Aims. We present a study of five "dying" nearby (z ≤ 0.2) radio galaxies belonging to both the WENSS minisurvey and the B2 bright catalogs WNB1734+6407, WNB1829+6911, WNB1851+5707, B2 0120+33, and B2 1610+29. Methods. These sources have been selected on the basis of their extremely steep broad-band radio spectra, which strongly indicates that either these objects belong to the rare class of dying radio galaxies or we are observing "fossil" radio plasma remaining from a previous instance of nuclear activity. We derive the relative duration of the dying phase from the fit of a synchrotron radiative model to the radio spectra of the sources.Results. The modeling of the integrated spectra and the deep spectral index images obtained with the VLA confirmed that in these sources the central engine has ceased to be active for a significant fraction of their lifetime, although their extended lobes have not yet completely faded away. We found that WNB1851+5707 is in reality composed of two distinct dying galaxies, which appear blended together as a single source in the WENSS. In the cases of WNB1829+6911 and B2 0120+33, the fossil radio lobes are seen in conjunction with a currently active core. A very faint core is also detected in a MERLIN image of WNB1851+5707a, one of the two dying sources composing WNB1851+5707. We found that all sources in our sample are located (at least in projection) at the center of an X-ray emitting cluster. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the duration of the dying phase for a radio source in a cluster can be significantly higher than that of a radio galaxy in the field, although no firm conclusions can be drawn because of the small number statistics involved. The simplest interpretation of the tendency for dying galaxies to be found in clusters is that the low-frequency radio emission from the fading radio lobes lasts longer if their expansion is somewhat reduced or even stopped. Another possibility is that the occurrence of dying sources is higher in galaxy clusters. We argue that radio sources in dense environments, such as the center of cooling core clusters, may have a peculiar accretion mode which results in a bursting duty cycle sequence of active and quiescent periods. This result could have important implications for theories of the life cycles of radio sources and AGN feedback in clusters of galaxies but awaits confirmation from future observations of larger, statistically significant, samples of objects.

Abstract.Using the Effelsberg 100-m telescope, detections of four extragalactic water vapor masers are reported. Isotropic luminosities are ∼50, 1000, 1 and 230 L for Mrk 1066 (UGC 2456), Mrk 34, NGC 3556 and Arp 299, respectively. Mrk 34 contains by far the most distant and one of the most luminous water vapor megamasers so far reported in a Seyfert galaxy. The interacting system Arp 299 appears to show two maser hotspots separated by approximately 20 . With these new results and even more recent data from Braatz et al. (2004, ApJ, 617, L29), the detection rate in our sample of Seyferts with known jet-Narrow Line Region interactions becomes 50% (7/14), while in star forming galaxies with high (S 100 µm > 50 Jy) far infrared fluxes the detection rate is 22% (10/45). The jet-NLR interaction sample may not only contain "jet-masers" but also a significant number of accretion "disk-masers" like those seen in NGC 4258. A statistical analysis of 53 extragalactic H 2 O sources (excluding the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds) indicates (1) that the correlation between IRAS Point Source and H 2 O luminosities, established for individual star forming regions in the galactic disk, also holds for AGN-dominated megamaser galaxies; (2) that maser luminosities are not correlated with 60 µm/100 µm color temperatures; and (3) that only a small fraction of the luminous megamasers (L H 2 O > 100 L ) detectable with 100-m sized telescopes have so far been identified. The H 2 O luminosity function (LF) suggests that the number of galaxies with 1 L < L H 2 O < 10 L , the transition range between "kilomasers" (mostly star formation) and "megamasers" (active galactic nuclei), is small. The overall slope of the LF, ∼−1.5, indicates that the number of detectable masers is almost independent of their luminosity. If the LF is not steepening at very high maser luminosities and if it is possible to find suitable candidate sources, H 2 O megamasers at significant redshifts should be detectable even with present day state-of-the-art facilities.

We report the first results of a survey on 74 narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) carried out in 2015 with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) at 5 GHz in A-configuration. So far, this is the largest survey aimed to image the radio continuum of NLS1s. We produced radio maps in order to compare the general properties of three different samples of objects: radio-quiet NLS1s (RQNLS1s), steep-spectrum radio-loud NLS1s (S-NLS1s), and flat-spectrum radio-loud NLS1s (F-NLS1s). We find that the three classes correspond to different radio morphologies, with F-NLS1s being more compact, and RQNLS1s often showing diffuse emission on kpc scales. We also find that F-NLS1s might be low-luminosity and possibly young blazars, and that S-NLS1s are part of the parent population of F-NLS1s. Dedicated studies to RQNLS1s are needed in order to fully understand their role in the unification pictures.

Aims. We performed a detailed study of maser and radio continuum emission toward the high-mass star-forming region G23.01−0.41. This study aims at improving our knowledge of the high-mass star-forming process by comparing the gas kinematics near a newly born young stellar object (YSO), analyzed through high spatial resolution maser data, with the large-scale environment of its native hot molecular core (HMC), identified in previous interferometric observations of thermal continuum and molecular lines. Methods. Using the VLBA and the EVN arrays, we conducted phase-referenced observations of the three most powerful maser species in G23.01−0.41: H 2 O at 22.2 GHz (4 epochs), CH 3 OH at 6.7 GHz (3 epochs), and OH at 1.665 GHz (1 epoch). In addition, we performed high-resolution (≥0. 1), high-sensitivity (<0.1 mJy) VLA observations of the radio continuum emission from the HMC at 1.3 and 3.6 cm. Results. We have detected H 2 O, CH 3 OH, and OH maser emission clustered within 2000 AU from the center of a flattened HMC, oriented SE-NW, from which emerges a massive 12 CO outflow, elongated NE-SW, extended up to the pc-scale. Although the three maser species show a clearly different spatial and velocity distribution and sample distinct environments around the massive YSO, the spatial symmetry and velocity field of each maser specie can be explained in terms of expansion from a common center, which possibly denotes the position of the YSO driving the maser motion. Water masers trace both a fast shock (up to 50 km s −1 ) closer to the YSO, powered by a wide-angle wind, and a slower (20 km s −1 ) bipolar jet, at the base of the large-scale outflow. Because the compact free-free emission is found offset from the putative location of the YSO along a direction consistent with that of the maser jet axis, we interpret the radio continuum in terms of a thermal jet. The velocity field of methanol masers can be explained in terms of a composition of slow (4 km s −1 in amplitude) motions of radial expansion and rotation about an axis approximately parallel to the maser jet. Finally, the distribution of line-of-sight velocities of the hydroxyl masers suggests that they can trace gas less dense (n H 2 ≤ 10 6 cm −3 ) and more distant from the YSO than that traced by the water and methanol masers, which is expanding toward the observer. A few pairs of OH masers, with different circular polarization, are well aligned in position on the sky and we interpret them as Zeeman pairs. From Zeeman splitting, the derived typical values of the magnetic field are of a few mG.

Abstract. We have used MERLIN, at 1.4 and 5 GHz, to search for radio supernovae (RSNe) and supernova remnants (SNRs) in the unobscured irregular dwarf galaxy NGC 1569, and in particular in the region of its super star clusters (SSCs) A and B. Throughout NGC 1569 we find some 5 RSNe and SNRs but the SSCs and their immediate surroundings are largely devoid of non-thermal radio sources. Even though many massive stars in the SSCs are expected to have exploded already, when compared with M 82 and its many SSCs the absence of RSNe and SNRs in and near A and B may seem plausible on statistical arguments. The absence of RSNe and SNRs in and near A and B may, however, also be due to a violent and turbulent outflow of stellar winds and supernova ejected material, which does not provide a quiescent environment for the development of SNRs within and near the SSCs.

Aims. To study the high-mass star-forming process, we started a large project to unveil the gas kinematics close to young stellar objects (YSOs) through the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) of maser associations. By comparing the high spatial resolution maser data that traces the inner kinematics of the (proto)stellar cocoon with interferometric thermal data that traces the large-scale environment of the hot molecular core (HMC) harboring the (proto)stars, we can investigate the nature and identify the sources of large-scale motions. The present paper focuses on the high-mass star-forming region G16.59-0.05. Methods. Using the VLBA and the EVN arrays, we conducted phase-referenced observations of the three most powerful maser species in G16.59-0.05: H 2 O at 22.2 GHz (4 epochs), CH 3 OH at 6.7 GHz (3 epochs), and OH at 1.665 GHz (1 epoch). In addition, we performed high-resolution (≥0. 1), high-sensitivity (<0.1 mJy) VLA observations of the radio continuum emission from the starforming region at 1.3 and 3.6 cm.Results. This is the first work to report accurate measurements of the relative proper motions of the 6.7 GHz CH 3 OH masers. The different spatial and 3-D velocity distributions clearly indicate that the 22 GHz water and 6.7 GHz methanol masers trace different kinematic environments. The bipolar distribution of 6.7 GHz maser line-of-sight velocities and the regular pattern of observed proper motions suggest that these masers are tracing rotation around a central mass of about 35 M . The flattened spatial distribution of the 6.7 GHz masers, oriented NW−SE, suggests that they can originate in a disk/toroid rotating around the massive YSO that drives the 12 CO (2−1) outflow, oriented NE−SW, observed on an arcsec scale. The extended, radio continuum source observed close to the 6.7 GHz masers could be excited by a wide-angle wind emitted from the YSO associated with the methanol masers, and such a wind has proven to be energetic enough to drive the NE−SW 12 CO (2−1) outflow. The H 2 O masers are distributed across a region offset about 0. 5 to the NW of the CH 3 OH masers, in the same area as where the emission of high-density molecular tracers, typical of HMCs, was detected. We postulate that a distinct YSO, possibly in an earlier evolutionary phase than what excites the methanol masers, is responsible for the excitation of the water masers and the HMC molecular lines.

We have analyzed the NVSS and SUMSS data at 1.4 GHz and 843 MHz for a well defined complete sample of hard X-ray AGN observed by INTEGRAL. A large number (70/79) of sources are detected in the radio band, showing a wide range of radio morphologies, from unresolved or slightly resolved cores to extended emission over several hundreds of kpc scales. The radio fluxes have been correlated with the 2-10 keV and 20-100 keV emission, revealing significant correlations with slopes consistent with those expected for radiatively efficient accreting systems. The high energy emission coming from the inner accretion regions correlates with the radio emission averaged over hundreds of kpc scales (i.e., thousands of years).

Large column densities, derived from X-ray studies, are typically measured towards AGN hosting water masers, especially when the H 2 O emission is associated with the nuclear accretion disk. In addition, possible correlations between the intrinsic X-ray luminosity and the characteristics of the H 2 O maser emission have been put forward that, however, require confirmation. We have performed high-sensitivity XMM-Newton observations of a sample of five H 2 O maser sources confidently detected in our ongoing survey with the Swift satellite of all known water masers in AGN, in order to obtain detailed X-ray information of these promising targets and to set up a systematic detailed study of the X-ray/H 2 O-maser relation in AGN. For three galaxies, NGC 613, VII Zw 73, and IRAS 16288+3929, the amount of intrinsic absorption has been estimated, indicating column densities of 4-6×10 23 cm −2 . For UGC 3789 and NGC 6264 (the two confirmed disk-maser galaxies in our sample), column densities in excess of 1×10 24 cm −2 are inferred from the large EW of the Fe Kα line. By adding our results to those obtained in past similar studies, we find that the percentage of water masers sources that host highly-obscured (N H > 10 23 cm −2 ) and Compton-thick AGN is 96% (45/47) and 57% (27/47), respectively. In addition, 86%, 18/21 of disk maser galaxies host Compton-thick AGN. The correlation between the galaxies' bolometric luminosity and accretion disk radius, suggested in previous works, is also confirmed.