Galaxy Evolution in the Radio Band: The Role of Star-forming Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei
- INAF-IRA, Via P. Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna (Italy)
- SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy)
- Departamento de Fisica, Universidad de Oviedo, C. Calvo Sotelo s/n, E-33007 Oviedo (Spain)
We investigate the astrophysics of radio-emitting star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and elucidate their statistical properties in the radio band, including luminosity functions, redshift distributions, and number counts at sub-mJy flux levels, which will be crucially probed by next-generation radio continuum surveys. Specifically, we exploit the model-independent approach by Mancuso et al. to compute the star formation rate functions, the AGN duty cycles, and the conditional probability of a star-forming galaxy to host an AGN with given bolometric luminosity. Coupling these ingredients with the radio emission properties associated with star formation and nuclear activity, we compute relevant statistics at different radio frequencies and disentangle the relative contribution of star-forming galaxies and AGNs in different radio luminosity, radio flux, and redshift ranges. Finally, we highlight that radio-emitting star-forming galaxies and AGNs are expected to host supermassive black holes accreting with different Eddington ratio distributions and to occupy different loci in the galaxy main-sequence diagrams. These specific predictions are consistent with current data sets but need to be tested with larger statistics via future radio data with multiband coverage on wide areas, as will become routinely achievable with the advent of the Square Kilometre Array and its precursors.
- OSTI ID:
- 22663489
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 842, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Black hole and galaxy coevolution from continuity equation and abundance matching
A tale of two feedbacks: Star formation in the host galaxies of radio AGNs