Herschel-ATLAS: far-infrared properties of radio-selected galaxies

Hardcastle, M. J.; Virdee, J. S.; Jarvis, M. J.; Bonfield, D. G.; Dunne, L.; Rawlings, S.; Stevens, J. A.; Christopher, N. M.; Heywood, I.; Mauch, T.; Rigopoulou, D.; Verma, A.; Baldry, I. K.; Bamford, S. P.; Buttiglione, S.; Cava, A.; Clements, D. L.; Cooray, A.; Croom, S. M.; Dariush, A.; de Zotti, G.; Eales, S.; Fritz, J.; Hill, D. T.; Hughes, D.; Hopwood, R.; Ibar, E.; Ivison, R. J.; Jones, D. H.; Loveday, J.; Maddox, S. J.; Michałowski, M. J.; Negrello, M.; Norberg, P.; Pohlen, M.; Prescott, M.; Rigby, E. E.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Rodighiero, G.; Scott, D.; Sharp, R.; Smith, D. J. B.; Temi, P.; van Kampen, E.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 409, Issue 1, pp. 122-131.

Advertised on:
11
2010
Number of authors
44
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
24
Refereed citations
21
Description
We use the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (ATLAS) science demonstration data to investigate the star formation properties of radio-selected galaxies in the GAMA-9h field as a function of radio luminosity and redshift. Radio selection at the lowest radio luminosities, as expected, selects mostly starburst galaxies. At higher radio luminosities, where the population is dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGN), we find that some individual objects are associated with high far-infrared luminosities. However, the far-infrared properties of the radio-loud population are statistically indistinguishable from those of a comparison population of radio-quiet galaxies matched in redshift and K-band absolute magnitude. There is thus no evidence that the host galaxies of these largely low-luminosity (Fanaroff-Riley class I), and presumably low-excitation, AGN, as a population, have particularly unusual star formation histories. Models in which the AGN activity in higher luminosity, high-excitation radio galaxies is triggered by major mergers would predict a luminosity-dependent effect that is not seen in our data (which only span a limited range in radio luminosity) but which may well be detectable with the full Herschel-ATLAS data set. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA. E-mail: m.j.hardcastle [at] herts.ac.uk (m[dot]j[dot]hardcastle[at]herts[dot]ac[dot]uk)
Related projects
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Formation and Evolution of Galaxies: Observations in Infrared and other Wavelengths
This IAC research group carries out several extragalactic projects in different spectral ranges, using space as well as ground-based telescopes, to study the cosmological evolution of galaxies and the origin of nuclear activity in active galaxies. The group is a member of the international consortium which built the SPIRE instrument for the
Ismael
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