Radio Surveys and Large Scale Structure

Abstract

An analysis of the Molonglo Reference Catalogue indicates that significant departures from isotropy are present in the sky distribution of strong extragalactic radio sources. This has been shown to be due to local large scale structure, specifically a concentration to the supergalactic plane, which also influences the slope of the source counts. A study of the three-dimensional distribution of local radio galaxies shows that they are more strongly concentrated to the supergalactic plane than are optically·selected galaxies, and that the supergalactic concentration is more extensive than hitherto believed. It appears that radio galaxies (and clusters of galaxies) trace the 'skeleton' of large scale structure, about which normal galaxies are more loosely distributed. Thus, while large scale structure evidently complicates the interpretation of radio source counts, it appears that radiO surveys can be of value in exploring structures on the largest scales.