Spitzer Observations of High Redshift Radio Galaxies

We present the results of a comprehensive Spitzer survey of 70 radio galaxies across 1<z<5.2. Using IRAC, IRS and MIPS imaging we determine the rest-frame AGN contribution to the stellar emission peak at 1.6um. The stellar luminosities are found to be consistent with that of a giant elliptical with a stellar mass of 10^11-12Msun. The mean stellar mass remains constant at \~10^11.5Msun up to z=3 indicating that the upper end of the mass function is already in place by this redshift. The mid-IR luminosities imply bolometric IR luminosities that would classify all sources as ULIRGs. The mid-IR to radio luminosity generally correlate implying a common origin for these emissions. The ratio is higher than that found for lower redshift, ie z<1, radio galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "The Spitzer Science Center 2005 Conference: Infrared Diagnostics of Galaxy Evolution", held in Pasadena, November 200

A new view on the ISM of galaxies: far-infrared and submillimetre spectroscopy with Herschel

The FIR/submm window is amongst the least explored spectral regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is, however, a key to study the general properties of the interstellar medium of galaxies, as it contains important spectral line diagnostics from the neutral, ionized and molecular ISM. The Herschel Space Observatory, successfully launched on 14 May 2009, is the first observatory to cover the entire FIR/submm range between 57 and 672 mum. We discuss the main results from the ISO era on FIR spectroscopy of galaxies and the enormous science potential of the Herschel mission through a presentation of its spectroscopic extragalactic key programs.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in New Astronomy Review

Wide-field mid-infrared and millimetre imaging of the high-redshift radio galaxy, 4C41.17

We present deep 350- and 1200-micron imaging of the region around 4C41.17 -- one of the most distant (z = 3.792) and luminous known radio galaxies -- obtained with the Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera (SHARC-II) and the Max Planck Millimeter Bolometer Array (MAMBO). The radio galaxy is robustly detected at 350- and 1200-micron, as are two nearby 850-micron-selected galaxies; a third 850-micron source is detected at 350-micron and coincides with a ~ 2-sigma feature in the 1200-micron map. Further away from the radio galaxy an additional nine sources are detected at 1200-micron, bringing the total number of detected (sub)millimeter selected galaxies (SMGs) in this field to 14. Using radio images from the Very Large Array (VLA) and Spitzer mid-infrared (mid-IR) data, we find statistically robust radio and/or 24-micron counterparts to eight of the 14 SMGs in the field around 4C41.17. Follow-up spectroscopy with Keck/LRIS has yielded redshifts for three of the eight robustly identified SMGs, placing them in the redshift range 0.5 < z < 2.7, i.e. well below that of 4C41.17. We infer photometric redshifts for a further four sources using their 1.6-micron (rest-frame) stellar feature as probed by the IRAC bands; only one of them is likely to be at the same redshift as 4C41.17. Thus at least four, and as many as seven, of the SMGs within the 4C41.17 field are physically unrelated to the radio galaxy. With the redshift information at hand we are able to constrain the observed over-densities of SMGs within radial bins stretching to R=50 and 100" (~ 0.4 and ~ 0.8Mpc at z ~ 3.8) from the radio galaxy to ~ 5x and ~ 2x that of the field, dropping off to the background value at R=150". [Abridged]Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Deep VLT spectroscopy of the z=2.49 Radio Galaxy MRC 2104-242: Evidence for a metallicity gradient in its extended emission line region

We present spectroscopic observations of the rest-frame UV line emission around radio galaxy MRC 2104-242 at z=2.49, obtained with FORS1 on VLT Antu. The morphology of the halo is dominated by two spatially resolved regions. Lya is extended by >12 arcsec along the radio axis, CIV and HeII are extended by ~8 arcsec. The overall spectrum is typical for that of high redshift radio galaxies. The most striking spatial variation is that NV is present in the spectrum of the region associated with the center of the galaxy hosting the radio source, the northern region, while absent in the southern region. Assuming that the gas is photoionized by a hidden quasar, the difference in NV emission can be explained by a metallicity gradient within the halo. This is consistent with a scenario in which the gas is associated with a massive cooling flow or originates from the debris of the merging of two or more galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Defying jet-gas alignment in two radio galaxies at z~2 with extended light profiles: Similarities to brightest cluster galaxies

We report the detection of extended warm ionized gas in two powerful high-redshift radio galaxies, NVSS J210626-314003 at z=2.10 and TXS 2353-003 at z=1.49, that does not appear to be associated with the radio jets. This is contrary to what would be expected from the alignment effect, a characteristic feature of distant, powerful radio galaxies at z> 0.6. The gas also has smaller velocity gradients and line widths than most other high-z radio galaxies with similar data. Both galaxies are part of a systematic study of 50 high-redshift radio galaxies with SINFONI, and are the only two that are characterized by the presence of high surface-brightness gas not associated with the jet axis and by the absence of such gas aligned with the jet. Both galaxies are spatially resolved with ISAAC broadband imaging covering the rest-frame R band, and have extended wings that cannot be attributed to line contamination. We argue that the gas and stellar properties of these galaxies are more akin to gas-rich brightest cluster galaxies in cool-core clusters than the general population of high-redshift radio galaxies at z>2. In support of this interpretation, one of our sources, TXS 2353-003, for which we have H\alpha\ narrowband imaging, is associated with an overdensity of candidate H\alpha\ emitters by a factor of 8 relative to the field at z=1.5. We discuss possible scenarios of the evolutionary state of these galaxies and the nature of their emission line gas within the context of cyclical AGN feedback.Comment: A&A in pres

Compact radio sources and jet-driven AGN feedback in the early Universe: Constraints from integral-field spectroscopy

To investigate the impact of radio jets during the formation epoch of their massive host galaxies, we present an analysis of two massive, log(M_stel/ M_sun)~10.6 and 11.3, compact radio galaxies at z=3.5, TNJ0205+2242 and TNJ0121+1320. Their small radio sizes (R<= 10 kpc) are most likely a sign of youth. We compare their radio properties and gas dynamics with those in well extended radio galaxies at high redshift, which show strong evidence for powerful, jet-driven outflows of significant gas masses (M 10^9-10 M_sun). Our analysis combines rest-frame optical integral-field spectroscopy with existing radio imaging, CO emission line spectra, and rest-frame UV spectroscopy. [OIII]5007 line emission is compact in both galaxies and lies within the region defined by the radio lobes. For TNJ0205+2242, the Ly-alpha profile narrows significantly outside the jet radius, indicating the presence of a quiescent halo. TNJ0121+1320 has two components separated by ~10 kpc and a velocity offset of ~300 km s^-1. If motions are gravitational, this implies a dynamical mass of 2x10^11 M_sun for the more massive, radio-loud component. The dynamical mass, molecular gas mass measured from the CO line emission, and radio luminosity of these two compact radio galaxies imply that compact radio sources may well develop large-scale, energetic outflows as observed in extended radio galaxies, with the potential of removing significant fractions of the ISM from the host galaxy. The absence of luminous emission line gas extending beyond the radio emission in these sources agrees with the observed timescales and outflow rates in extended radio galaxies, and adds further evidence that the energetic, large-scale outflows observed in extended radio sources (Nesvadba et al. 2006) are indeed the result of influence of the radio jet.Comment: A&A accepte

A search for distant radio galaxies from SUMSS and NVSS: III. radio spectral energy distributions and the z-alpha correlation

This is the third in a series of papers that present observations and results for a sample of 76 ultra-steep-spectrum radio sources designed to find galaxies at high redshift. Here we present multi-frequency radio observations, from the Australia Telescope Compact Array, for a subset of 37 galaxies from the sample. Matched resolution observations at 2.3, 4.8 and 6.2GHz are presented for all galaxies, with the z<2 galaxies additionally observed at 8.6 and 18GHz. New angular size constraints are reported for 19 sources based on high resolution 4.8 and 6.2GHz observations. Functional forms for the rest-frame spectral energy distributions are derived: 89% of the sample is well characterised by a single power law, whilst the remaining 11% show some flattening toward higher frequencies: not one source shows any evidence for high frequency steepening. We discuss the implications of this result in light of the empirical correlation between redshift and spectral index seen in flux limited samples of radio galaxies. Finally, a new physical mechanism to explain the redshift -- spectral index correlation is posited: extremely steep spectrum radio galaxies in the local universe usually reside at the centres of rich galaxy clusters. We argue that if a higher fraction of radio galaxies, as a function of redshift, are located in environments with densities similar to nearby rich clusters, then this could be a natural interpretation for the correlation. We briefly outline our plans to pursue this line of investigation.Comment: MNRAS in pres

Detection of Two Massive CO Systems in 4C 41.17 at z = 3.8

We have detected CO(4-3) in the z=3.8 radio galaxy 4C 41.17 with the IRAM Interferometer. The CO is in two massive (M_dyn ~ 6 x 10^10 M_Sun) systems separated by 1.8" (13 kpc), and by 400 km/s in velocity, which coincide with two different dark lanes in a deep Ly-alpha image. One CO component coincides with the cm-radio core of the radio galaxy, and its redshift is close to that of the HeII AGN line. The second CO component is near the base of a cone-shaped region southwest of the nucleus, which resembles the emission-line cones seen in nearby AGN and starburst galaxies. The characteristics of the CO sources and their mm/submm dust continuum are similar to those found in ultraluminous IR galaxies and in some high-z radio galaxies and quasars. The fact that 4C 41.17 contains two CO systems is further evidence for the role of mergers in the evolution of galaxies at high redshift.Comment: 5 Pages, including 4 PostScript figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter

CO line emission in the halo of a radio galaxy at z=2.6

We report the detection of luminous CO(3-2) line emission in the halo of the z=2.6 radio galaxy (HzRG) TXS0828+193, which has no detected counterpart at optical to mid-infrared wavelengths implying a stellar mass < few x10^9 M_sun and relatively low star-formation rates. With the IRAM PdBI we find two CO emission line components at the same position at ~80 kpc distance from the HzRG along the axis of the radio jet, with different blueshifts of few 100 km s^-1 relative to the HzRG and a total luminosity of ~2x10^10 K km s^-1 pc^2 detected at 8 sigma significance. HzRGs have significant galaxy overdensities and extended halos of metal-enriched gas often with embedded clouds or filaments of denser material, and likely trace very massive dark-matter halos. The CO emission may be associated with a gas-rich, low-mass satellite galaxy with little on-going star formation, in contrast to all previous CO detections of galaxies at similar redshifts. Alternatively, the CO may be related to a gas cloud or filament and perhaps jet-induced gas cooling in the outer halo, somewhat in analogy with extended CO emission found in low-redshift galaxy clusters.Comment: MNRAS Letters, accepte