A multifrequency study of giant radio sources - II. Spectral ageing analysis of the lobes of selected sources

Multifrequency observations with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and the Very Large Array (VLA) are used to determine the spectral breaks in consecutive strips along the lobes of a sample of selected giant radio sources (GRSs) in order to estimate their spectral ages. The maximum spectral ages estimated for the detected radio emission in the lobes of our sources range from similar to 6 to 46 Myr with a median value of similar to 23 Myr using the classical equipartition fields. Using the magnetic field estimates from the Beck & Krause formalism the spectral ages range from similar to 5 to 58 Myr with a median value of similar to 24 Myr. These ages are significantly older than smaller sources. In all but one source (J1313+6937) the spectral age gradually increases with distance from the hotspot regions, confirming that acceleration of the particles mainly occurs in the hotspots. Most of the GRSs do not exhibit zero spectral ages in the hotspots, as is the case in earlier studies of smaller sources. This is likely to be largely due to contamination by more extended emission due to relatively modest resolutions. The injection spectral indices range from similar to 0.55 to 0.88 with a median value of similar to 0.6. We discuss these values in the light of theoretical expectations, and show that the injection spectral index appears to be correlated with luminosity and/or redshift as well as with linear size.