Numerical calculations of spectral turnover and Synchrotron Self Absorption in CSS and GPS radio sources

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the spectral turnover frequency in GPS and CSS radio sources depends on their size and luminosity, using a 3D model including optical depth effects to explain the observed trends via synchrotron self-absorption.

Contribution

It extends the Kaiser (2000) model by incorporating optical depth effects to explain spectral turnovers in GPS and CSS sources.

Findings

Spectral turnover frequency decreases with increasing source size.

Luminosity at peak frequency strongly evolves with size in smaller sources.

Synchrotron self-absorption explains the observed spectral trends.

Abstract

The dependence of the turnover frequency on the linear size is presented for a sample of GPS and CSS radio sources derived from complete samples. The dependence of the luminosity of the emission at the peak frequency with the linear size and the peak frequency is also presented for the galaxies in the sample. The luminosity of the smaller sources evolve strongly with the linear size. Optical depth effects have been included to the 3D model for the radio source of Kaiser (2000) to study the spectral turnover. Using this model, the observed trend can be explained by synchrotron self absorption. The observed trend in the peak-frequency -- linear-size plane is not affected by the luminosity evolution of the sources.