A new sample of southern radio galaxies: Host galaxy masses and star-formation rates

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new sample of distant powerful radio galaxies, analyzing their host galaxy masses and star-formation rates to better understand their properties and potential for future HI absorption studies.

Contribution

The study combines radio, near-infrared, and optical data to identify and characterize a new sample of high-redshift radio galaxies with detailed host galaxy properties.

Findings

Typical stellar masses of 10^{11} - 10^{12} M$_{ ext{sun}}$ for high-redshift radio galaxies

Identification of a population of low-mass blue galaxies

Limitations due to low-resolution radio imaging affecting source identification

Abstract

In this study we define a new sample of distant powerful radio galaxies in order to study their host-galaxy properties and provide targets for future observations of HI absorption with new radio telescopes and to understand the fuelling and feedback from such sources. We have cross-matched the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) radio catalogue at 843 MHz with the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) near-infrared catalogue using the Likelihood Ratio technique. Photometric redshifts from the Dark Energy Survey are then used to assign redshifts to the radio source counterparts. We found a total of 249 radio sources with photometric redshifts over a 148 deg^2 region. By fitting the optical and near-infrared photometry with spectral synthesis models we determine the stellar mass and star-formation rates of the radio sources, finding typical stellar masses of 10^{11} - 10^{12}M$_{\odot}$ for the powerful high-redshift radio galaxies. We also find a population of low-mass blue galaxies. However, by comparing the derived star-formation rates to the radio luminosity, we suggest that these sources are false positives in our likelihood ratio analysis. Follow up, higher-resolution (<5 arcsec) radio imaging would help alleviate these mid-identifications, as the limiting factor in our cross-identifications is the low resolution (~45 arcsec) of the SUMSS radio imaging.