Abstract:
A growing number of radio studies probe galaxy clusters into the low-power regime in which star formation is the dominant source of radio emission. However, at the time of writing no comparably deep observations have focused exclusively on the radio populations of cosmic filaments. This thesis describes the ATCA 2.1 GHz observations and subsequent analysis of two such regions - labelled Zone 1 (between clusters A3158 and A3125/A3128) and Zone 2 (between A3135 and A3145) - in the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster (HRS). Source count profiles of both populations are discussed and a radio luminosity function for Zone 1 is generated. While the source counts of Zone 2 appear to be consistent with expected values, Zone 1 exhibits an excess of counts across a wide flux range (1 mJy<S₁.₄<200 mJy). An excess in radio activity at the lower extent of this range (log P₁.₄<22:5; within the SF-dominated regime) is also suggested by the radio luminosity function for that region, and brief colour analysis suggests that such an excess is indeed predominantly associated with a starforming population. The differences between the two filamentary zones is attributed to cosmic variation. The regions are both small (~ 1°²), and are significantly separated in the HRS. Further radio observations of filaments are required and the results combined into a larger sample size in order to arrive at a generalised model filamentary population.
