Cosmological information from surveys ofradio source spectra
Abstract
The problem of relating the spectral index distributions of radio sources at different frequencies and flux densities is discussed in terms of evolutionary world models which incorporate strong evolution of the radio source population. It is shown that even in the simplest world models significant changes with flux density in the spectral index distributions are expected in high frequency surveys. Such variations have recently been observed and suggest that the spectral properties of the radio source population can be described by a spectral index function which is independent of luminosity and redshift at a low frequency. The implications of this result for source counts at different frequencies and for the identifications of radio sources are discussed.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- 1973
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/161.4.393
- Bibcode:
- 1973MNRAS.161..393F