J1216+0709 : A radio galaxy with three episodes of AGN jet activity

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a rare triple-double radio galaxy with three distinct episodes of AGN jet activity, revealing complex lobe structures and host galaxy interactions.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed observation of a triple-double radio galaxy with three pairs of lobes, highlighting episodic AGN activity and host galaxy environment.

Findings

Detection of three pairs of radio lobes with different sizes and orientations.

Evidence of asymmetric jet activity possibly due to intrinsic jet properties.

Host galaxy shows signs of interaction with nearby dwarf galaxies.

Abstract

We report the discovery of a `Triple-Double Radio Galaxy (TDRG)' J1216+0709 detected in deep low-frequency Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations. J1216+0709 is only the third radio galaxy, after B0925+420 and Speca, with three pairs of lobes resulting from three different episodes of AGN jet activity. The 610 MHz GMRT image clearly displays an inner pair of lobes, a nearly co-axial middle pair of lobes and a pair of outer lobes that is bent w.r.t. the axis of inner pair of lobes. The total end-to-end projected sizes of the inner, middle, and outer lobes are 40$^{{\prime}{\prime}}$ ($\sim$ 95 kpc), 1$^{\prime}$.65 ($\sim$ 235 kpc) and 5$^{\prime}$.7 ($\sim$ 814 kpc), respectively. Unlike the outer pair of lobes both the inner and middle pairs of lobes exhibit asymmetries in arm-lengths and flux densities, but in opposite sense, i.e., the eastern sides are farther and also brighter that the western sides, thus suggesting the possibility of jet being intrinsically asymmetric rather than due to relativistic beaming effect. The host galaxy is a bright elliptical (m$_{\rm r}$ $\sim$ 16.56) with M$_{\rm SMBH}$ $\sim$ 3.9 $\times$ 10$^{9}$ M$\odot$ and star-formation rate of $\sim$ 4.66$_{\rm -1.61}^{\rm +4.65}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. The host galaxy resides is a small group of three galaxies (m$_{\rm r}$ $\leq$ 17.77) and is possibly going through the interaction with faint, dwarf galaxies in the neighbourhood, which may have triggered the recent episodes of AGN activity.