Discovery of a radio galaxy at z = 5.72

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of the most distant radio galaxy at redshift 5.72, identified through radio and optical observations, providing insights into early galaxy evolution and the Epoch of Reionisation.

Contribution

The paper presents the first identification and detailed analysis of a radio galaxy at z=5.72, combining radio, optical, and infrared data to characterize its properties and evolutionary stage.

Findings

Discovered the most distant radio galaxy at z=5.72.

Radio properties are similar to other high-redshift radio galaxies.

Host galaxy remains undetected in infrared, implying low stellar mass.

Abstract

We report the discovery of the most distant radio galaxy to date, TGSS1530 at a redshift of $z=5.72$ close to the presumed end of the Epoch of Reionisation. The radio galaxy was selected from the TGSS ADR1 survey at 150 MHz for having to an ultra-steep spectral index, $\alpha^{\textrm{150 MHz}}_{\textrm{1.4 GHz}} = -1.4$ and a compact morphology obtained using VLA imaging at 1.4 GHz. No optical or infrared counterparts for it were found in publicly available sky surveys. Follow-up optical spectroscopy at the radio position using GMOS on Gemini North revealed the presence of a single emission line. We identify this line as Lyman alpha at $z=5.72$, because of its asymmetric line profile, the absence of other optical/UV lines in the spectrum and a high equivalent width. With a Ly$\alpha$ luminosity of $5.7 \times 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and a FWHM of $370$ km s$^{-1}$, TGSS1530 is comparable to `non-radio' Lyman alpha emitters (LAEs) at a similar redshift. However, with a radio luminosity of $\log L_{\textrm{150 MHz}} = 29.1$ W Hz$^{-1}$ and a deconvolved physical size $3.5$ kpc, its radio properties are similar to other known radio galaxies at $z>4$. Subsequent $J$ and $K$ band imaging using LUCI on the Large Binocular Telescope resulted in non-detection of the host galaxy down to $3\sigma$ limits of $J>24.4$ and $K>22.4$ (Vega). The $K$ band limit is consistent with $z>5$ from the $K-z$ relation for radio galaxies, suggesting stellar mass limits using simple stellar population models of $M_{\textrm{stars}}< 10^{10.5}$ $M_\odot$. Its high redshift coupled with relatively small radio and Ly$\alpha$ sizes suggest that TGSS1530 may be a radio galaxy in an early phase of its evolution.