A Morphological Identification and Study of Radio Galaxies from LoTSS DR2. I. The "Winged'' Radio Galaxies

TL;DR

This study presents a large catalog of 621 new winged radio galaxies from LoTSS DR2, analyzing their morphology, classification, and physical parameters, revealing their predominantly FR-II nature and large-scale structures.

Contribution

The paper introduces the first extensive catalog of winged radio galaxies from LoTSS DR2, including classification and parameter estimation, expanding knowledge of these irregular radio galaxy morphologies.

Findings

Identified 621 new winged radio galaxies and 403 candidates.

Majority (~88%) are classified as FR-II with high radio power.

Median size is 498 kpc, with some exceeding 0.7 Mpc, indicating potential giant radio galaxies.

Abstract

We conducted an extensive identification and analysis of various morphological classes and subclasses of radio galaxies using the latest high-resolution data from the second data release of the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS DR2). This paper presents the first results of our large-scale investigation: a new catalog of ``winged" radio galaxies (WRGs). These objects represent a fascinating class of irregular radio galaxies, characterized by a pair of secondary radio lobes (``wings") in addition to the primary active lobes. We identified and cataloged 621 new WRGs and 403 additional candidates. Among the confirmed winged sources, 382 are classified as ``X"-shaped radio galaxies (XRGs), while the remaining 239 are ``Z"-shaped radio galaxies (ZRGs). We also estimated several basic parameters for these winged sources and performed a Fanaroff-Riley (FR) classification. Our results show that the majority of the sources ($\sim$88\%) exhibit edge-brightened radio lobes and high average radio power ($\rm log_{10}[P_{144MHz} / W Hz^{-1}]$ = 26.25), consistent with an FR-II classification. The average spectral index between 144 MHz and 1.4 GHz is --0.84, which is steeper than that found for previously identified winged sources based on higher-frequency data from the VLA Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST) survey. This indicates that our study is capable of detecting fainter sources. The median linear size of the winged sources, 498 kpc, confirms that these are large-scale structures, with approximately 16\% having sizes exceeding 0.7 Mpc, making them potential candidates for giant radio galaxies.