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The elliptical instability is an instability of elliptical streamlines, which can be excited by large-scale tidal flows in rotating fluid bodies, and excites inertial waves if the dimensionless tidal amplitude ($\epsilon$) is sufficiently large. It operates in convection zones but its interactions with turbulent convection have not been studied in this context. We perform an extensive suite of Cartesian hydrodynamical simulations in wide boxes to explore the interactions of the elliptical instability and Rayleigh-B\'enard convection. We find that geostrophic vortices generated by the elliptical instability dominate the flow, with energies far exceeding those of the inertial waves. Furthermore, we find that the elliptical instability can operate with convection, but it is suppressed for sufficiently strong convection, primarily by convectively-driven large-scale vortices. We examine the flow in Fourier space, allowing us to determine the energetically dominant frequencies and wavenumbers. We find that power primarily concentrates in geostrophic vortices, in wavenumbers that are convectively unstable, and along the inertial wave dispersion relation, even in non-elliptically deformed convective flows. Examining linear growth rates on a convective background, we find that convective large-scale vortices suppress the elliptical instability in the same way as the geostrophic vortices created by the elliptical instability itself. Finally, convective motions act as an effective viscosity on large-scale tidal flows, providing a sustained energy transfer (scaling as $\epsilon^2$). Furthermore, we find that the energy transfer resulting from bursts of elliptical instability, when it operates, is consistent with the $\epsilon^3$ scaling found in prior work., Comment: 24 pages, 22 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Physics of Fluids

We present the open source Astrophysical Multi-purpose Software Environment (AMUSE, www.amusecode.org), a component library for performing astrophysical simulations involving different physical domains and scales. It couples existing codes within a Python framework based on a communication layer using MPI. The interfaces are standardized for each domain and their implementation based on MPI guarantees that the whole framework is well-suited for distributed computation. It includes facilities for unit handling and data storage. Currently it includes codes for gravitational dynamics, stellar evolution, hydrodynamics and radiative transfer. Within each domain the interfaces to the codes are as similar as possible. We describe the design and implementation of AMUSE, as well as the main components and community codes currently supported and we discuss the code interactions facilitated by the framework. Additionally, we demonstrate how AMUSE can be used to resolve complex astrophysical problems by presenting example applications., Comment: 23 pages, 25 figures, accepted for A&A

Young radio-loud active galactic nuclei form an important tool to investigate the evolution of extragalactic radio sources. To study the early phases of expanding radio sources, we have constructed CORALZ, a sample of 25 compact ($\theta<2"$) radio sources associated with nearby ($z<0.16$) galaxies. In this paper we determine the morphologies, linear sizes, and put first constraints on the lobe expansion speeds of the sources in the sample. We observed the radio sources from the CORALZ sample with MERLIN at 1.4 GHz or 1.6 GHz, the EVN at 1.6 GHz, and global VLBI at 1.6 GHz and/or 5.0 GHz. Radio maps, morphological classifications, and linear sizes are presented for all sources in the CORALZ sample. We have determined a first upper limit to the expansion velocity of one of the sources, which is remarkably low compared to the brighter GPS sources at higher redshifts, indicating a relation between radio luminosity and expansion speed, in agreement with analytical models. In addition we present further strong evidence that the spectral turnovers in GPS and CSS sources are caused by synchrotron self-absorption (SSA): the CORALZ sources are significantly offset from the well-known correlation between spectral peak frequency and angular size, but this correlation is recovered after correcting for the flux-density dependence, as predicted by SSA theory., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 21 pages, 14 figures

Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio galaxies are generally thought to be the young counterparts of classical extended radio sources and live in massive ellipticals. GPS sources are vital for studying the early evolution of radio-loud AGN, the trigger of their nuclear activity, and the importance of feedback in galaxy evolution. We study the Parkes half-Jansky sample of GPS radio galaxies of which now all host galaxies have been identified and 80% has their redshifts determined (0.122 < z < 1.539). Analysis of the absolute magnitudes of the GPS host galaxies show that at z > 1 they are on average a magnitude fainter than classical 3C radio galaxies. This suggests that the AGN in young radio galaxies have not yet much influenced the overall properties of the host galaxy. However their restframe UV luminosities indicate that there is a low level of excess as compared to passive evolution models., Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Bulges", IAUS 245; M. Bureau, E. Athanassoula & B. Barbuy, eds

Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum (GPS) radio galaxies are generally thought to be the young counterparts of classical extended radio sources. Statistically complete samples of GPS sources are vital for studying the early evolution of radio-loud AGN and the trigger of their nuclear activity. The 'Parkes half-Jansky' sample of GPS radio galaxies is such a sample, representing the southern counterpart of the 1998 Stanghellini sample of bright GPS sources. As a first step of the investigation of the sample, the host galaxies need to be identified and their redshifts determined. Deep R-band VLT-FORS1 and ESO 3.6m EFOSC II images and long slit spectra have been taken for the unidentified sources in the sample. We have identified all twelve previously unknown host galaxies of the radio sources in the sample. Eleven have host galaxies in the range 21.0 < Rc < 23.0, while one object, PKS J0210+0419, is identified in the near infrared with a galaxy with Ks = 18.3. The redshifts of 21 host galaxies have been determined in the range 0.474 < z < 1.539, bringing the total number of redshifts to 39 (80%). Analysis of the absolute magnitudes of the GPS host galaxies show that at z > 1 they are on average a magnitude fainter than classical 3C radio galaxies, as found in earlier studies. However their restframe UV luminosities indicate that there is an extra light contribution from the AGN, or from a population of young stars., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 14 pages, 8 figures