MIGHTEE/COSMOS-3D: The discovery of three spectroscopically confirmed radio-selected star-forming galaxies at z=4.9-5.6

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of three high-redshift radio galaxies at z=4.9-5.6, demonstrating the potential of radio observations to trace dust-independent star formation in the early Universe.

Contribution

It presents the first spectroscopic confirmation of high-redshift radio-selected star-forming galaxies using JWST, revealing their starburst nature and complex morphologies.

Findings

Radio luminosities indicate intense star formation activity.

Sources are above the star-forming main sequence at z=4-6.

Morphologies suggest merger-driven starbursts.

Abstract

Radio observations offer a dust-independent probe of star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, but sufficiently deep data are required to access the crossover luminosity between these processes at high redshift ($z>4.5$). We present three spectroscopically confirmed high-redshift radio sources (HzRSs) detected at 1.3 GHz at $z=4.9$-$5.6$, with radio luminosities spanning $L_{\rm 1.3 \, GHz}\approx2$-$5\times10^{24} \, \rm W \, Hz^{-1}$. These sources were first identified as high-redshift candidates through spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of archival Hubble, JWST NIRCam+MIRI, and ground-based photometry, and then spectroscopically confirmed via the $\rm H\,\alpha$ emission line using wide-field slitless spectroscopy from JWST COSMOS-3D. The star formation rates (SFRs) measured from SED fitting, the $\rm H\,\alpha$ flux, and the 1.3 GHz luminosity, span $\sim100$-$1800\, M_{\odot} \, \rm yr^{-1}$, demonstrating broad agreement between these SFR tracers. We find that these three sources lie either on or $0.5$-1.0 dex above the star-forming main sequence at $z=4$-6 and have undergone a recent burst of star formation. The sources have extended rest-UV/optical morphologies with no evidence for a dominant point source component, indicating that an AGN is unlikely to dominate their rest-UV and optical emission. Two of the sources have complex, multi-component rest-frame UV/optical morphologies, suggesting that their starbursts may be triggered by merging activity. These HzRSs open up a new window towards probing radio emission powered by star formation alone at $z> 4.5$, representing a remarkable opportunity to begin tracing star formation, independent of dust, in the early Universe.