The evolution of star forming galaxies with the Wide Field X-ray Telescope

TL;DR

This paper reviews how the proposed Wide Field X-ray Telescope (WFXT) can advance the study of star forming galaxies by analyzing their luminosity functions, evolution, and contribution to the cosmic star formation history.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of expected distributions and discusses the potential impact of WFXT on understanding star forming galaxies and cosmic star formation history.

Findings

Expected luminosity and redshift distributions of star forming galaxies in WFXT surveys

Potential improvements in understanding cosmic star formation history

Strategies for selecting clean galaxy samples to avoid AGN contamination

Abstract

Star forming galaxies represent a small yet sizable fraction of the X-ray sky (1%-20%, depending on the flux). X-ray surveys allow to derive their luminosity function and evolution, free from uncertainties due to absorption. However, much care must be put in the selection criteria to build samples clean from contamination by AGN. Here we review the possibilities offered by the proposed WFXT mission for their study. We analyze the expected luminosity and redshift distributions of star forming galaxies in the proposed WFXT surveys. We discuss the impact of such a mission on the knowledge of the cosmic star formation history, and provide a few suggestions.