The Role of Merger Stage on Galaxy Radio Spectra in Local Infrared-Bright Starburst Galaxies

TL;DR

This study examines how the stage of galaxy mergers influences their radio spectra, revealing that different merger phases exhibit distinct spectral features and excess radio emission linked to tidal structures, not star formation.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the connection between merger stages and radio spectral properties, highlighting the role of tidal features and bridges in radio emission.

Findings

Spectral indices vary with merger stage and frequency.

Ongoing mergers with shared envelopes show excess radio emission.

High-frequency steep spectra are associated with nuclei in specific merger phases.

Abstract

An investigation of the steep, high-frequency (i.e., ~12 GHz) radio spectra among a sample of 31 local infrared-bright starburst galaxies is carried out in light of their HST-based merger classifications. Radio data covering as many as 10 individual bands allows for spectral indices to be measured over three frequency bins between 0.15-32.5 GHz. Sources having the flattest spectral indices measured at ~2 and 4 GHz, arising from large free-free optical depths among the densest starbursts, appear to be in ongoing through post-stage mergers. The spectral indices measured at higher frequencies (i.e., ~12 GHz) are steepest for sources associated with ongoing mergers in which their nuclei are distinct, but either share a common stellar envelope and/or exhibit tidal tails. These results hold after excluding potential AGN based on their low 6.2um PAH EQWs. Consequently, the low-, mid-, and high-frequency spectral indices each appear to be sensitive to the exact merger stage. It is additionally shown that ongoing mergers, whose progenitors are still separated and share a common envelope and/or exhibit tidal tails, also exhibit excess radio emission relative to what is expected given the far-infrared/radio correlation, suggesting that there may be a significant amount of radio emission that is not associated with ongoing star formation. The combination of these observations, along with high-resolution radio morphologies, leads to a picture in which the steep high-frequency radio spectral indices and excess radio emission arises from radio continuum bridges and tidal tails that are not associated with star formation, similar to what is observed for so-called "taffy" galaxies. This scenario may also explain the seemingly low far-infrared/radio ratios measured for many high-z submillimeter galaxies, a number of which are merger-driven starbursts.