Past, Present and Future Star Formation in High Redshift Radio Galaxies Nick Seymour (MSSL/UCL) 22 nd Nov Powerful Radio Galaxies
Past, Present and Future Star Formation in High Redshift Radio Galaxies Nick Seymour (MSSL/UCL) 22 nd Nov 2009 Powerful Radio Galaxies IRAC false-colour image of 4C23.56
High-z Radio Galaxies Powerful active nuclei from massive black holes
High-z Radio Galaxies Powerful active nuclei from massive black holes High host galaxy masses imply DMH by z=0 of ~10 14 M
Connection Between Star Formation and Black Hole Growth Correlation between central black hole mass and host galaxy bulge mass Similar shape of black hole and galaxy mass function Similar evolution over cosmic time Some direct evidence, e.g. outflows
Connection Between Star Formation and Black Hole Growth Correlation between central black hole mass and host galaxy bulge mass Similar shape of black hole and galaxy mass function Similar evolution over cosmic time Some direct evidence, e.g. outflows Keep the theoreticians happy!
High-z Radio Galaxies Are Unique Laboratories to Study Star Formation Past stellar assembly can be derived from current stellar population (near-IR: stellar mass) Current star formation (sub-mm: far-IR luminosities and PAH: UV ionisation strength) Future star formation (environmental studies: future mergers and tidal interactions)
Measures of Star Formation Past
K-z or Hubble diagram for radio galaxies Rocca-Volmerange et al. 2004
K-z or Hubble diagram for radio galaxies Rocca-Volmerange et al M
H-band Stellar Luminosities of HzRGs SHzRG sample: z>1 L 3GHz >10 26 WHz -1 Seymour et al. 2007, De Breuck et al Stellar Luminosities
Stellar masses of HzRGs Galaxy Mass ( Kroupa IMF) Now 7Gyr 10Gyr Look back time Seymour et al. 2007, De Breuck et al. 2010
Stellar Mass/Radio Luminosity Relation * * selection function biased towards red ellipticals (Donoso et al. 2008) and 1.4GHz converted to 3GHz assuming spectral index of -0.8 Seymour, De Breuck et al. 2010
Measures of Star Formation Present
Current constrains on SFR SFRs inferred from sub-mm detections SFR
Current constrains on SFR SFRs inferred from sub-mm detections SFR/ stellar mass
Current constrains on SFR 1/SSFR
Current constrains on SFR
Star formation in High Redshift Radio Galaxies PAH emission features + lots of cold dust = high star formation rate This massive galaxy is still growing extremely rapidly Direct observations of coeval black hole and host galaxy growth Seymour et al. (2008)
Further IRS Spectroscopy of HzRGs J. Rawlings et al. (2010) Aim: to study SFR as function of radio luminosity and radio morphology at z~2.
Further IRS Spectroscopy of HzRGs J. Rawlings et al. (2010)
Measures of Star Formation Yet to Come
Future of Growth of Radio Galaxies MRC (the Spiderweb galaxy) at z=2.157 will eat or destroy most of its companions by z=0 (Hatch et al. 2009). 4c23.56 (z=2.483) has a companion galaxy with similar mass, 4C23.56 ER1 (A. Stockton et al., 2004) at 30asec ~240kpc with a merging time of ~5Gyrs (hence likely major merger of ~5x10 11 M at z~0.6) MRC Spiderweb Galaxy Miley et al. (2006) ACS greyscale Radio contours Lyman Alpha
4c23.56 z= um images
Over-densities at 24um Around Radio Galaxies
Other environmental evidence Red sequence seen around z~1.5 HzRGs, over abundance of AGN (Galametz et al. 2009) Red and passive galaxies seen around z~3 HzRGs (Doherty et al. 2009)
Questions related to star formation: Are all HzRG massive? Does radio luminosity depend on stellar mass (i.e. mass of the central black hole)? Are environments of HzRGs with given stellar mass the similar? Can we trace the stellar mass function in (HzRG- selected) over-dense environments? What is the present SFR of HzRGs? How is the SFR related to black hole accretion and jet activity? What is the future evolution of a HzRG and its proto- cluster?
“Galaxies' courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which they must lead” - paraphrasing Charles Dickins