Landing page for project EP124

The merging system Arp299 is the most luminous infrared galaxy within 50 Mpc. This allows to resolve its innermost regions at milliarcsec resolution with VLBI. We started to monitor Arp299 more than ten years ago, aiming at detecting core-collapse supernovae and constraining the initial mass function of massive stars. We have published many results out of those observations, including the detection of an extremely prolific supernova factory in Arp299A and the first discovery of a resolved radio jet in a tidal disruption event in Arp299B. We propose deep, continuum VLBI observations of Arp299 aimed at two immediate goals: (i) directly measuring the expansion of the radio jet in Arp299B and discerning whether the jet is experiencing lateral expansion. (ii) Detecting new supernovae (and other compact objects) in Arp 299A, and determining the variability of exisiting sources since our last global VLBI epoch in 2015. The first goal has important implications for the formation and evolution of jets in more distant sources, for which detailed observations are not possible. The second goal is crucial for constraining the core-collapse supernova rate and IMF in Arp299A and for unveiling the nature, magnetic field and energetics of the compact sources in Arp299A.

This data is part of the archive of VLBI data maintained by JIVE on behalf of the EVN, a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa. The EVN archive itself has the DOI https://doi.org/10.17616/R3Z197