Universe. — First results from the wallaby pilot survey are revealed, with initial data products publicly available in the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (CASDA). © 2020, Springer Nature B.V., The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) which is managed by CSIRO. Operation of ASKAP is funded by the Australian Government with support from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). ASKAP uses the resources of the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre. Establishment of ASKAP, the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) and the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre are initiatives of the Australian Government, with support from the Government of Western Australia and the Science and Industry Endowment Fund. We acknowledge the Wajarri Yamatji as the traditional owners of the Observatory site. FB and DK acknowledge funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme; grant agreement No 726384 (FB) and No 679627 (DK). MEC is a recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT170100273) funded by the Australian Government. RKK acknowledges the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Innovation. RKK and GIGJ acknowledge the South African National Research Foundation for their support. MGJ and LVM acknowledge support from the grants AYA2015-65973-C3-1-R (MINECO/FEDER, UE) and RTI2018-096228-B-C31 (MICIU/FEDER, EU), as well as from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award for the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (SEV-20170709). MGJ is supported by a Juan de la Cierva formacion fellowship (FJCI-2016-29685). PK is partially supported by the BMBF project 05A17PC2 for D-MeerKAT. DO is a recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT190100083) funded by the Australian Government. KS acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). JMvdH acknowledges support from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement nr. 291531. Parts of this research were supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013.

We develop a new analysis approach towards identifying related radio components and their corresponding infrared host galaxy based on unsupervised machine learning methods. By exploiting Parallelized rotation and flipping INvariant Kohonen maps (pink), a self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm, we are able to associate radio and infrared sources without the a priori requirement of training labels. We present an example of this method using 894 415 images from the Faint Images of the Radio-Sky at Twenty centimeters (FIRST) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) surveys centred towards positions described by the FIRST catalogue. We produce a set of catalogues that complement FIRST and describe 802 646 objects, including their radio components and their corresponding AllWISE infrared host galaxy. Using these data products, we (i) demonstrate the ability to identify objects with rare and unique radio morphologies (e.g. ‘X’-shaped galaxies, hybrid FR I/FR II morphologies), (ii) can identify the potentially resolved radio components that are associated with a single infrared host, (iii) introduce a ‘curliness’ statistic to search for bent and disturbed radio morphologies, and (iv) extract a set of 17 giant radio galaxies between 700 and 1100 kpc. As we require no training labels, our method can be applied to any radio-continuum survey, provided a sufficiently representative SOM can be trained.

We present a detailed analysis of the radio galaxy PKS 2250-351, a giant of 1.2 Mpc projected size, its host galaxy, and its environment. We use radio data from the Murchison Widefield Array, the upgraded Giant Metre-wavelength Radio Telescope, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array to model the jet power and age. Optical and infra-red data come from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and provide information on the host galaxy and environment. GAMA spectroscopy confirms that PKS 2250-351 lies at z=0.2115 in the irregular, and likely unrelaxed, cluster Abell 3936. We find its host is a massive, `red and dead' elliptical galaxy with negligible star formation but with a highly obscured active galactic nucleus dominating the mid-infrared emission. Assuming it lies on the local M-sigma relation it has an Eddington accretion rate of lambda_EDD~0.014. We find that the lobe-derived jet power (a time-averaged measure) is an order of magnitude greater than the hotspot-derived jet power (an instantaneous measure). We propose that over the lifetime of the observed radio emission (~300 Myr) the accretion has switched from an inefficient advection dominated mode to a thin-disc efficient mode, consistent with the decrease in jet power. We also suggest that the asymmetric radio morphology is due to its environment, with the host of PKS 2250-351 lying to the west of the densest concentration of galaxies in Abell 3936., Comment: 16 pages and 8 figures, accepted for publication in PASA

We have completed a deep radio continuum survey covering 86 square degrees of the Spitzer-South Pole Telescope deep field to test whether bent-tail galaxies are associated with galaxy clusters. We present a new catalogue of 22 bent-tail galaxies and a further 24 candidate bent-tail galaxies. Surprisingly, of the 8 bent-tail galaxies with photometric redshifts, only two are associated with known clusters. While the absence of bent-tail sources in known clusters may be explained by effects such as sensitivity, the absence of known clusters associated with most bent-tail galaxies casts doubt upon current models of bent-tail galaxies., Accepted by MNRAS

The existence of spiral DRAGNs challenges standard galaxy formation theories. We present the first observation of 0313$-$192, the archetypal spiral DRAGN, at VLBI resolutions. Spiral DRAGNs are Double Radio Sources Associated with Galactic Nuclei (DRAGNs) that are hosted by spiral galaxies. 0313$-$192 is an edge-on spiral galaxy that appears to host a 360 kpc double-lobed radio source. The core of this galaxy is clearly detected at L, S, and X-bands using the VLBA, signifying an ongoing active nucleus in the galaxy. This rules out the possibility that the spiral DRAGN is merely a chance alignment. The radio core has L$_{1.4\,GHz} \sim 3.0 \times 10^{23}$W Hz$^{-1}$. Radio components are detected to the South-West of the core, but there are no detections of a counterjet. Assuming a symmetric, relativistic jet, we estimate an upper limit to the inclination angle of $\theta \lesssim 72$ degrees. The VLBI-detected radio jet components are extremely well-aligned with the larger-scale radio source suggesting little to no jet disruption or interaction with the ISM of the host galaxy., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

Cross-identifying complex radio sources with optical or infra red (IR) counterparts in surveys such as the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS) has traditionally been performed manually. However, with new surveys from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) detecting many tens of million of radio sources such an approach is no longer feasible. This paper presents new software (LRPY - Likelihood Ratio in PYthon) to automate the process of cross-identifying radio sources with catalogues at other wavelengths. LRPY implements the Likelihood Ratio (LR) technique with a modification to account for two galaxies contributing to a sole measured radio component. We demonstrate LRPY by applying it to ATLAS DR3 and a {\it Spitzer}-based multi-wavelength fusion catalogue, identifying 3,848 matched sources via our LR-based selection criteria. A subset of 1987 sources have flux density values for all IRAC bands which allow us to use criteria to distinguish between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and star-forming galaxies (SFG). We find that 936 radio sources ($\approx47\,\%$) meet both of the Lacy and Stern AGN selection criteria. Of the matched sources, 295 have spectroscopic redshifts and we examine the radio to IR flux ratio vs redshift, proposing an AGN selection criterion below the Elvis radio-loud (RL) AGN limit for this dataset. Taking the union of all three AGN selection criteria we identify 956 as AGN ($\approx48\,\%$). From this dataset, we find a decreasing fraction of AGN with lower radio flux densities consistent with other results in the literature., Comment: 32 pages, 14 Figures, 9 Tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present two new radio continuum images from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) survey in the direction of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). These images are part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) Early Science Project (ESP) survey of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. The two new source lists produced from these images contain radio continuum sources observed at 960 MHz (4489 sources) and 1320 MHz (5954 sources) with a bandwidth of 192 MHz and beam sizes of 30.0"x30.0" and 16.3"x15.1", respectively. The median Root Mean Squared (RMS) noise values are 186$\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ (960 MHz) and 165$\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ (1320 MHz). To create point source catalogues, we use these two source lists, together with the previously published Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) point source catalogues to estimate spectral indices for the whole population of radio point sources found in the survey region. Combining our ASKAP catalogues with these radio continuum surveys, we found 7736 point-like sources in common over an area of 30 deg$^2$. In addition, we report the detection of two new, low surface brightness supernova remnant candidates in the SMC. The high sensitivity of the new ASKAP ESP survey also enabled us to detect the bright end of the SMC planetary nebula sample, with 22 out of 102 optically known planetary nebulae showing point-like radio continuum emission. Lastly, we present several morphologically interesting background radio galaxies., Comment: 18 pages, 23 figues, 9 tables, Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We have observed the G23 field of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) in its commissioning phase, to validate the performance of the telescope and to characterize the detected galaxy populations. This observation covers $\sim$48 deg$^2$ with synthesized beam of 32.7$^{\prime\prime}$ by 17.8$^{\prime\prime}$ at 936 MHz, and $\sim$39 deg$^2$ with synthesized beam of 15.8$^{\prime\prime}$ by 12.0$^{\prime\prime}$ at 1320 MHz. At both frequencies, the r.m.s. (root-mean-square) noise is $\sim$0.1 mJy/beam. We combine these radio observations with the GAMA galaxy data, which includes spectroscopy of galaxies that are i-band selected with a magnitude limit of 19.2. Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) infrared (IR) photometry is used to determine which galaxies host an active galactic nucleus (AGN). In properties including source counts, mass distributions, and IR vs. radio luminosity relation, the ASKAP detected radio sources behave as expected. Radio galaxies have higher stellar mass and luminosity in IR, optical and UV than other galaxies. We apply optical and IR AGN diagnostics and find that they disagree for $\sim$30% of the galaxies in our sample. We suggest possible causes for the disagreement. Some cases can be explained by optical extinction of the AGN, but for more than half of the cases we do not find a clear explanation. Radio sources are more likely ($\sim$6%) to have an AGN than radio quiet galaxies ($\sim$1%), but the majority of AGN are not detected in radio at this sensitivity., Comment: 26 pages, 22 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are brief radio emissions from distant astronomical sources. Some are known to repeat, but most are single bursts. Non-repeating FRB observations have had insufficient positional accuracy to localize them to an individual host galaxy. We report the interferometric localization of the single pulse FRB 180924 to a position 4 kpc from the center of a luminous galaxy at redshift 0.3214. The burst has not been observed to repeat. The properties of the burst and its host are markedly different from the only other accurately localized FRB source. The integrated electron column density along the line of sight closely matches models of the intergalactic medium, indicating that some FRBs are clean probes of the baryonic component of the cosmic web., Published online in Science 27 June 2019

This paper demonstrates a novel and efficient unsupervised clustering method with the combination of a Self-Organising Map (SOM) and a convolutional autoencoder. The rapidly increasing volume of radio-astronomical data has increased demand for machine learning methods as solutions to classification and outlier detection. Major astronomical discoveries are unplanned and found in the unexpected, making unsupervised machine learning highly desirable by operating without assumptions and labelled training data. Our approach shows SOM training time is drastically reduced and high-level features can be clustered by training on auto-encoded feature vectors instead of raw images. Our results demonstrate this method is capable of accurately separating outliers on a SOM with neighbourhood similarity and K-means clustering of radio-astronomical features complexity. We present this method as a powerful new approach to data exploration by providing a detailed understanding of the morphology and relationships of Radio Galaxy Zoo (RGZ) dataset image features which can be applied to new radio survey data., Accepted in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, special issue on Machine Intelligence in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 23 pages, 8 full-page colour figures

We present an exploration of the expected detection of the earliest Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the Universe from state-of-art galaxy formation and evolution semi-analytic models and hydro-dynamical simulations. We estimate the number and radiative characteristics of Super Massive Black Holes (SMBHs) at $z\geq 6$, a redshift range that will be intensively explored by the next generation of telescopes, in particular in the radio through the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and at high energies with ESA's Athena X-ray Observatory. We find that Athena will be able to observe over 5000 AGN/$\rm deg^2$ at the Epoch of Re-ionization (EoR), $6\leq z \leq 10$. Similarly, for the same redshift range the models/simulations suggest that SKA will detect at least 400 AGN/$\rm deg^2$. Additionally, we stress the importance of the volume of the simulation box as well as the initial physical conditions of the models/simulations on their effect on the luminosity functions (LFs) and the creation of the most massive SMBHs that we currently observe at the EoR. Furthermore, following the evolution of the accretion mode of the SMBHs in each model/simulation, we show that, while the quasar dominates over the radio mode at the EoR, detection at radio wavelengths still reaches significant numbers even at the highest redshifts. Finally, we present the effect that the radiative efficiency has on the LFs by comparing results produced with a constant value for the radiative efficiency and more complex calculations based on the spin of each SMBH., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 17 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

We report the discovery of a new Small Magellanic Cloud Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN) at the edge of the Supernova Remnant (SNR)-DEM S5. The pulsar powered object has a cometary morphology similar to the Galactic PWN analogs PSR B1951+32 and 'the mouse'. It is travelling supersonically through the interstellar medium. We estimate the Pulsar kick velocity to be in the range of 700-2000 km/s for an age between 28-10 kyr. The radio spectral index for this SNR PWN pulsar system is flat (-0.29 $\pm$ 0.01) consistent with other similar objects. We infer that the putative pulsar has a radio spectral index of -1.8, which is typical for Galactic pulsars. We searched for dispersion measures (DMs) up to 1000 cm/pc^3 but found no convincing candidates with a S/N greater than 8. We produce a polarisation map for this PWN at 5500 MHz and find a mean fractional polarisation of P $\sim 23$ percent. The X-ray power-law spectrum (Gamma $\sim 2$) is indicative of non-thermal synchrotron emission as is expected from PWN-pulsar system. Finally, we detect DEM S5 in Infrared (IR) bands. Our IR photometric measurements strongly indicate the presence of shocked gas which is expected for SNRs. However, it is unusual to detect such IR emission in a SNR with a supersonic bow-shock PWN. We also find a low-velocity HI cloud of $\sim 107$ km/s which is possibly interacting with DEM S5. SNR DEM S5 is the first confirmed detection of a pulsar-powered bow shock nebula found outside the Galaxy., 20 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

A new era in radioastronomy will begin with the upcoming large-scale surveys planned at the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). ASKAP started its Early Science program in October 2017 and several target fields were observed during the array commissioning phase. The SCORPIO field was the first observed in the Galactic Plane in Band 1 (792-1032 MHz) using 15 commissioned antennas. The achieved sensitivity and large field of view already allow to discover new sources and survey thousands of existing ones with improved precision with respect to previous surveys. Data analysis is currently ongoing to deliver the first source catalogue. Given the increased scale of the data, source extraction and characterization, even in this Early Science phase, have to be carried out in a mostly automated way. This process presents significant challenges due to the presence of extended objects and diffuse emission close to the Galactic Plane. In this context we have extended and optimized a novel source finding tool, named CAESAR , to allow extraction of both compact and extended sources from radio maps. A number of developments have been done driven by the analysis of the SCORPIO map and in view of the future ASKAP Galactic Plane survey. The main goals are the improvement of algorithm performances and scalability as well as of software maintainability and usability within the radio community. In this paper we present the current status of CAESAR and report a first systematic characterization of its performance for both compact and extended sources using simulated maps. Future prospects are discussed in light of the obtained results., 15 pages, 10 figures

We study the impact of cluster environment on the morphology of a sample of 4304 extended radio galaxies from Radio Galaxy Zoo. A total of 87% of the sample lies within a projected 15 Mpc of an optically identified cluster. Brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are more likely than other cluster members to be radio sources, and are also moderately bent. The surface density as a function of separation from cluster center of non-BCG radio galaxies follows a power law with index $-1.10\pm 0.03$ out to $10~r_{500}$ ($\sim 7~$Mpc), which is steeper than the corresponding distribution for optically selected galaxies. Non-BCG radio galaxies are statistically more bent the closer they are to the cluster center. Within the inner $1.5~r_{500}$ ($\sim 1~$Mpc) of a cluster, non-BCG radio galaxies are statistically more bent in high-mass clusters than in low-mass clusters. Together, we find that non-BCG sources are statistically more bent in environments that exert greater ram pressure. We use the orientation of bent radio galaxies as an indicator of galaxy orbits and find that they are preferentially in radial orbits. Away from clusters, there is a large population of bent radio galaxies, limiting their use as cluster locators; however, they are still located within statistically overdense regions. We investigate the asymmetry in the tail length of sources that have their tails aligned along the radius vector from the cluster center, and find that the length of the inward-pointing tail is weakly suppressed for sources close to the center of the cluster., Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables. Supplemental data files available in The Astronomical Journal or contact author

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an open access telescope dedicated to studying the low frequency (80$-$300 MHz) southern sky. Since beginning operations in mid 2013, the MWA has opened a new observational window in the southern hemisphere enabling many science areas. The driving science objectives of the original design were to observe 21\,cm radiation from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR), explore the radio time domain, perform Galactic and extragalactic surveys, and monitor solar, heliospheric, and ionospheric phenomena. All together 60$+$ programs recorded 20,000 hours producing 146 papers to date. In 2016 the telescope underwent a major upgrade resulting in alternating compact and extended configurations. Other upgrades, including digital back-ends and a rapid-response triggering system, have been developed since the original array was commissioned. In this paper we review the major results from the prior operation of the MWA, and then discuss the new science paths enabled by the improved capabilities. We group these science opportunities by the four original science themes, but also include ideas for directions outside these categories., Comment: 38 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in PASA

We report the discovery of a very young high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) system associated with the supernova remnant (SNR) MCSNRJ0513-6724 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using XMM-Newton X-ray observations. The HMXB is located at the geometrical centre of extended soft X-ray emission, which we confirm as an SNR. The HMXB spectrum is consistent with an absorbed power law with spectral index ~1.6 and a luminosity of 7x10^{33} ergs/s (0.2--12 keV). Tentative X-ray pulsations are observed with a periodicity of 4.4 s and the OGLE I-band light curve of the optical counterpart from more than 17.5 years reveals a period of 2.2324\pm0.0003 d, which we interpret as the orbital period of the binary system. The X-ray spectrum of the SNR is consistent with non-equilibrium shock models as expected for young/less evolved SNRs. From the derived ionisation time scale we estimate the age of the SNR to be, 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a catalogue of a large sample of extended radio sources in the SCORPIO field, observed and resolved by the Australia Telescope Compact Array. SCORPIO, a pathfinder project for addressing the early operations of the Australia SKA Pathfinder, is a survey of ∼5 square degrees between 1.4 and 3.1 GHz, centered at l = 343.5○, b = 0.75○ and with an angular resolution of about 10 arcsec. It is aimed at understanding the scientific and technical challenges to be faced by future Galactic surveys. With a mean sensitivity around $100\ \mu \mathrm{Jy\ beam}^{-1}$ and the possibility to recover angular scales at least up to 4 arcmin, we extracted 99 extended sources, 35 of them detected for the first time. Among the 64 known sources 55 had at least a tentative classification in literature. Studying the radio morphology and comparing the radio emission with infrared we propose as candidates 6 new H ii regions, 2 new planetary nebulae, 2 new luminous blue variable or Wolf–Rayet stars and 3 new supernova remnants. This study provides an overview of the potentiality of future radio surveys in terms of Galactic source extraction and characterization and a discussion on the difficulty to reduce and analyze interferometric data on the Galactic plane.

We have observed the faintest sample of Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) and Compact Steep Spectrum (CSS) sources to date, using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We test the hypothesis that GPS and CSS sources are the youngest radio galaxies, place them into an evolutionary sequence along with a number of other young active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates, and search for evidence of the evolving accretion mode and its relationship to star formation. GPS/CSS sources have very small radio jets that have been recently launched from the central supermassive black hole and grow in linear size as they evolve, which means that the linear size of the jets is an excellent indicator of the evolutionary stage of the AGN. We use high-resolution radio observations to determine the linear size of GPS/CSS sources, resolve their jets and observe their small-scale morphologies. We combine this with other multi-wavelength age indicators, including the spectral age, colours, optical spectra, and spectral energy distribution of the host galaxy, in an attempt to assemble all age indicators into a self-consistent model. We observe the most compact sources with Very Large Baseline Interferometry, which reveals their parsec-scale structures, giving us a range of source sizes and allowing us to test what fraction of GPS/CSS sources are young and evolving. (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Norris examines how aboriginal Australians could be the world's first astronomers. Humans arrived in Australia at least 50,000 years ago. Unlike in Europe and Asia, however, there were no further major waves of immigration until the British invasion of 1788. Until that time, the Australian Aboriginal peoples were isolated from the rest of the world, making theirs the world's oldest continuous cultures. Each of roughly 300 groups has a different language and cultural practices, united by threads such as a belief in the "Dreaming", a time when creator spirits roamed the land.

Infrared-Faint Radio Sources (IFRSs) are an important class of high-redshift active galaxy, and potentially important as a means of discovering more high-redshift radio sources, but only 25 IFRSs had redshifts prior to this paper. Here we increase the number of IFRSs with known spectroscopic redshifts by a factor of about 5 to 131, with redshifts up to z=4.387, and a median redshift of z = 2.68. The IFRS redshift distribution overlaps with the high-z radio galaxy (HzRG) redshift distribution but is significantly narrower, suggesting that the IFRSs are a subset of the larger class of HzRGs. We also confirm and measure the proposed correlation between redshift and 3.6 $\mu$m flux density, making it possible to use this correlation to find even higher redshift radio sources. Many more high-redshift sources are probably present in existing radio survey catalogues., Comment: accepted by mnras