Compact Extragalactic Sources Research Articles

Gaia Early Data Release 3

Context. Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue. Aims. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality. Methods. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3). Results. Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13–21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 µas yr–1 on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the Gaia-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution.

The Effect of Light Deflection by Solar System Objects on High-precision Square Kilometre Array Astrometry

We have computed the deflection angles caused by 195 objects in the solar system, including 177 satellites, and eight asteroids; 21 satellites and six asteroids can bend light from distant compact extragalactic sources by more than 0.1 μas, and 14 satellites, and the asteroid Ceres can deflect light by more than 1.0 μas. We calculated the zones and durations of perturbations posed by the gravitational fields of five planets (excluding Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn), Pluto, and Ceres, where the perturbations would affect astrometry measured with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Perturbed zones with deflection angles larger than 0.1 and 1.0 μas appear as ribbons. Their widths range from dozens of degrees for Uranus, Neptune, and Venus to several degrees or less for other objects at 0.1 μas, and from ∼16° for Venus to several degrees or less for other objects at 1.0 μas. From the calculated perturbation durations, the influence of the gravitational fields of selected objects can be divided into four levels: (i) hardly affects SKA astrometry, (ii) may have little effect, (iii) may have a great effect on single-epoch astrometry, and (iv) may greatly affect both single- and multiepoch astrometry. The objects corresponding to these levels are (i) Ceres, (ii) Pluto, (iii) Mercury and Mars, and (iv) other objects.

Joint Survey Processing. II. Stellar Proper Motions in the COSMOS Field from Hubble Space Telescope ACS and Subaru Telescope HSC Observations

We analyze stellar proper motions in the COSMOS field to assess the presence of bulk motions. At bright magnitudes (G-band 18.5–20.76 AB), we use the proper motions of 1010 stars in the Gaia DR2 catalog. At the faint end, we compute proper motions of 11,519 pointlike objects at i-band magnitudes 19–25 AB using Hubble ACS and Subaru HSC data, which span two epochs about 11 yr apart. In order to measure these proper motions with unprecedented accuracy at faint magnitudes, we developed a foundational set of astrometric tools that will be required for joint survey processing of data from the next generation of optical/infrared surveys. The astrometric grids of Hubble ACS and Subaru HSC mosaics were corrected at the catalog level using proper motion–propagated and parallax-corrected Gaia DR2 sources. These astrometric corrections were verified using compact extragalactic sources. Upon comparison of our measured proper motions with Gaia DR2, we estimate the uncertainties in our measurements to be ∼2–3 mas yr−1 axis−1, down to 25.5 AB mag. We correct proper motions for the mean motion of the Sun, and we find that late-type main-sequence stars predominantly in the thin disk in the COSMOS field have space velocities mainly toward the Galactic center. We detect candidate high-velocity (≥220 km s−1) stars, six of them at ∼0.4–6 kpc, from the Gaia sample, and five of them at ∼20 kpc, from the faint star HSC and ACS sample. The sources from the faint star sample may be candidate halo members of the Sangarius stream.

Light Deflection under the Gravitational Field of Jupiter—Testing General Relativity

Abstract We measured the relative positions between two pairs of compact extragalactic sources (CESs), J1925-2219 and J1923-2104 (C1–C2) and J1925-2219 and J1928-2035 (C1–C3), on 2020 October 23–25 and 2021 February 5 (totaling four epochs), respectively, using the Very Long Baseline Array at 15 GHz. Accounting for the deflection angle dominated by Jupiter, as well as the contributions from the Sun and planets other than Earth, the Moon, and Ganymede (the most massive of the solar system’s moons), our theoretical calculations predict that the dynamical ranges of the relative positions across four epochs in R.A. of the C1–C2 pair and C1–C3 pair are 841.2 and 1127.9 μas, respectively. The formal accuracy in R.A. is about 20 μas, but the error in decl. is poor. The measured standard deviations of the relative positions across the four epochs are 51.0 and 29.7 μas in R.A. for C1–C2 and C1–C3, respectively. These values indicate that the accuracy of the post-Newtonian relativistic parameter, γ, is ∼0.061 for C1–C2 and ∼0.026 for C1–C3. Combining the two CES pairs, the measured value of γ is 0.984 ± 0.037, which is comparable to the latest published results for Jupiter as a gravitational lens, reported by Fomalont & Kopeikin, i.e., 1.01 ± 0.03.

A Bayesian method for point source polarisation estimation

The estimation of the polarisation P of extragalactic compact sources in cosmic microwave background (CMB) images is a very important task in order to clean these images for cosmological purposes –for example, to constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio of primordial fluctuations during inflation– and also to obtain relevant astrophysical information about the compact sources themselves in a frequency range, ν ∼ 10–200 GHz, where observations have only very recently started to become available. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian maximum a posteriori approach estimation scheme which incorporates prior information about the distribution of the polarisation fraction of extragalactic compact sources between 1 and 100 GHz. We apply this Bayesian scheme to white noise simulations and to more realistic simulations that include CMB intensity, Galactic foregrounds, and instrumental noise with the characteristics of the QUIJOTE (Q U I JOint TEnerife) experiment wide survey at 11 GHz. Using these simulations, we also compare our Bayesian method with the frequentist filtered fusion method that has been already used in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data and in the Planck mission. We find that the Bayesian method allows us to decrease the threshold for a feasible estimation of P to levels below ∼100 mJy (as compared to ∼500 mJy which was the equivalent threshold for the frequentist filtered fusion). We compare the bias introduced by the Bayesian method and find it to be small in absolute terms. Finally, we test the robustness of the Bayesian estimator against uncertainties in the prior and in the flux density of the sources. We find that the Bayesian estimator is robust against moderate changes in the parameters of the prior and almost insensitive to realistic errors in the estimated photometry of the sources.

GaiaEarly Data Release 3

Context.GaiaEarly Data Release 3 (GaiaEDR3) provides accurate astrometry for about 1.6 million compact (QSO-like) extragalactic sources, 1.2 million of which have the best-quality five-parameter astrometric solutions.Aims.The proper motions of QSO-like sources are used to reveal a systematic pattern due to the acceleration of the solar systembarycentre with respect to the rest frame of the Universe. Apart from being an important scientific result by itself, the acceleration measured in this way is a good quality indicator of theGaiaastrometric solution.Methods.Theeffect of the acceleration was obtained as a part of the general expansion of the vector field of proper motions in vector spherical harmonics (VSH). Various versions of the VSH fit and various subsets of the sources were tried and compared to get the most consistent result and a realistic estimate of its uncertainty. Additional tests with theGaiaastrometric solution were used to get a better idea of the possible systematic errors in the estimate.Results.Our best estimate of the acceleration based onGaiaEDR3 is (2.32 ± 0.16) × 10−10m s−2(or 7.33 ±0.51 km s−1Myr−1) towardsα= 269.1° ± 5.4°,δ= −31.6° ± 4.1°, corresponding to a proper motion amplitude of 5.05 ±0.35μas yr−1. This is in good agreement with the acceleration expected from current models of the Galactic gravitational potential. We expect that futureGaiadata releases will provide estimates of the acceleration with uncertainties substantially below 0.1μas yr−1.

The Hα Dots Survey. IV. A Fourth List of Faint Emission-line Objects

Abstract We present the fourth catalog of serendipitously discovered compact extragalactic emission-line sources—Hα Dots. A total of 454 newly discovered objects are included in the current survey list. These objects have been detected in searches of moderately deep narrowband images acquired for the ALFALFA Hα project. The catalog of Hα Dots presented in the current paper was derived from searches carried out using ALFALFA Hα images obtained with the KPNO 2.1 m telescope. This results in a substantially deeper sample of Dots compared to our previous lists, which were all discovered in images taken with the WIYN 0.9 m telescope. The median R-band magnitude of the current catalog is 21.59, more than 1.6 mag fainter than the median for the 0.9 m sample (a factor of 4.4× fainter). Likewise, the median emission-line flux of the detected sources is a factor of 4.3× fainter. The line flux completeness limit of the current sample is ~3 × 10−16 erg s−1 cm−2. We present accurate coordinates, apparent magnitudes, and narrowband line fluxes for each object in the sample. Unlike our previous lists of Hα Dots, the current sample does not include follow-up spectroscopy.

The Hα Dots Survey. II. A Second List of Faint Emission-line Objects

Abstract We present the second catalog of serendipitously discovered compact extragalactic emission-line sources—Hα Dots. These objects have been discovered in searches of moderately deep narrow-band images acquired for the ALFALFA Hα project. In addition to cataloging 119 new Hα Dots, we also present follow-up spectral data for the full sample. These spectra allow us to confirm the nature of these objects as true extragalactic emission-line objects, to classify them in terms of activity type (star-forming or AGN), and to identify the emission line via which they were discovered. We tabulate photometric and spectroscopic data for the all objects, and we present an overview of the properties of the full Hα Dot sample. The Hα Dots represent a broad range of star-forming and active galaxies detected via several different emission lines over a wide range of redshifts. The sample includes Hα-detected blue compact dwarf galaxies at low redshift, [O iii]-detected Seyfert 2 and Green Pea-like galaxies at intermediate redshifts, and QSOs detected via one of several UV emission lines, including Lyα. Despite the heterogeneous appearance of the resulting catalog of objects, we show that our selection method leads to well-defined samples of specific classes of emission-line objects with properties that allow for statistical studies of each class.

Diffusion Ionised Gas in the Directions of the Supernova Remnant Kes 79 and Pulsar B1849+00

Based on the spatial correlation between the distributions of diffuse ionized gas (DIG) and the HII regions in the Galaxy and using observations of the Galactic background in the H166α line found in literature, we investigated the strong inhomogeneity of the DIG in the direction of longitude 33.5° near the Galaxy plane, where objects located at close angular distances from each other have very different observable parameters due to the DIG effect. We argued the absence of a spectrum cut-off at a frequency of 30.9 MHz for the supernova remnant Kes 79 (G33.6+0.1) by the presence of an insignificant amount of ionized gas between the SNR and the observer. The large value of the pulse broadening of the pulsar B1849+00 (τpsr = 0.86 s at 1 GHz) located at an angular distance of 10 $$' $$ from the center of the Kes 79 is explained by two factors. Firstly, the HII region (G33.46+0.06) is located in the direction of the pulsar with an emission measure of about 2900 pc/cm6, which contributes less than 32% to the dispersion measure of the pulsar and provides about 50% of the pulsar pulse broadening, despite the fact that the emission measure of ionized gas located between the observer and the pulsar, is ≈6150 pc/cm6. Secondly, the largest contribution to the broadening of its pulses comes from an ionized gas located approximately halfway between the pulsar and the observer, which is consistent with the scattering theory. The supernova remnant Kes 79, which is closer to the observer than the pulsar B1849+00, does not significantly affect the radiation scattering from the pulsar and the compact extragalactic source B1849+005. The distance to the pulsar B1849+00 was found to be in the range from 9.8 to 11.5 kpc.

Calibration requirements for epoch of reionization 21-cm signal observations – I. Effect of time-correlated gains

ABSTRACT The residual gain errors add to the systematics of the radio interferometric observations. In case of the high dynamic range observations, these systematic effects dominates over the thermal noise of the observation. In this work, we investigate the effect of time-correlated residual gain errors in the estimation of the power spectrum of the sky brightness distribution in high dynamic range observations. Particularly, we discuss a methodology to estimate the bias in the power spectrum estimator of the redshifted 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen in the presence of bright extragalactic compact sources. We find, that for the visibility-based power spectrum estimators, particularly those use nearby baseline correlations to avoid noise bias, the bias in the power spectrum arises mainly from the time correlation in the residual gain error. The bias also depends on the baseline distribution for a particular observation. Analytical calculations show that the bias is dominant for certain types of baseline pairs used for the visibility correlation. We perform simulated observation of extragalactic compact sources in the presence of residual gain errors with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope like array and estimate the bias in the power spectrum. Our results indicate that in order to estimate the redshifted 21-cm power spectrum, better calibration techniques, and estimator development are required.

The Second LBA Calibrator Survey of southern compact extragalactic radio sources – LCS2

We present the second catalogue of accurate positions and correlated flux densities for 1100 compact extragalactic radio sources that were not observed before 2008 at high angular resolution. The catalogue spans the declination range -90 deg, -30 deg and was constructed from nineteen 24-hour VLBI observing sessions with the Australian Long Baseline Array at 8.3 GHz. The catalogue presents the final part of the program that was started in 2008. The goals of that campaign were 1) to extend the number of compact radio sources with precise coordinates and measure their correlated flux densities, which can be used for phase referencing VLBI and ALMA observations, geodetic VLBI, search for sources with significant offsets with respect to Gaia positions, and space navigation; 2) to extend the complete flux-limited sample of compact extragalactic sources to the Southern Hemisphere; and 3) to investigate the parsec-scale properties of sources from the high-frequency AT20G survey. The median uncertainty of the source positions is 3.5 mas. As a result of this VLBI campaign, the number of compact radio sources south of declination -40 deg which have measured VLBI correlated flux densities and positions known to milliarcsecond accuracy has increased by over a factor of 6.

ALMA observations of molecular absorption in four directions toward the Galactic bulge

Context. Alma Cycle 3 observations serendipitously showed strong absorption from diffuse molecular gas in the Galactic bulge at − 200 km s−1 < v < −140 km s−1 toward the compact extragalactic continuum source J1744-3116 at (l, b) = −2.13°, − 1.00°. Aims. We aimed to test whether molecular gas in the bulge could also be detected toward the three other, sufficiently strong mm-wave continuum sources seen toward the bulge at |b| < 3°. Methods. We took absorption profiles of HCO+ (1−0), HCN(1−0), C2H (1−0), CS(2−1) and H13CO+ (1−0) in ALMA Cycle 4 toward J1713-3418, J1717-3341, J1733-3722 and J1744-3116. Results. Strong molecular absorption from disk gas at |v|≲30 km s−1 was detected in all directions, and absorption from the 3 kpc arm was newly detected toward J1717 and J1744. However, only the sightline toward J1744 is dominated by molecular gas overall and no other sightlines showed molecular absorption from gas deep inside the bulge. No molecular absorption was detected toward J1717 where H I emission from the bulge was previously known. As observed in HCO+, HCN, C2H and CS, the bulge gas toward J1744 at v < −135 km s−1 has chemistry and kinematics like that seen near the Sun and in the Milky Way disk generally. We measured isotopologic ratios N(HCO+)/N(H13CO+) > 51 (3σ) for the bulge gas toward J1744 and 58 ± 9 and 64 ± 4 for the disk gas toward J1717 and J1744, respectively, all well above the value of 20−25 typical of the central molecular zone. Conclusions. The kinematics and chemistry of the bulge gas observed toward J1744 more nearly resemble that of gas in the Milky Way disk than in the central molecular zone.

A Reverse Shock and Unusual Radio Properties in GRB 160625B

Abstract We present multi-wavelength observations and modeling of the exceptionally bright long γ-ray burst GRB 160625B. The optical and X-ray data are well fit by synchrotron emission from a collimated blastwave with an opening angle of and kinetic energy of erg, propagating into a low-density ( cm−3) medium with a uniform profile. The forward shock is sub-dominant in the radio band; instead, the radio emission is dominated by two additional components. The first component is consistent with emission from a reverse shock, indicating an initial Lorentz factor of and an ejecta magnetization of . The second component exhibits peculiar spectral and temporal evolution and is most likely the result of scattering of the radio emission by the turbulent Milky Way interstellar medium (ISM). Such scattering is expected in any sufficiently compact extragalactic source and has been seen in GRBs before, but the large amplitude and long duration of the variability seen here are qualitatively more similar to extreme scattering events previously observed in quasars, rather than normal interstellar scintillation effects. High-cadence, broadband radio observations of future GRBs are needed to fully characterize such effects, which can sensitively probe the properties of the ISM and must be taken into account before variability intrinsic to the GRB can be interpreted correctly.

Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Astrometric and Geodetic VLBI Observation at Ka-band

The development and necessity of the frequency settings in astrometric and geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations are analyzed, especially on the advantages and disadvantages of observations at Ka-band. Compared to X-band, the advantages at Ka-band include more compact extragalactic sources, relatively smaller core shift effect, as well as efficiency to improve the precision in the realization of radio celestial reference frame and in the linkage to the quasi-inertia optical frame of Gaia project. Advantages in terms of deep space exploration are high in telemetry data rate, high in VLBI tracking precision, and helpful to mitigate the detrimental effects of ionosphere and solar plasma on the observed time delay. Disadvantages include relatively weak extragalactic sources, high precision requirement of reflector and antenna pointing, and susceptible to atmospheric absorption and emission effects. But the loss in system sensitivity due to these factors could be mostly compensated by the rapid development in high data rate sampling and recording technology. Finally in accordance with the current status of VLBI technique in China some specific recommendations for further development are recommended for criticism by readers.

VLBI for Gravity Probe B: the guide star, IM Pegasi

We review the radio very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of the guide star, IM Peg, and three compact extragalactic reference sources, made in support of the NASA/Stanford gyroscope relativity mission, Gravity Probe B (GP-B). The main goal of the observations was the determination of the proper motion of IM Peg relative to the distant Universe. VLBI observations made between 1997 and 2005 yield a proper motion of IM Peg of ± 0.09 mas yr−1 in α and ± 0.09 mas yr−1 in δ in a celestial reference frame of extragalactic radio galaxies and quasars virtually identical to the International Celestial Reference Frame 2 (ICRF2). They also yield a parallax for IM Peg of 10.37 ± 0.07 mas, corresponding to a distance of 96.4 ± 0.7 pc. The uncertainties are standard errors with statistical and estimated systematic contributions added in quadrature. These results met the pre-launch requirements of the GP-B mission to not discernibly degrade the estimates of the geodetic and frame-dragging effects.

PULSAR OBSERVATIONS OF EXTREME SCATTERING EVENTS

Extreme scattering events (ESEs) in the interstellar medium (ISM) were first observed in regular flux measurements of compact extragalactic sources. They are characterized by a flux variation over a period of weeks, suggesting the passage of a "diverging plasma lens" across the line of sight. Modeling the refraction of such a lens indicates that the structure size must be of order AU and the electron density of order 10s of cm^{-3}. Similar structures have been observed in measurements of pulsar intensity scintillation and group delay. Here we report observations of two ESEs showing increases in both intensity scintillation and dispersion made with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA). These allow us to make more complete models of the ESE, including an estimate of the "outer-scale" of the turbulence in the plasma lens. These observations show clearly that the ESE structure is fully turbulent on an AU scale. They provide some support for the idea that the structures are extended along the line of sight, such as would be the case for a scattering shell. The dispersion measurements also show a variety of AU scale structures which would not be called ESEs, yet involve electron density variations typical of ESEs and likely have the same origin.

Interstellar scattering near the galactic center

A previously obtained dependence of the scattering angles of extragalactic radio sources on the background emissionmeasure toward the sources is used together with data on the background brightness temperature near the Galactic center at 43 and 10 GHz to calculate the scattering angles of compact extragalactic radio sources as a function of their angular separation from the compact source Sgr A*. It is shown that the distribution of the scattering angles of extragalactic sources as a function of the angular distance to Sgr A* has two scales. The extended component has an angular size at the half-intensity level of about 1° in longitude and about 0.5° in latitude. The calculated scattering angles for this component agree well with the observations. The narrow component is fairly symmetric and has a scale at the half-intensity level of about 5′. The scattering angle at the maximum of the narrow component is approximately a factor of 10 larger than the scattering angle for the broad component. The scattering angle begins to increase sharply at angular distances less than 6′ from Sgr A*. It is suggested that the narrow component is associated with the 7′ halo located in the Sgr A complex. A VLA survey of compact sources at 1400 MHz shows that compact extragalactic sources are not observed at angular distances of less than 14′ from Sgr A*, due to both enhanced scattering and a decrease in sensitivity due to the strong background emission with approach toward the Galactic center and the presence of strong compact sources in the sidelobes of the VLA beam, in particular, Sgr A*. The results obtained can be used to choose the optimal baselines and frequencies of interferometers in future observations of compact sources near the Galactic center.

TEMPORAL SMEARING OF TRANSIENT RADIO SOURCES BY THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

The temporal smearing of impulsive radio events at cosmological redshifts probes the properties of the ionized Inter-Galactic Medium (IGM). We relate the degree of temporal smearing and the profile of a scattered source to the evolution of turbulent structure in the IGM as a function of redshift. We estimate the degree of scattering expected by analysing the contributions to the Scattering Measure (SM) of the various components of baryonic matter embedded in the IGM, including the diffuse IGM, intervening galaxies and intracluster gas. These estimates predict that the amount of temporal smearing expected at 300\,MHz is typically as low as ~1 ms and suggests that these bursts may be detectable with low frequency widefield arrays. A generalization of the DM-SM relation observed for Galactic scattering to the densities and turbulent conditions relevant to the IGM suggests that scattering measures of order 10^{-6} kpc m {-20/3} would be expected at z ~ 1. This scattering is sufficiently low that its effects would, for most lines of sight, not be manifest in existing observations of the scattering broadening in images of extragalactic compact sources. The redshift dependence of the temporal smearing discriminates between scattering that occurs in the host galaxy of the burst and the IGM, with tau_host \propto (1+z)^{-3} if the scattering probes length scales below the inner scale of the turbulence or tau_host \propto (1+z)^{-17/5} if the turbulence follows a Kolmogorov spectrum. This differs strongly from the expected IGM scaling tau_{IGM} ~ z^2 for z < 1 and (1+z)^{0.2-0.5} for z >> 1.

THE GOULD's BELT VERY LARGE ARRAY SURVEY. I. THE OPHIUCHUS COMPLEX

We present large-scale ($\sim$ 2000 square arcminutes), deep ($\sim$ 20 $\mu$Jy), high-resolution ($\sim$ 1$''$) radio observations of the Ophiuchus star-forming complex obtained with the Karl G.\ Jansky Very Large Array at $\lambda$ = 4 and 6 cm. In total, 189 sources were detected, 56 of them associated with known young stellar sources, and 4 with known extragalactic objects; the other 129 remain unclassified, but most of them are most probably background quasars. The vast majority of the young stars detected at radio wavelengths have spectral types K or M, although we also detect 4 objects of A/F/B types and 2 brown dwarf candidates. At least half of these young stars are non-thermal (gyrosynchrotron) sources, with active coronas characterized by high levels of variability, negative spectral indices, and (in some cases) significant circular polarization. As expected, there is a clear tendency for the fraction of non-thermal sources to increase from the younger (Class 0/I or flat spectrum) to the more evolved (Class III or weak line T Tauri) stars. The young stars detected both in X-rays and at radio wavelengths broadly follow a G\"udel-Benz relation, but with a different normalization than the most radio-active types of stars. Finally, we detect a $\sim$ 70 mJy compact extragalactic source near the center of the Ophiuchus core, which should be used as gain calibrator for any future radio observations of this region.

HIGH-VELOCITY H I IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE TeV SUPERNOVA REMNANT W51C

The recently-detected TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1923+141 coincides with Supernova Remnant (SNR) W51C and the star forming region W51B of the W51 complex. We construct HI absorption spectra to SNR W51C, HII regions G49.2-0.35 and G49.1-0.38 in W51B, and a nearby compact extragalactic source. Our study detects high-velocity (HV) HI clouds (above 83 km/s) which coincide with W51B, but finds that the clouds are behind W51B. Both W51C and G49.2-0.35 have have similar highest-velocity absorption features at ~70 km/s. The HII region G49.1-0.38 is behind the SNR because its HI absorption spectrum has a feature at 83 km/s. These new results argue against previous claims that the SNR has shocked the HV HI clouds. Therefore the TeV emission from the complex should not be associated with the HV HI clouds. W51C has a distance of about 4.3 kpc, smaller than the tangent point distance of 5.5 kpc in that direction, but still in the Sagittarius spiral arm.