Deep GMRT 150-MHz observations of the LBDS-Lynx region: ultrasteep spectrum radio sources

It has been known for nearly three decades that high-redshift radio galaxies exhibit steep radio spectra, and hence ultrasteep spectrum radio sources provide candidates for high-redshift radio galaxies. Nearly all radio galaxies with z > 3 have been found using this redshift–spectral index correlation. We have started a programme with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to exploit this correlation at flux density levels about 10 to 100 times deeper than the known high-redshift radio galaxies which were identified primarily using the already available radio catalogues. In our programme, we have obtained deep, high-resolution radio observations at 150 MHz with GMRT for several ‘deep’ fields which are well studied at higher radio frequencies and in other bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, with an aim to detect candidate high-redshift radio galaxies. In this paper we present results from the deep 150-MHz observations of the LBDS-Lynx field, which has been already imaged at 327, 610 and 1412 MHz with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope and at 1400 and 4860 MHz with the Very Large Array. The 150-MHz image made with GMRT has an rms noise of ∼0.7 mJy beam−1 and a resolution of ∼19 × 15 arcsec2. It is the deepest low-frequency image of the LBDS-Lynx field. The source catalogue of this field at 150 MHz has about 765 sources down to ∼20 per cent of the primary beam response, covering an area of about 15 deg2. Spectral index was estimated by cross-correlating each source detected at 150 MHz with the available observations at 327, 610, 1400 and 4860 MHz and also using available radio surveys such as the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey at 327 MHz and the NRAO VLA Sky Survey and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm at 1400 MHz. We find about 150 radio sources with spectra steeper than 1. About two-third of these are not detected in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, hence are strong candidate high-redshift radio galaxies, which need to be further explored with deep infrared imaging and spectroscopy to estimate the redshift.