MRC B1221–423 is a compact steep spectrum (CSS) radio source in the core of a remarkable elliptical galaxy. We examine its environment with long-slit spectra and multicolour images. A high-resolution synthesis image shows the radio source to have a 1″.5 (5.7 kpc) double structure. We use the empirical relationship between jet kinetic power and narrow line luminosity to infer a source age of ˜105 yr. The z = 0.1706 host galaxy is clearly disturbed, with tidal features and shells providing plausible evidence for a merger with one or more close companions. This evidence leads us to conclude that B1221–423 may be the progenitor of a much larger source, caught at an early stage in its radio evolution. We speculate that it is the interaction and accompanying events which have triggered this young powerful radio source.

A brief overview of the current radio source host galaxy state of affairs is given. All the evidence appears to point towards a scenario in which the young radio source expands through the host galaxy on timescales of 105–106 yr, before it ends its life as a large scale FR II radio galaxy. The place and role of the quasars in this evolutionary picture is unclear, however, and remains an issue of debate.

The role of radio polarimetry in the understanding of GPS and CSS sources is explored. After an initial discussion of what can be learned from polarimetry, the expectations of a simple evolutionary sequence of GPS/CSO to CSS to FR I/FR II sources are explored. Observational results are then compared with the expectations. Conclusions include: the GPS category is likely not a single homogeneous class of objects; Faraday depth effects are very strong inside the inner 3 kpc of CSS and CSO sources; in at least 3C 138 the Faraday screen has very fine scale (subparsec) structure; and there is evidence for increased ionisation near bends in some CSS jets probably due to jet–ISM interaction. New results on 3C 138, 3C 43, and 3C 454 are given.

AGN with the so-called 'double-double' radio structure have been interpreted as restarted AGN where the inner structure is a manifestation of a new phase of activity which happened to begin before the outer radio lobes resulting from the previous one had faded completely. The radio galaxy 1245+676 is an extreme example of such a double-double object — its outer structure, measuring 970 h−1 kpc, is five orders of magnitude larger than the 9.6 h−1 pc inner one. We present a series of VLBI observations of the core of 1245+676 which appears to be a compact symmetric object (CSO). We have detected the motion of the CSOs lobes, measured its velocity, and inferred the kinematic age of that structure.

This paper deals with the spectral ageing study of a representative sample of compact symmetric objects (CSOs) and compact steep spectrum (CSS) sources. Observations reveal a distinctive high-frequency steepening of the radio spectra of many of these sources. The existence of such a spectral feature is expected or may be naturally interpreted in terms of radiative ageing of synchrotron emitting electrons. The small angular size of CSS sources makes it relatively easy to measure their integrated spectra over a wide frequency range for a conspicuous number of objects. For those sources whose emission is dominated by the mini-lobes, the integrated spectra can be used to constrain the source age. Assuming equipartition magnetic fields, the spectral ages we found are in the range from 102 to 105 yr. Multifrequency VLBA observations allow us to study the spectral properties of two CSOs: B1323+321 and B1943+546. The case of B1943+546 is particularly interesting since for this source a kinematic age has been derived from the proper motion of the hot spots. We found that spectral and kinematic ages agree within a factor of 2. The overall results presented here confirm that the CSOs and CSS sources are indeed young objects. Finally, we show some examples of compact sources characterised by an extraordinary steep and curved spectrum. It is plausible that these are relic sources in which the injection of fresh electrons has ceased for a significant fraction of their lifetime. These observations may indicate either the presence of intermittent activity or a class of short-living objects.

Throughout this paper we adopt H0 = 100 h km s−1 Mpc−1 and q0 = 0.5.

We present high resolution spectra (0.7 Å/pix) of the GPS source 4C 12.50 with large spectral coverage (˜4500 Å) taken with the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, La Palma. The slit was aligned along PA 160° to include the nucleus and emission line region to the NW. An asymmetric halo extending 20 kpc NW and 12 kpc SE from the nucleus is clearly seen. At the position of the nucleus we observe unusually broad forbidden emission line components (broadest component: FWHM ˜ 2000 km s−1), blue shifted by up to 2000 km s−1 with respect to the halo of the galaxy and HI absorption. We interpret this as material in outflow. We measure E(B–V) = 1.44 for the broadest, most kinematically disturbed component, corresponding to an actual Hβ flux 130 times brighter than that measured. We calculate an upper limit for the mass of the line emitting gas of order 106 M⊙ for both the intermediate and broad components. Our results are consistent with 4C 12.50 being a young radio source.

We have obtained long slit spectra of 3C 67 and 3C 277.1 with the HST/STIS spectrograph. We present our preliminary results on the diagnostic emission line ratios along the radio source axes in 3C 67 and 3C 277.1.

In this paper I examine the use of optical and UV spectral diagnostic ratios to distinguish between gas which is locally shock-excited by the interaction with a jet and that which is photoionised by the central engine. In many cases key UV lines remain unobserved except in the case of high redshift radio galaxies. However, in one case, the nearby GPS galaxy NGC1052, UV data was obtained with the FOS. This object shows LINER characteristics at optical wavelengths, but has a rich coronal-line spectrum in the UV. We conclude that jet-driven shocks tend to evolve from shock-excited to photoionised later in their evolution.

Samples of CSS/GPS sources suitable for statistical studies have been selected from the 3CR catalogue and from the Peacock & Wall catalogue. The selection criterion used for the Peacock & Wall catalogue CSS/GPS sources selects sources which peak below about 2 GHz and are therefore larger than ˜200 pc. Our main aim is to find among the flat spectrum sources in the Peacock & Wall catalogue smaller size CSS/GPS sources by means of systematic high resolution observations. The discovery of a few more would be important in order to finally have a complete flux limited sample of this class of objects. We discuss the results obtained so far for three of the observed sources.

GPS and CSS radio sources are the objects of choice to investigate the evolution of young radio-loud AGN. Previous investigations, mainly based on number counts and source size distributions, indicate that GPS/CSS sources decrease significantly in radio power when evolving into old, extended objects. We suggest this is preceded by a period of increase in radio luminosity, which lasts as long as the radio source is confined within the core-radius of its host galaxy. We have selected a sample of nearby compact radio sources, unbiased by radio spectrum, to determine their luminosity function, size distribution, dynamical ages, and emission line properties in a complete and homogeneous way. First results indicate that the large majority of objects (>80%) exhibit classical GPS/CSS radio spectra, and show structures consistent with them being compact double or compact symmetric objects. This sample provides an ideal basis to further test and constrain possible evolution scenarios, and to investigate the relation between radio spectra and morphologies, orientation and Doppler boosting in samples of young radio-loud AGN, in an unbiased way.

We report early results of an observational campaign targeted on a sample of compact steep spectrum sources selected from the FIRST survey which are significantly weaker than those investigated before. The selection criteria and procedure are given in detail. We present here an assortment of MERLIN and VLBI observations and make some general comments based on the morphologies of the sources presented.

According to the currently accepted paradigm compact steep spectrum (CSS) sources are precursors of larger/older objects and gigahertz peaked spectrum (GPS) sources may be earlier stages of CSS sources. In this paper we confront this paradigm with the outcome of recent observations of CSS sources that are significantly weaker than those known before. In particular we claim that not all CSS sources must end up as large scale objects; if the activity phase of an AGN's central engine is shorter than the lifetime of a large scale radio source (up to ˜108 yr) the radio source associated with such an AGN decays earlier, e.g. at the CSS stage. We point out that a theory of thermal–viscous instabilities in the accretion disks of AGN may explain many features of radio sources at all stages of their evolution.

The compact steep spectrum (CSS) and gigahertz peaked spectrum (GPS) sources are widely believed to be young radio sources, with ages ≤106 yr. If the activity in the nucleus is fuelled by the supply of gas, one might find evidence of this gas by studying the structural and polarisation characteristics of CSS sources and their evolution through this gas. In this paper we discuss some of the possible ‘smoking-gun’ evidence of this gas which may have triggered and fuelled the radio source.

Amongst our sample of radio-excess IRAS galaxies, we have identified compact steep spectrum radio sources that fall into the classes of CSS or GPS sources, but have not previously been identified as such. The sample includes objects that have radio powers as low as ˜1022 W Hz−1. We suggest that these are low-power analogues of CSS and GPS sources, with weaker radio jets. These may be precursors to FR I radio galaxies or may ‘fade’ into radio-quiet galaxies.

Combining our own observations with data from the literature, we consider the incidence of HI absorption in gigahertz peaked spectrum (GPS) and compact steep spectrum (CSS) sources. Here we present our preliminary results, where we find that the smaller GPS sources (<1 kpc) on average have larger HI column densities than the larger CSS sources (>1 kpc). Both a spherical and an axi-symmetric gas distribution, with a radial power law density profile, can be used to explain this anti-correlation between projected linear size and HI column density. Since most detections occur in galaxy classified objects, we argue that if the unified schemes apply to the GPS/CSS sources, a disk distribution for the HI is more likely.

This is a paper on young jet material in a frustratingly complex environment.

NGC 1052 has a compact, flat or GHz peaked spectrum radio nucleus consisting of bi-symmetric jets, oriented close to the plane of the sky. Many features on both sides move away at υapp ˜0.26 c (H0 = 65 km s−1 Mpc−1). VLBI at seven frequencies shows a wide range of spectral shapes and brightness temperatures; there is clearly free–free absorption, probably together with synchrotron self-absorption, on both sides of the core. The absorbing structure is likely to be geometrically thick and oriented roughly orthogonal to the jets, but it is patchy.

HI VLBI shows atomic gas in front of the approaching as well as the receding jet. There appear to be three velocity systems, at least two of which are local to the AGN environment. The ‘high velocity system’, 125–200 km s−1 redward of systemic, seems restricted to a shell 1–2 pc away from the core. Closer to the centre, this gas might be largely ionised; it could cause the free–free absorption.

WSRT spectroscopy shows 1667 and 1665 MHz OH absorption over a wide velocity range. OH and HI profile similarity suggests co-location of molecular and atomic ‘high velocity’ gas; the connection to H2O masing gas is unclear. Further, at ‘high velocity’ we detected the OH 1612 MHz satellite line in absorption and the 1720 MHz line in emission, with complementary strengths.

We discuss recent measurements of proper motions of the hotspots of compact symmetric objects (CSOs). Source expansion has been detected in 10 CSOs so far and all these objects are very young (≤ 3 × 103 yr). In a few sources ages have also been estimated from energy supply and spectral ageing arguments and these estimates are comparable. This argues that these sources are close to equipartition and that standard spectral ageing models apply. Proper motion studies are now constraining hotspot accelerations, side-to-side motions, and differences in hotspot advance speeds between the two hotspots of a source. Although most CSOs are young sources their evolution is unclear. There is increasing evidence that in some objects the CSO structure represents a new phase of activity within a recurrent source.

The main topic of this contribution is the investigation of the morphological self-similarity of the growth process during the gigahertz peaked spectrum (GPS) and compact steep spectrum (CSS) phase of evolving radio galaxies. By investigating a new sample of faint CSS radio sources we establish that self-similar evolution must hold for peaked spectrum sources over a wide range of luminosities as well as physical sizes. Thus, we argue that self-similarity should be regarded as an essential, intrinsic characteristic of the growth process of young radio sources, and be treated as such, and not merely as a supplementary constraint for evolution models.