TANAMI: Tracking Active Galactic Nuclei with Austral Milliarcsecond
  Interferometry I. First-Epoch 8.4 GHz Images
  We introduce the TANAMI program (Tracking Active Galactic Nuclei with Austral
Milliarcsecond Interferometry) which is monitoring an initial sample of 43
extragalactic jets located south of -30 degrees declination at 8.4 GHz and 22
GHz since 2007. All aspects of the program are discussed. First epoch results
at 8.4 GHz are presented along with physical parameters derived therefrom. We
present first epoch images for 43 sources, some observed for the first time at
milliarcsecond resolution. Parameters of these images as well as physical
parameters derived from them are also presented and discussed. These and
subsequent images from the TANAMI survey are available at
http://pulsar.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/tanami/ We obtain reliable, high
dynamic range images of the southern hemisphere AGN. All the quasars and BL Lac
objects in the sample have a single-sided radio morphology. Galaxies are either
double-sided, single-sided or irregular. About 28% of the TANAMI sample has
been detected by LAT during its first three months of operations. Initial
analysis suggests that when galaxies are excluded, sources detected by LAT have
larger opening angles than those not detected by LAT. Brightness temperatures
of LAT detections and non-detections seem to have similar distributions. The
redshift distributions of the TANAMI sample and sub-samples are similar to
those seen for the bright gamma-ray AGN seen by LAT and EGRET but none of the
sources with a redshift above 1.8 have been detected by LAT.
