The Massive Hosts of Radio Galaxies across Cosmic Time

2007/01/01 by Nick Seymour, Daniel Stern, Carlos De Breuck +15 · 239 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #COSMIC cancer database #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Homogeneous #Luminosity #Luminous infrared galaxy #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Radio galaxy #Star formation #Stars #Stellar mass #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/517887

published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 171(2) (Institute of Physics) · 63 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in ApJS

openalex publication_date 2007/01/01 · arxiv created 2007/03/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2019/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We present the results of a comprehensive Spitzer survey of 69 radio galaxies across 1 < z < 5.2. Using IRAC (3.6-8.0 μm), IRS (16 μm), and MIPS (24-160 μm) imaging, we decompose the rest-frame optical to infrared spectral energy distributions into stellar, AGN, and dust components and determine the contribution of host galaxy stellar emission at rest-frame H band. Stellar masses derived from rest-frame near-IR data, where AGN and young star contributions are minimized, are significantly more reliable than those derived from rest-frame optical and UV data. We find that the fraction of emitted light at rest-frame H band from stars is >60% for ~75% of the high-redshift radio galaxies. As expected from unified models of AGNs, the stellar fraction of the rest-frame H -band luminosity has no correlation with redshift, radio luminosity, or rest-frame mid-IR (5 μm) luminosity. In addition, while the stellar H -band luminosity does not vary with stellar fraction, the total H -band luminosity anticorrelates with the stellar fraction as would be expected if the underlying hosts of these radio galaxies comprise a homogeneous population. The resultant stellar luminosities imply stellar masses of 10 11 -10 11.5 M ☉ even at the highest redshifts. Powerful radio galaxies tend to lie in a similar region of mid-IR color-color space as unobscured AGNs, despite the stellar contribution to their mid-IR SEDs at shorter wavelengths. The mid-IR luminosities alone classify most HzRGs as LIRGs or ULIRGs with even higher total-IR luminosities. As expected, these exceptionally high mid-IR luminosities are consistent with an obscured, highly accreting AGN. We find a weak correlation of stellar mass with radio luminosity.

Citations

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• Evidence of suppression of star formation by quasar-driven winds in gas-rich host galaxies atz< 1?
• Deep spectroscopy of the FUV-optical emission lines from a sample of radio galaxies at z 2.5: metallicity and ionization
• The environment of radio galaxies: a signature of AGN feedback at high redshifts
• Investigating the far-IR/radio correlation of star-forming Galaxies toz= 3
• The MUSE 3D view of feedback in a high-metallicity radio galaxy at z = 2.9
• From Nearby Low Luminosity AGN to High Redshift Radio Galaxies: Science Interests with Square Kilometre Array
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