Spectropolarimetry with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at 610 MHz: a case study of two Southern Compact Group fields

Abstract

We present 610 MHz spectropolarimetric images from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). We discuss the properties of the GMRT's full-polarisation mode in detail and provide a technical characterisation of the instrument's polarisation performance. We show that the telescope can be used for wide-field spectropolarimetry. The application of Rotation Measure Synthesis results in a sensitivity at the level of tens of micro-Jy in Faraday space. As a demonstration of the instrument's capabilities, we present observations of two Southern Compact Groups - the Grus Quartet and USCG S063. The observations are compared with other radio and infra-red data to constrain the group members' spectral index, polarisation fraction, and Faraday depth. Radio continuum emission is detected from all four galaxies in the Grus Quartet and one galaxy in USCG S063. Linear polarisation is detected from a circumnuclear starburst ring in NGC 7552, the active nucleus of NGC 7582, and three extended radio galaxies in the background of the Grus Quartet field. These background sources allow for the classification of an FR-I and an X-shaped radio galaxy. No evidence is found for interaction with the intragroup medium in either galaxy group.

20 pages, 21 figures, submitted to MNRAS

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• A Broadband Polarization Catalog of Extragalactic Radio Sources
• The origin of the X-ray, radio and HI structures in the NGC 5903 galaxy group
• Two Extreme Steep-Spectrum, Polarized Radio Sources Towards the Galactic Bulge
• A search for extended radio emission from selected compact galaxy groups
• A large-scale, regular intergalactic magnetic field associated with Stephan's Quintet?
• The Cold Dust Content of the Nearby Galaxies IC 5325, NGC 7496, NGC 7590, and NGC 7599
• A Polarization Study of 3 Blazars using the uGMRT at ~600 MHz
• Metrewave Galactic Plane with the uGMRT (MeGaPluG) Survey: Lessons from the Pilot Study
• Somewhere in between: Tracing the Radio Emission from Galaxy Groups (or Why Does the Future of Observing Galaxy Groups with Radio Telescopes Look Promising?)