A Catalog of 971 FR-I Radio Galaxies from the FIRST Survey via Hybrid Deep Learning and Ridgeline Flux Density Distribution Analysis

Abstract

We present a catalog of 971 FR-I radio galaxies (FR-Is) identified from the Very Large Array Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST) survey. The identifications were made using a hybrid method that combines deep learning with ridgeline flux density distribution analysis. Among these sources, 845 are new discoveries. The catalog comprises sources characterized by edge-darkened double jets, an absence of significant bent morphology, and angular sizes ranging from 23 to 159 arcseconds. Optical and/or infrared counterparts have been identified for 813 FR-Is. Among these, the host galaxies are predominantly (88.1\%) red galaxies, with the remainder (11.9\%) being blue galaxies; notably, most blue galaxies exhibit high radio power. The FR-I sample spans a radio power range of $1.20\times 10^{21}\le P_{1400}\le 3.55\times 10^{27}{\mathrm{W}\mathrm{Hz}}^{-1}$ at 1400 MHz and reaches redshifts up to $z=2.307$. The host galaxies have $r$-band absolute magnitudes in the range $-24\lesssim M_r\lesssim -20$ mag. For the 512 FR-Is with estimates, the black hole masses fall within $10^7\lesssim M_{\mathrm{BH}}\lesssim 7.94\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$. Based on optical emission-line ratios and mid-infrared colors, spectroscopic classification shows that 571 hosts are low-excitation radio galaxies (LERGs) and 59 are high-excitation radio galaxies (HERGs).

18 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in ApJS