The Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey parent population - I. Sample selection and number counts

Abstract

We present the selection of the Jodrell Bank Flat-spectrum (JBF) radio source sample, which is designed to reduce the uncertainties in the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS) gravitational lensing statistics arising from the lack of knowledge about the parent population luminosity function. From observations at 4.86 GHz with the Very Large Array, we have selected a sample of 117 flat-spectrum radio sources with flux densities greater than 5 mJy. These sources were selected in a similar manner to the CLASS complete sample and are therefore representative of the parent population at low flux densities. The vast majority (~90 per cent) of the JBF sample are found to be compact on the arcsecond scales probed here and show little evidence of any extended radio jet emission. Using the JBF and CLASS complete samples we find the differential number counts slope of the parent population above and below the CLASS 30 mJy flux density limit to be -2.07+/-0.02 and -1.96+/-0.12, respectively.

arXiv comment10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (22)

• Type Ia Supernova Discoveries at z>1 From the Hubble Space Telescope: Evidence for Past Deceleration and Constraints on Dark Energy Evolution
• The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: Power-spectrum analysis of the final dataset and cosmological implications
• Is There A Cosmological Constant?
• The Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey: I. Source selection and observations
• The Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey:II. Gravitational lens candidate selection and follow-up
• The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: Spectral Types and Luminosity Functions
• Limits on Cosmological Models From Radio-Selected Gravitational Lenses
• Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the Analysis of the Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey Radio-Selected Gravitational Lens Statistics
• Improved Cosmological Constraints from Gravitational Lens Statistics
• The Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey: statistical strong lensing, cosmological parameters, and global properties of galaxy populations
• The central image of a gravitationally lensed quasar
• The Flat Spectrum Radio Luminosity Function, Gravitational Lensing, Galaxy Ellipticities and Cosmology
• Gravitational Lensing Statistics in Universes Dominated by Dark Energy
• Redshifts of CLASS Radio Sources
• PMN J1632-0033: A new gravitationally lensed quasar
• Investigation of the possible third image and mass models of the gravitational lens PMN J1632-0033
• Cosmological Parameters from the SDSS DR5 Velocity Dispersion Function of Early-Type Galaxies through Radio-Selected Lens Statistics
• Limits on the evolution of galaxies from the statistics of gravitational lenses
• Strong lensing constraints on the velocity dispersion and density profile of elliptical galaxies
• The Redshift Distribution of Flat-Spectrum Radio Sources
• Constraints on Velocity Dispersion Function of Early-type Galaxies from the Statistics of Strong Gravitational Lensing
• Constraints on the velocity profiles of galaxies from strong lensing statistics and semi-analytical modelling of galaxy formation

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. VI. Constraints on Dark Energy and the Evolution of Massive Galaxies
• Galaxy evolution from strong lensing statistics: the differential evolution of the velocity dispersion function in concord with the LambdaCDM paradigm
• A novel search for gravitationally lensed radio sources in wide-field VLBI imaging from the mJIVE-20 survey
• The final candidate from the JVAS/CLASS search for 6 arcsec to 15 arcsec image separation lensing