Singh, VeereshVeereshSinghDutta, SushantSushantDuttaWadadekar, YogeshYogeshWadadekarIshwara-Chandra, C. H.C. H.Ishwara-Chandra2025-08-312025-08-312021-12-0110.3390/galaxies90401212-s2.0-85121666433https://d8.irins.org/handle/IITG2025/26352Remnant radio galaxies (RRGs), characterized by the cessation of AGN activity, represent a short-lived last phase of radio galaxy’s life-cycle. Hitherto, searches for RRGs, mainly based on the morphological criteria, have identified large angular size sources resulting into a bias towards the remnants of powerful FR-II radio galaxies. In this study we make the first attempt to perform a systematic search for RRGs of small angular sizes (<30^′′) in the XMM−LSS field. By using spectral curvature criterion we discover 48 remnant candidates exhibiting strong spectral curvature i.e., α325 MHz 150 MHz − α1.4 GHz 325 MHz ≥ 0.5. Spectral characteristics at higher frequency regime (>1.4 GHz) indicate that some of our remnant candidates can depict recurrent AGN activity with an active core. We place an upper limit on the remnant fraction (f<inf>rem</inf>) to be 3.9%, which increases to 5.4% if flux cutoff limit of S<inf>150 MHz</inf> ≥ 10 mJy is considered. Our study unveils, hitherto unexplored, a new population of small-size (<200 kpc) remnant candidates that are often found to reside in less dense environments and at higher redshifts (z) > 1.0. We speculate that a relatively shorter active phase and/or low jet power can be plausible reasons for the small size of remnant candidates.trueGalaxies: evolution | Galaxies: jets | Galaxies: nuclei | Radio continuum: galaxiesArticlehttps://www.mdpi.com/2075-4434/9/4/121/pdf?version=163997299220754434December 20216121arJournal6