Bibcode
Tadhunter, Clive; Axon, David; Barthel, Peter; Gonzalez-Delgado, Rosa; Holt, Joanna; Inskip, Katherine; Morganti, Raffaella; Rodriguez Zaurin, Javier; van Bemmel, Ilse
Bibliographical reference
Spitzer Proposal ID #20233
Advertised on:
6
2005
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Given its general importance for studies of star formation at all
redshifts, the issue of the heating mechanism for the warm/cool dust in
luminous AGN is one of the key problems in extragalactic astrophysics.
We propose to address this issue by using the unique high sensitivity
capability of the Spitzer to make a mid- to far-IR (MFIR) photometric
survey of a complete sample of luminous 2Jy radio galaxies and
radio-loud quasars at intermediate redshifts. Radio-loud AGN are ideal
for a study of this type, because they have relatively clean selection
criteria and it is possible to determine the luminosity, orientation and
age of the AGN using the emission line and radio properties of the
sources. Moreover, an important advantage of the 2Jy sample is that,
unlike any other major sample of powerful radio sources, deep optical
spectra exist for all the sample objects. These spectra provide both
accurate emission line luminosities and information about the stellar
populations -- crucial for investigating the link between starbursts and
the MFIR properties. By correlating the MFIR, radio and optical
properties of the objects in the sample we will determine: (a) the
dominant heating mechanism for the dust at different MFIR wavelengths;
(b) the extent to which the far-IR colours depend on orientation to the
line of sight; and (c) the evolution of the far-IR properties with the
ages of the radio sources. This will be the first deep MFIR survey of a
substantial sample of luminous AGN for which complete information on the
stellar populations, AGN and jet properties already exists.