Quasar Radio Structure in Cluster Environments

Abstract

VLA B-configuration snapshots have been obtained at 6cm and 20cm of 43 radio quasars with a range of known galaxy cluster environments. The radio sources are characterised by measures of morphology, flux, and size. These are studied as a function of cluster density, characterised by published Bgq numbers. We find no strong dependence of radio source properties on this measure of cluster density. We find ~2 sigma evidence that sources in higher cluster densities have more lobe-dominated morphology with higher lobe luminosities and lower core luminosities. The 7 unresolved sources are found in low density clusters, as are the most bent sources. We find that QSO clusters have fewer other radio sources within a radius of 3 arcminutes than do the central galaxies of a sample of rich X-ray selected clusters.