Cosmic evolution of radio-excess active galactic nuclei in quiescent and star-forming galaxies across 0 < z < 4

¹ School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, PR China
² Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210093, PR China
e-mail: taowang@nju.edu.cn
³ Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁴ International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Hallerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
⁵ Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
⁶ National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, Don Kaeo, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai 50180, Thailand
⁷ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
⁸ CEA, IRFU, DAp, AIM, Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, CNRS, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁹ Institute of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015, Japan
¹⁰ Research Center for the Early Universe, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
¹¹ Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Copenhagen, Denmark
¹² DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Received: 23 August 2023
Accepted: 9 February 2024

Abstract

Context. Radio-excess active galactic nuclei (radio-AGNs) are essential to our understanding of both the physics of black hole (BH) accretion and the interaction between BHs and host galaxies. Recent deep and wide radio continuum surveys have made it possible to study radio-AGNs down to lower luminosities and up to higher redshifts than previous studies, and are providing new insights into the abundance and physical origin of radio-AGNs.

Aims. Here we focus on the cosmic evolution, physical properties, and AGN-host galaxy connections of radio-AGNs selected from a total sample of ∼400 000 galaxies at 0 < z < 4 in the GOODS-N and COSMOS fields.

Methods. Combining the deep radio continuum data with multi-band, de-blended far-infrared, and submillimeter data, we were able to identify 983 radio-AGNs out of the entire galaxy sample through radio excess relative to the far-infrared–radio relation.

Results. We studied the cosmic evolution of 1.4 GHz radio luminosity functions (RLFs) for both star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and radio-AGNs, which can be well described by a pure luminosity evolution of L_⋆ ∝ (1 + z)^{−0.34 × z + 3.57} and a pure density evolution of Φ_⋆ ∝ (1 + z)^{−0.77 × z + 2.69}, respectively. We derived the turnover luminosity, above which the number density of radio-AGNs surpasses that of SFGs. We show that this crossover luminosity increases with increasing redshifts, from 10^22.9 W Hz⁻¹ at z ∼ 0 to 10^25.2 W Hz⁻¹ at z ∼ 4. At the full redshift range of 0 < z < 4, we further derive the probability (p_radio) of SFGs and quiescent galaxies (QGs) hosting a radio-AGN, as a function of stellar mass (M_⋆), radio luminosity (L_R), and redshift (z), which yields p_radio ∝ (1+z)^3.08 M_⋆^1.06 L_R^−0.77 for SFGs, and p_radio ∝ (1+z)^2.47 M_⋆^1.41 L_R^−0.60 for QGs, respectively.

Conclusions. The quantitative relation for the probabilities of galaxies hosting a radio-AGN indicates that radio-AGNs in QGs prefer to reside in more massive galaxies with higher L_R than those in SFGs. The fraction of radio-AGN increases toward higher redshift in both SFGs and QGs, with a more rapid increase in SFGs.