An ngVLA Wide Area AGN Survey

TL;DR

The paper proposes a wide-area, medium-depth ngVLA survey in the Stripe 82 field to detect and study the evolution of thousands of AGN, leveraging next-generation radio and multiwavelength data.

Contribution

It introduces a specific survey plan with detailed parameters to advance understanding of AGN evolution using the ngVLA.

Findings

Detection of ~130,000 galaxies including radio-quiet AGN up to z~7

Measurement of luminosity and space density evolution of AGN

Analysis of AGN clustering through cross-correlation functions

Abstract

The next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) will have unprecedented sensitivities and mapping speeds at $1-8$ GHz. We discuss how the active galactic nuclei (AGN) community can benefit from a wide-area, medium depth ngVLA survey. We propose a 10 deg$^2$ survey in the Stripe 82 field using the 8 GHz band with an rms depth of $1\,\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$. We will detect $\sim$130,000 galaxies, including radio-quiet AGN out to $z\sim7$. We can measure the luminosity and space density evolution of radio-quiet and radio-loud AGN. We can also measure AGN evolution through clustering of both populations using cross-correlation functions. A wide area ngVLA survey will benefit from existing multiwavelength AGN populations, particularly in the Stripe 82 field, as well as new information from next-generation optical and infrared survey instruments such as LSST and WFIRST.