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We present spectroscopic observations of 466 galaxies in and around a superstructure at z ∼ 0.84 targeted by the VIMOS Spectroscopic Survey of a Supercluster in the COSMOS field (VIS3COS). We use [OII]λ3727, Hδ, and Dn4000 to trace recent, medium-, and long-term star formation histories and investigate the effect of stellar mass and local environment on them. By studying trends in individual and composite galaxy spectra, we find that stellar mass and environment play a role in the observed galactic properties. Galaxies with low stellar mass (10 < log10(M⋆/M⊙) < 10.5) in the field show the strongest Hδ absorption. Similarly, the massive population (log10(M⋆/M⊙) > 11) shows an increase in Hδ absorption strengths in intermediate-density environments (e.g. filaments). Galaxies with intermediate stellar mass (10.5 < log10(M⋆/M⊙) < 11) have similar Hδ absorption profiles in all environments, but show an indication of enhanced [OII] emission in intermediate-density environments. This indicates that field galaxies with low stellar mass and filament galaxies with high stellar mass are more likely to have experienced a recent burst of star formation, while galaxies of the intermediate stellar-mass show an increase of star formation at filament-like densities. We also find that the median [OII] equivalent width (|EW[OII]|) decreases from 27 ± 2 Å to 2.0+0.5−0.4 Å and Dn4000 increases from 1.09 ± 0.01 to 1.56 ± 0.03 with increasing stellar mass (from ∼109.25 to ∼1011.35 M⊙). For the dependence on the environment, we find that at fixed stellar mass, |EW[OII]| is tentatively lower in environments with higher density. We find for Dn4000 that the increase with stellar mass is sharper in denser environments, which indicates that these environments may accelerate galaxy evolution. Moreover, we find higher Dn4000 values in denser environments at fixed stellar mass, suggesting that galaxies are on average older and/or more metal rich in these dense environments. This set of tracers depicts a scenario where the most massive galaxies have, on average, the lowest specific star formation rates and the oldest stellar populations (age ≳ 1 Gyr, showing a mass-downsizing effect). We also hypothesize that the observed increase in star formation (higher EW[OII]|, higher specific star formation rate) at intermediate densities may lead to quenching because we find that the quenched fraction increases sharply from the filament to cluster-like regions at similar stellar masses.

MOONS is the new Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph currently under construction for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO. This remarkable instrument combines, for the first time, the collecting power of an 8-m telescope, 1000 fibres with individual robotic positioners, and both low- and high-resolution simultaneous spectral coverage across the 0.64-1.8 micron wavelength range. This facility will provide the astronomical community with a powerful, world-leading instrument able to serve a wide range of Galactic, extragalactic and cosmological studies. Construction is now proceeding full steam ahead and this overview article presents some of the science goals and the technical description of the MOONS instrument. More detailed information on the MOONS surveys is provided in the other dedicated articles in this Messenger issue., Comment: 8 pages, 5 Figures, Published on the ESO Messenger No. 180

We present spectroscopic observations of 466 galaxies in and around a superstructure at z ∼ 0.84 targeted by the VIMOS Spectroscopic Survey of a Supercluster in the COSMOS field (VIS³COS). We use [OII]λ3727, Hδ, and D_n4000 to trace recent, medium-, and long-term star formation histories and investigate the effect of stellar mass and local environment on them. By studying trends in individual and composite galaxy spectra, we find that stellar mass and environment play a role in the observed galactic properties. Galaxies with low stellar mass (10 < log₁₀ (M⋆/M⊙) < 10.5) in the field show the strongest Hδ absorption. Similarly, the massive population (log₁₀ (M⋆/M⊙) > 11) shows an increase in Hδ absorption strengths in intermediate-density environments (e.g. filaments). Galaxies with intermediate stellar mass (10.5 < log₁₀ (M⋆/M⊙) < 11) have similar Hδ absorption profiles in all environments, but show an indication of enhanced [OII] emission in intermediate-density environments. This indicates that field galaxies with low stellar mass and filament galaxies with high stellar mass are more likely to have experienced a recent burst of star formation, while galaxies of the intermediate stellar-mass show an increase of star formation at filament-like densities. We also find that the median [OII] equivalent width (|EW_([OII])|) decreases from 27 ± 2 Å to 2.0^(+0.5)_(−0.4) Å and D_n4000 increases from 1.09 ± 0.01 to 1.56 ± 0.03 with increasing stellar mass (from ∼10^(9.25) to ∼10^(11.35) M⊙). For the dependence on the environment, we find that at fixed stellar mass, |EW_([OII])| is tentatively lower in environments with higher density. We find for D_n4000 that the increase with stellar mass is sharper in denser environments, which indicates that these environments may accelerate galaxy evolution. Moreover, we find higher D_n4000 values in denser environments at fixed stellar mass, suggesting that galaxies are on average older and/or more metal rich in these dense environments. This set of tracers depicts a scenario where the most massive galaxies have, on average, the lowest specific star formation rates and the oldest stellar populations (age ≳ 1 Gyr, showing a mass-downsizing effect). We also hypothesize that the observed increase in star formation (higher EW_([OII]|), higher specific star formation rate) at intermediate densities may lead to quenching because we find that the quenched fraction increases sharply from the filament to cluster-like regions at similar stellar masses.

[ABRIDGED] We present spectroscopic observations of 466 galaxies in and around a superstructure at $z\sim0.84$ targeted by the VIMOS Spectroscopic Survey of a Supercluster in the COSMOS field (VIS$^{3}$COS). We use [OII]$��$3727, H$��$, and $D_n4000$ to trace the recent, mid-, and long-term star formation histories and investigate how stellar mass and the local environment impacts those. By studying trends both in individual and composite galaxy spectra, we find that both stellar mass and environment play a role in the observed galactic properties. We find that the median [OII] equivalent width (|EW$_\mathrm{[OII]}|$) decreases from $27\pm2$ �� to $2.0_{-0.4}^{+0.5}$ �� and $D_n4000$ increases from $1.09\pm0.01$ to $1.56\pm0.03$ with increasing stellar mass (from $\sim10^{9.25}$ to $\sim10^{11.35}\ \mathrm{M_\odot}$). Concerning the dependence on the environment, we find that at fixed stellar mass |EW$_\mathrm{[OII]}|$ is tentatively lower in higher density environments. Regarding $D_n4000$, we find that the increase with stellar mass is sharper in denser environments, hinting that such environments may accelerate galaxy evolution. Moreover, we find larger $D_n4000$ values in denser environments at fixed stellar mass, suggesting that galaxies are on average older and/or more metal-rich in such dense environments. This set of tracers depicts a scenario where the most massive galaxies have, on average, the lowest sSFRs and the oldest stellar populations (age $\gtrsim1$ Gyr, showing a mass-downsizing effect). We also hypothesize that the observed increase in star formation (higher EW$_\mathrm{[OII]|}$, higher sSFR) at intermediate densities may lead to quenching since we find the quenched fraction to increase sharply from the filament to cluster-like regions at similar stellar masses., 20 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We present new results from near-infrared spectroscopy with Keck/MOSFIRE of [O III]-selected galaxies at z similar to 3.2. With our H and K band spectra, we investigate the interstellar medium (ISM) conditions, such as ionization states and gas metallicities. [O III] emitters at z similar to 3.2 show a typical gas metallicity of 12+ log(O/H)= 8.07 +/- 0.07 at log(M-*/M-circle dot) similar to 9.0-9.2 and 12+ log(O/H)= 8.31 +/- 0.04 at log(M-*/M-circle dot) similar to 9.7-10.2 when using the empirical calibration method. We compare the [O III] emitters at z similar to 3.2 with UV-selected galaxies and Lya emitters at the same epoch and find that the [O III]-based selection does not appear to show any systematic bias in the selection of star-forming galaxies. Moreover, comparing with star-forming galaxies at z similar to 2 from the literature, our samples show similar ionization parameters and gas metallicities as those obtained by the previous studies that used the same calibration method. We find no strong redshift evolution in the ISM conditions between z similar to 3.2 and z similar to 2. Considering that the star formation rates at a fixed stellar mass also do not significantly change between the two epochs, our results support the idea that the stellar mass is the primary quantity to describe the evolutionary stages of individual galaxies at z > 2.

We present a study of photometric redshift performance for galaxies and active galactic nuclei detected in deep radio continuum surveys. Using two multi-wavelength datasets, over the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey Bo\"otes and COSMOS fields, we assess photometric redshift (photo-z) performance for a sample of $\sim 4,500$ radio continuum sources with spectroscopic redshifts relative to those of $\sim 63,000$ non radio-detected sources in the same fields. We investigate the performance of three photometric redshift template sets as a function of redshift, radio luminosity and infrared/X-ray properties. We find that no single template library is able to provide the best performance across all subsets of the radio detected population, with variation in the optimum template set both between subsets and between fields. Through a hierarchical Bayesian combination of the photo-z estimates from all three template sets, we are able to produce a consensus photo-z estimate which equals or improves upon the performance of any individual template set., Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate the clustering properties of $\sim 7000$ H$��$+[OIII] and [OII] narrowband-selected emitters at $z \sim 0.8 - 4.7$ from the High-$z$ Emission Line Survey. We find clustering lengths, $r_0$, of $1.5 - 4.0h^{-1}$ Mpc and minimum dark matter halo masses of $10^{10.7 - 12.1}\rm{M}_\odot$ for our $z = 0.8 - 3.2$ H$��$+[OIII] emitters and $r_0 \sim 2.0 - 8.3h^{-1}$ Mpc and halo masses of $10^{11.5 - 12.6}\rm{M}_\odot$ for our $z = 1.5 - 4.7$ [OII] emitters. We find $r_0$ to strongly increase both with increasing line luminosity and redshift. By taking into account the evolution of the characteristic line luminosity, $L^\star(z)$, and using our model predictions of halo mass given $r_0$, we find a strong, redshift-independent increasing trend between $L/L^\star(z)$ and minimum halo mass. The faintest H$��$+[OIII] emitters are found to reside in $10^{9.5}\rm{M}_\odot$ halos and the brightest emitters in $10^{13.0}\rm{M}_\odot$ halos. For [OII] emitters, the faintest emitters are found in $10^{10.5} \rm{M}_\odot$ halos and the brightest emitters in $10^{12.6}\rm{M}_\odot$ halos. A redshift-independent stellar mass dependency is also observed where the halo mass increases from $10^{11}\rm{M}_\odot$ to $10^{12.5} \rm{M}_\odot$ for stellar masses of $10^{8.5}\rm{M}_\odot$ to $10^{11.5}\rm{M}_\odot$, respectively. We investigate the interdependencies of these trends by repeating our analysis in a $L_\textrm{line} - \rm{M}_\textrm{star}$ grid space for our most populated samples (H$��$+[OIII] $z = 0.84$ and [OII] $z = 1.47$) and find that the line luminosity dependency is stronger than the stellar mass dependency on halo mass. For $L > L^\star$ emitters at all epochs, we find a relatively flat trend with halo masses of $10^{12.5 - 13}\rm{M}_\odot$ which may be due to quenching mechanisms in massive halos which is consistent with a transitional halo mass predicted by models., 19 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables, submitted to MNRAS

We use new near-infrared spectroscopic observations to investigate the nature and evolution of the most luminous H��(Ha) emitters at z~0.8-2.23, which evolve strongly in number density over this period, and compare them to more typical Ha emitters. We study 59 luminous Ha emitters with $L_{H��}>L_{H��}^*$, roughly equally split per redshift slice at z~0.8, 1.47 and 2.23 from the HiZELS and CF-HiZELS surveys. We find that, overall, 30$\pm$8% are AGN (80$\pm$30% of these AGN are broad-line AGN, BL-AGN), and we find little to no evolution in the AGN fraction with redshift, within the errors. However, the AGN fraction increases strongly with Ha luminosity and correlates best with $L_{H��}/L_{H��}^*(z)$. While $L_{H��}80%), the most luminous Ha emitters ($L_{H��}>10L_{H��}^*(z)$) at any cosmic time are essentially all BL-AGN. Using our AGN-decontaminated sample of luminous star-forming galaxies, and integrating down to a fixed Ha luminosity, we find a factor of ~1300x evolution in the star formation rate density from z=0 to z=2.23. This is much stronger than the evolution from typical Ha star-forming galaxies and in line with the evolution seen for constant luminosity cuts used to select "Ultra-Luminous" Infrared Galaxies and/or sub-millimetre galaxies. By taking into account the evolution in the typical Ha luminosity, we show that the most strongly star-forming Ha-selected galaxies at any epoch ($L_{H��}>L^*_{H��}(z)$) contribute the same fractional amount of ~15% to the total star-formation rate density, at least up to z=2.23., 16 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present results from the largest contiguous narrow-band survey in the near-infrared. We have used WIRCam/CFHT and the lowOH2 filter (1.187$\pm$0.005 $\mu$m) to survey ~10 deg$^2$ of contiguous extragalactic sky in the SA22 field. A total of ~6000 candidate emission-line galaxies are found. We use deep ugrizJK data to obtain robust photometric redshifts. We combine our data with the High-redshift Emission Line Survey (HiZELS), explore spectroscopic surveys (VVDS, VIPERS) and obtain our own spectroscopic follow-up with KMOS, FMOS and MOSFIRE to derive large samples of high-redshift emission-line selected galaxies: 3471 H$\alpha$ emitters at z=0.8, 1343 [OIII]+H$\beta$ emitters at z=1.4 and 572 [OII] emitters at z=2.2. We probe co-moving volumes of >10$^6$ Mpc$^3$ and find significant over-densities, including an 8.5$\sigma$ (spectroscopically confirmed) over-density of H$\alpha$ emitters at z=0.81. We derive H$\alpha$, [OIII]+H$\beta$ and [OII] luminosity functions at z=0.8,1.4,2.2, respectively, and present implications for future surveys such as Euclid. Our uniquely large volumes/areas allow us to sub-divide the samples in thousands of randomised combinations of areas and provide a robust empirical measurement of sample/cosmic variance. We show that surveys for star-forming/emission-line galaxies at a depth similar to ours can only overcome cosmic-variance (errors 5x10$^{5}$ Mpc$^{3}$; errors on $L^*$ and $\phi^*$ due to sample (cosmic) variance on surveys probing ~10$^4$ Mpc$^{3}$ and ~10$^5$ Mpc$^{3}$ are typically very high: ~300% and ~40-60%, respectively., Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS. Full catalogue of line emitters available in FITS format with final MNRAS published paper

We investigate the evolution of the H$��$+[OIII] and [OII] luminosity functions from $z \sim 0.8$ to $\sim5$ in four redshift slices per emission line using data from the High-{\it z} Emission Line Survey (HiZELS). This is the first time that the H$��$+[OIII] and [OII] luminosity functions have been studied at these redshifts in a self-consistent analysis. This is also the largest sample of [OII] and H$��$+[OIII] emitters (3475 and 3298 emitters, respectively) in this redshift range, with large co-moving volumes $\sim 1 \times 10^6$ Mpc$^{-3}$ in two independent volumes (COSMOS and UDS), greatly reducing the effects of cosmic variance. The emitters were selected by a combination of photometric redshift and color-color selections, as well as spectroscopic follow-up, including recent spectroscopic observations using DEIMOS and MOSFIRE on the Keck Telescopes and FMOS on Subaru. We find a strong increase in $L_\star$ and a decrease in $��_\star$ for both H$��$+[OIII] and [OII] emitters. We derive the [OII] star-formation history of the Universe since $z\sim5$ and find that the cosmic SFRD rises from $z \sim 5$ to $\sim 3$ and then drops towards $z \sim 0$. We also find that our star-formation history is able to reproduce the evolution of the stellar mass density up to $z\sim 5$ based only on a single tracer of star-formation. When comparing the H$��$+[OIII] SFRDs to the [OII] and H$��$ SFRD measurements in the literature, we find that there is a remarkable agreement, suggesting that the H$��$+[OIII] sample is dominated by star-forming galaxies at high-$z$ rather than AGNs., 24 pages, 14 figures, 7 Tables, MNRAS accepted

It has become apparent that active galactic nuclei (AGN) may have a significant impact on the growth and evolution of their host galaxies and vice versa but a detailed understanding of the interplay between these processes remains elusive. Deep radio surveys provide a powerful, obscuration-independent tool for measuring both star formation and AGN activity in high-redshift galaxies. Multiwavelength studies of deep radio fields show a composite population of star-forming galaxies and AGN, with the former dominating at the lowest flux densities (S$_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}, Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures to appear as part of "Continuum Science" in proceedings of "Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array" PoS(AASKA14)083

We present adaptive optics assisted integral field spectroscopy of nine Halpha-selected galaxies at z=0.84--2.23 selected from the HiZELS narrow-band survey. Our observations map the star-formation and kinematics of these representative star-forming galaxies on ~kpc-scales. We demonstrate that within the ISM of these galaxies, the velocity dispersion of the star-forming gas (\sigma) follows a scaling relation \sigma\propto\Sigma_SFR^(1/n)+constant (where \Sigma_SFR is the star formation surface density and the constant includes the stellar surface density). Assuming the disks are marginally stable (Toomre Q=1), we show that this follows from the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation (\Sigma_SFR = A\Sigma_gas^n), and we use the data to derive best fit parameters of n=1.34+/-0.15 and A=3.4_(-1.6)^(+2.5)x10^(-4)Mo/yr/kpc^2, consistent with the local relation and implying cold molecular gas masses of M_gas=10^(9-10)Mo and molecular gas fractions M_gas/(M_gas+Mstars)=0.3+/-0.1, with a range of 10-75%. These values confirm the high gas fractions for high-redshift star-forming galaxies, independent of CO-H_2 conversion factor. We also identify eleven ~kpc-scale star-forming regions (clumps) within our sample and show that their sizes are comparable to the wavelength of the fastest growing unstable mode. The luminosities and velocity dispersions of these clumps follow the same scaling relations as local HII regions, although their star formation densities are a factor 15+/-5x higher than typically found locally. We discuss how the clump properties are related to the disk, and show that their high masses and luminosities are a consequence of the high disk surface density., Comment: ApJ in press. 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

We present adaptive optics assisted, spatially resolved spectroscopy of a sample of nine H-alpha-selected galaxies at z=0.84--2.23 drawn from the HiZELS narrow-band survey. These galaxies have star-formation rates of 1-27Mo/yr and are therefore representative of the typical high-redshift star-forming population. Our ~kpc-scale resolution observations show that approximately half of the sample have dynamics suggesting that the ionised gas is in large, rotating disks. We model their velocity fields to infer the inclination-corrected, asymptotic rotational velocities. We use the absolute B-band magnitudes and stellar masses to investigate the evolution of the B-band and stellar mass Tully-Fisher relationships. By combining our sample with a number of similar measurements from the literature, we show that, at fixed circular velocity, the stellar mass of star-forming galaxies has increased by a factor 2.5 between z=2 and z=0, whilst the rest-frame B-band luminosity has decreased by a factor ~6 over the same period. Together, these demonstrate a change in mass-to-light ratio in the B-band of Delta(M/L_B)/(M/L_B)_(z=0) \sim 3.5 between z=1.5 and z=0, with most of the evolution occurring below z=1. We also use the spatial variation of [NII]/Halpha to show that the metallicity of the ionised gas in these galaxies declines monotonically with galacto-centric radius, with an average Delta(log O/H)/DeltaR=-0.027+/-0.005dex/kpc. This gradient is consistent with predictions for high-redshift disk galaxies from cosmologically based hydrodynamic simulations., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 18 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables

At very low frequencies, the new pan-European radio telescope LOFAR is opening the last unexplored window of the electromagnetic spectrum for astrophysical studies. The revolutionary APERTIF- phased arrays that are about to be installed on the Westerbork radio telescope (WSRT) will dramatically increase the survey speed for the WSRT. Combined surveys with these two facilities will deeply chart the northern sky over almost two decades in radio frequency from ˜15 up to 1400 MHz. Here we briefly describe some of the capabilities of these new facilities and what radio surveys are planned to study fun-damental issues related to the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. In the second part we briefly review some recent observational results directly showing that diffuse radio emission in clusters traces shocks due to cluster mergers. As these diffuse radio sources are relatively bright at low frequencies, LOFAR should be able to detect thousands of such sources up to the epoch of cluster formation. This will allow addressing many question about the origin and evolution of shocks and magnetic fields in clusters. At the end we briefly review some of the first and very preliminary LOFAR results on clusters.

At z=0, clusters are primarily populated by red, elliptical and massive galaxies, while blue, spiral and lower-mass galaxies are common in low-density environments. Understanding how and when these differences were established is of absolute importance for our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, but results at high-z remain contradictory. By taking advantage of the widest and deepest H-alpha narrow-band survey at z=0.84 over the COSMOS and UKIDSS UDS fields, probing a wide range of densities (from poor fields to rich groups and clusters, including a confirmed super-cluster with a striking filamentary structure), we show that the fraction of star-forming galaxies falls continuously from ~40% in fields to approaching 0% in rich groups/clusters. We also find that the median SFR increases with environmental density, at least up to group densities - but only for low and medium mass galaxies, and thus such enhancement is mass-dependent at z~1. The environment also plays a role in setting the faint-end slope (alpha) of the H-alpha luminosity function. Our findings provide a sharper view on galaxy formation and evolution and reconcile previously contradictory results at z~1: stellar mass is the primary predictor of star formation activity, but the environment also plays a major role., 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of JENAM 2010 S2: `Environment and the Formation of Galaxies: 30 years later', ASSP, Springer

We investigate how the typical dust extinction of H-alpha luminosity from a star-forming galaxy depends upon star formation rate (SFR), metallicity and stellar mass independently, using a sample of ~90,000 galaxies from Data Release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We measure extinctions directly from the Balmer decrement of each source, and while higher values of extinction are associated with an increase in any of the three parameters, we demonstrate that the fundamental property that governs extinction is stellar mass. After this mass-dependent relationship is removed, there is very little systematic dependence of the residual extinctions with either SFR or metallicity, and no significant improvement is obtained from a more general parameterisation. In contrast to this, if either a SFR-dependent or metallicity-dependent extinction relationship is applied, the residual extinctions show significant trends that correlate with the other parameters. Using the SDSS data, we present a relationship to predict the median dust extinction of a sample of galaxies from its stellar mass, which has a scatter of ~0.3 mag. The relationship was calibrated for H-alpha emission, but can be more generally applied to radiation emitted at other wavelengths. These results have important applications for studies of high-redshift galaxies, where individual extinction measurements are hard to obtain but stellar mass estimates can be relatively easily estimated from long-wavelength data., Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 12 pages. Dedicated to the memory of Timothy Garn

We compute the cross-correlation between a sample of 14,000 radio-loud AGN (RLAGN) with redshifts between 0.4 and 0.8 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and a reference sample of 1.2 million luminous red galaxies in the same redshift range. We quantify how the clustering of radio-loud AGN depends on host galaxy mass and on radio luminosity. Radio-loud AGN are clustered more strongly on all scales than control samples of radio-quiet galaxies with the same stellar masses and redshifts, but the differences are largest on scales less than 1 Mpc. In addition, the clustering amplitude of the RLAGN varies significantly with radio luminosity on scales less than 1 Mpc. This proves that the gaseous environment of a galaxy on the scale of its dark matter halo, plays a key role in determining not only the probability that a galaxy is radio-loud AGN, but also the total luminosity of the radio jet. Next, we compare the clustering of radio galaxies with that of radio-loud quasars in the same redshift range. Unified models predict that both types of active nuclei should cluster in the same way. Our data show that most RLAGN are clustered more strongly than radio-loud QSOs, even when the AGN and QSO samples are matched in both black hole mass and radio luminosity. Only the most extreme RLAGN and RLQSOs in our sample, with radio luminosities in excess of 10^26 W/Hz, have similar clustering properties. The majority of the strongly evolving RLAGN population at z~0.5 are found in different environments to the quasars, and hence must be triggered by a different physical mechanism., 12 pages, 13 Figures, submitted to MNRAS

The ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS, P.I. Simon D.M. White, LP 166.A-0162) is an ESO large programme aimed at studying clusters and cluster galaxies at z=0.4-1. How different is the evolution of the star formation activity in clusters, in groups and in the field? Does it depend on cluster mass and/or the local galaxy density? How relevant are starburst and post-starburst galaxies in the different environments? Is there an evolution in the galaxies' structures, and if so, is this related to the changes in their star formation activity? These are some of the main questions that have been investigated using the EDisCS dataset., to appear in The Messenger, issue June 2009

During the course of this conference, much evidence was presented that points to an intimate connection between the energetic outflows driven by AGN and the energy budget and quite possibly also the evolution of their gaseous environments. However, it is still not clear if and how the AGN activity is triggered by the cooling gas, how long the activity lasts for and how these effects give rise to the observed distribution of morphologies of the outflows. In this contribution we concentrate on the high radio luminosity end of the AGN population. While most of the heating of the environmental gas may be due to less luminous and energetic outflows, these more powerful objects have a very profound influence on their surroundings. We will describe a simple model for powerful radio galaxies and radio-loud quasars that explains the dichotomy of their large-scale radio morphologies as well as their radio luminosity function., 6 pages, contribution to 'Heating vs. coooling in galaxies and galaxy clusters', Garching 2006, proceedings to be published by Springer (ESO Astrophysics Symposia), eds. H. Boehringer, P. Schuecker, G.W. Pratt & A. Finoguenov

There are three major axes to describe the evolution of galaxies, namely, time (redshift), space (environment) and mass (stellar mass). In this article, one topic each will be presented along these axes. (1) Based on the Subaru wide-field (30') optical imaging of two distant clusters (z=0.55 and 0.83), we show the large scale structures in galaxy distributions on a scale greater than 10Mpc, which serve as an evidence for hierarchical growth of rich clusters of galaxies through assembly of surrounding groups. (2) Based on the deep NIR imaging of high-z clusters at z~1 and 1.5, we show massive galaxies in clusters have assembled most of their mass by z=1.5, which is earlier than the hierarchical model predictions. (3) Based on the Subaru deep and wide optical imaging of Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey Field, we show a deficit of red and faint galaxies and a lack of blue massive galaxies in the high density regions at z~1, which suggest down-sizing in galaxy formation as apparently opposed to the CDM-based bottom-up scenario., 6 pages, 4 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of the ESO/USM/MPE Workshop on "Multiwavelength Mapping of Galaxy Formation and Evolution"

Over the past two decades, detailed studies in the nearby Universe have shown that accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs; or active galactic nuclei; AGN) can have a significant effect on their host galaxies, suppressing star formation and regulating their growth (known as AGN feedback). One of the most striking examples of AGN feedback in action comes from detailed studies of local AGN which exhibit powerful bi-polar jet outflows that can deposit significant energy into the galaxy halo, heating the surrounding gas and thereby regulating their own growth and suppressing star-formation activity. Therefore, studying the properties of AGN and the galaxies in which they reside is crucial in understanding and further developing our current models of galaxy formation and evolution. AGN can be split into two distinct categories, based on the accretion efficiency of the SMBH: radiative-mode AGN, and jet-mode AGN. Radiative-mode AGN are associated with efficient accretion, typically from cold gas, resulting in the formation of a geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disk that is typically surrounded by a dusty obscuring structure; these AGN are known to drive powerful outflows. Jet-mode AGN are associated with inefficient accretion, typically from hot gas, and display powerful bi-polar synchrotron radio jets that emit the bulk of their energetic output into the surrounding medium in the form of mechanical energy; these AGN are identified as such based on radio observations, showing no signs of AGN activity (e.g. accretion disk or torus) at other wavelengths. Based on the nature of the excitation lines, the jet-mode and radio-loud radiative-mode populations are also known as low-excitation radio galaxies (LERGs) and high-excitation radio galaxies (HERGs), respectively. However, our understanding of these AGN and their feedback effect is built primarily from detailed local Universe observations. Determining the physical mechanisms underpinning triggering and fuelling of AGN and how this affects AGN feedback activity across cosmic time is crucial but lacking. In this thesis, I address this shortcoming using deep observations carried out by the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) telescope: the LOFAR Deep Fields; this forms the deepest radio continuum survey to date at low frequencies. I generated key science-enhanced datasets using this survey and studied the cosmic evolution of AGN feedback from low-luminosity radio-AGN within the past 10 Gyrs and how this feedback affects the growth and evolution of galaxies. In the first science chapter of the thesis, I detail the pipeline I developed to generate new, more robust multi-wavelength catalogues in the LOFAR Deep Fields. The existing catalogues in the literature either did not include the deepest available datasets in each survey field, or were created using different methodologies for detecting sources and measuring their fluxes; all this meant the catalogues were not sufficiently robust for the scientific aims of the thesis. To overcome these issues, I generated new catalogues in two of the Deep Fields by combining information from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared wavelengths to detect sources and extract their properties in a clean and homogeneous manner. These are some of the best-studied regions of the sky and therefore these catalogues are also expected to provide a legacy value beyond the aims of the LOFAR surveys. Then, in the next chapter, using the multi-wavelength catalogues generated, I identify the host-galaxy counterparts of the radio-detected sources in the LOFAR Deep Fields. Host-galaxy identification and characterisation is crucial, in particular for radio surveys, in determining the photometric redshifts and physical properties (e.g. stellar masses, luminosities, star-formation rates) of the radio-source host galaxies, greatly expanding the scientific scope of the survey. I identified the host-galaxy counterparts of the LOFAR sources using a combination of the statistical Likelihood Ratio method and a visual classification scheme, using a workflow to decide the most appropriate method of identification for each source. This process results in a value-added catalogue of over 80 000 radio sources with multi-wavelength counterparts identified for > 97% of them. In this chapter, I then also investigate the properties of host galaxies of the faint radio population in the LOFAR Deep Fields. In the fourth chapter I focus on studying the evolution of the radio-AGN population and their properties in the LOFAR Deep Fields and how feedback from these AGN evolves across cosmic time. Of particular interest, and the focus of this chapter are the LERGs, which dominate at low radio luminosities and are thought to play a key role in the formation of massive galaxies in the local Universe; however, the evolution of this population beyond z ��� 1 is not well known. In this chapter, I present the first robust measurement of the LERG luminosity functions out to z ��� 2.5 and characterise the evolution of their host galaxy properties. This population shows relatively mild evolution across the redshifts examined; this is explained by the different evolution of the LERGs hosted in star-forming galaxies and those hosted in quiescent galaxies. The evolution of the quiescent LERGs show a strong decline in their space densities with increasing redshift, in accordance with the available host galaxies, while there is also an increase in the characteristic luminosity. I also find that unlike in the local Universe, the bulk of the LERGs are hosted by star-forming galaxies at higher redshifts and that the AGN in these galaxies appear to be fuelled by a different mechanism, likely associated with the cold gas, as compared to the LERGs in quiescent galaxies. In the final chapter I present the conclusions and look towards further exploration of this dataset. In particular, I discuss the characterisation of 3% of the radio-sources that were found to be completely invisible at optical and near-infrared wavelengths; an investigation of the far-infrared and radio properties of this subset found that the vast majority of these sources are likely high-redshift star-forming galaxies hosting a radio-AGN. To understand the nature of these extreme sources at early epochs, I present preliminary analysis from recent sub-millimetre follow-up via the sub-millimetre array (SMA) and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). In addition, I also discuss the spectroscopic follow-up of the radio-AGN population found in the previous chapter with the upcoming multi-object WEAVE spectrograph on the William Herschel Telescope to study the prevalence of AGN activity as a function of different galaxy properties out to high redshifts. Finally, I also describe plans to compare the observational results found in the previous chapters with predictions from the latest cosmological simulations.

Active Galactic Nuclei are among the most powerful sources of radiation in the Universe and are known to show variability across the EM spectrum. This thesis will focus on the variability in the optical and UV range, which is dominated by emission from the central accretion disc and the Broad Line Region (BLR). All AGN are powered by the accretion of matter onto a supermassive black hole. The BLR reprocesses part of the continuum generated by the accretion disc, re-emitting the energy in atomic emission lines. Variations in the continuum lead to variations in the broad emission lines, however the manner in which the broad lines respond is complex. Neither the accretion disc nor the BLR are currently fully understood. Over the past years the availability of large data-sets from long term spectroscopic observations, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), has greatly improved our ability to study the variability of AGN, expanding the observed timescales to decades. These timescales match the dynamical timescales associated with the BLR, implying that we could be able to track structural changes in this region. The research presented in this thesis will use the response of the broad lines to the continuum to investigate the properties of the BLR, with an emphasis on long timescales. The research is split over two independent, but closely linked studies. The first is a case study of the highly variable active galaxy Markarian 110. The second study focusses on one particular emission line: MgIIλ2798. Both studies rely on optical spectroscopic data. A pipeline was written to fit archival and new spectra included in the study. Mrk 110 is a local Seyfert I, at z=0.035, with available spectroscopic data going back decades. Combining archival data with new observations from the William Herschel and Tillinghast Telescopes, it is possible to track Mrk 110 through dips and peaks in the continuum at a relatively high cadence. Of particular note is the behaviour of HeIIλ4686, which varies significantly more than the other emission lines. This line can be used as a proxy for the ionising (FUV) part of the continuum. Comparing Hα, Hβ, and HeIλ5876 with the FUV flux we note that the response of the line fluxes to continuum changes evolves considerably on the timescale of years. For the highest continuum fluxes it is possible to detect a saturation level of the line responses, correlated with the Reverberation Mapping lags associated with the lines. Analysing the line profiles, we can detect an offset between the narrow and broad components of the Hβ and HeIIλ4686 lines, likely associated with a radial flow in the BLR. The Magnesium line at 2798Å is a prominent feature in most AGN spectra. Its response to continuum changes has been shown to be limited in previous studies. The study presented here will make use of two data-sets. The first is a sample of 43 extremely variable quasars. This sample combines SDSS spectra with new observations from the William Herschel, Magellan, and MTT Telescopes. The second data-set consists of approximately 16,000 SDSS quasars with repeat spectroscopy. The data from both samples indicate that there is in fact a broad range in MgII behaviour. We observe that the line tracks the continuum on average, but also note considerable scatter in this correlation. Combining the results from the Mrk 110 and MgII studies we find that there is evidence in all samples for broad line responsivity that evolves over time. There is also considerable evidence to suggest that the dynamics of both the HeIIλ4686 and the MgII line are not only set by their positions in the gravitational potential.

Some of the most fundamental measurements we can make of the Universe are where and when stars formed in galaxies. In recent years, astronomers have converged on a picture in which the star formation rate density of the Universe peaks at approximately redshift (z) 2, when the Universe is around a quarter of its present age. There, star-forming galaxies harbour large reservoirs of molecular gas, assemble stellar mass rapidly, and typically display disordered morphologies. In this thesis, I study the evolution of galaxies on large and small scales, with a particular focus on the epoch around the peak of cosmic star formation. My overarching aim is to understand the physical processes that drive and quench star formation in galaxies over cosmic time. In the first half of this thesis, I focus on global measurements of star formation, using the High-z Emission line survey (HiZELS), a deep, near-infrared narrow-band survey, which identifies star-forming galaxies at z=0.8-2.2. I characterise the dark matter halo environments of these galaxies via a clustering analysis, along with a Halo Occupation Distribution model fitting procedure, then study the relationships between host dark matter halo environment and galaxy properties. I show that the clustering strength and the host dark matter halo masses of the HiZELS galaxies increase linearly with H-alpha luminosity (and, by implication, star formation rate) at all three redshifts. The typical galaxies in our samples are star-forming centrals, residing in dark matter haloes of mass ~10^12M_sol. I find a remarkably tight redshift-independent relation between the H-alpha luminosity scaled by the characteristic luminosity, L_H-alpha/L_H-alpha*(z), and the host dark matter halo mass of central galaxies. Simple analytic modelling suggests that this is consistent with a model in which the dark matter halo environment is a strong driver of galaxy star formation rate and therefore of the evolution of the star formation rate density in the Universe. I investigate this further by distinguishing the stellar mass and star formation rate dependencies of the clustering of HiZELS galaxies. I compare my observational results to the predictions of a pioneering cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, the Virgo Consortium's Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments project, known as EAGLE. In the subsequent chapters of this thesis, I focus more heavily on simulations of galaxy formation, which are important tools for constraining and understanding the physics at play in galaxies. I use EAGLE to investigate the quenching of star formation in simulated galaxies via a novel application of Principal Component Analysis. I show that the key relations between halo mass, stellar mass and star formation rate are in good agreement with observed low-redshift galaxies. Having studied the global properties of star-forming galaxies, I then turn to smaller scales, investigating what we can learn from spatially-resolved imaging. I present a detailed study of the spatially-resolved dust continuum emission of realistic simulated high-redshift galaxies. These galaxies, drawn from the FIRE-2 simulations, reach Milky Way masses by z~2. Post-processing them using radiative transfer techniques, I obtain predictions for the full rest-frame far-ultraviolet to far-infrared Spectral Energy Distributions of these simulated galaxies, as well as maps of their emission across the wavelength spectrum. As has been observed in distant galaxies, the rest-frame far-infrared emission of the simulated galaxies is compact, spanning half-light radii of ~0.5-4kpc. The derived morphologies of simulated galaxies are notably different in different wavebands; a galaxy can appear clumpy and extended in the far-ultraviolet yet compact at far-infrared wavelengths. Finally, I perform a multi-wavelength study of a single observed galaxy, SHiZELS-14 (z=2.24), drawn from the HiZELS survey and subsequently imaged at 0.15'' resolution at multiple wavelengths. The data comprise kpc-resolution imaging in three different widely used tracers of star formation: the H-alpha emission line (from SINFONI/VLT), rest-frame far-ultraviolet continuum (from HST F606W imaging), and the rest-frame far-infrared (from ALMA), as well as the rest-frame optical (from HST F140W imaging). SHiZELS-14 displays a compact, dusty centre, as well as extended emission in both H-alpha and the rest-frame FIR. The ultraviolet emission is spatially offset from the extended dust emission, and appears to trace holes in the dust distribution. I find that the dust attenuation varies across the spatial extent of the galaxy, reaching up to ~5 magnitudes of extinction at H-alpha wavelengths in the most dusty regions. Global star formation rates inferred using standard calibrations to the different tracers vary from ~10-1000M_sol, and are particularly discrepant in the galaxy's dusty centre. This galaxy highlights the biased view of galaxy evolution provided by short-wavelength data in the absence of long-wavelength data, and is in line with my simulations.

It is now believed that most, if not all, galaxies contain a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and that these play a crucial role in their host galaxies' evolution. Whilst accreting material, a SMBH (known as an active galactic nucleus, AGN, during this growth phase) releases energy which may have the effect of quenching star formation and constraining the growth of the galaxy. It is believed that AGNs can be divided into two broad fundamental categories, each with its own feedback mechanism. The radiative-mode of feedback occurs in gas-rich galaxies when substantial star formation is occurring and their young AGNs are growing rapidly through efficient accretion of cold gas. A fraction of the energy released by an AGN is transferred into the surrounding gas, creating a thermal "energy-driven" wind or pressure "momentum-driven" wind. Gas and dust may be expelled from the galaxy, so halting star formation but also cutting off the fuel supply to the AGN itself. The jet-mode occurs thereafter. The SMBH has now attained a large mass, but is accreting at a comparatively low level as gas slowly cools and falls back into the galaxy. The accretion process generates two-sided jets that generate shock fronts, so heating the gas surrounding the galaxy and partially offsetting the radiative cooling. This restricts the inflow of gas into the galaxy, so slowing the growth of the galaxy and SMBH. There are several convincing theoretical arguments to support the existence of these feedback mechanisms, although observational evidence has been hard to obtain. A new radio telescope - the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) - recently started operations. LOFAR is especially suitable for investigating AGN feedback. It has been designed to allow exploration of low radio frequencies, between 10 and 240 MHz, which are particularly relevant for research into AGN activity. Also, with its large field-of-view and multi-beam capability, LOFAR is ideal for conducting extensive radio surveys. A project to image deeply the ELAIS-N1 field was started in May 2013. This thesis uses a number of surveys at different wavelengths, but particularly the low-frequency radio observations of the ELAIS-N1 field, to improve our knowledge of jet-mode AGN feedback and hence of the interplay between the complicated processes involved in galaxy formation and evolution. The more important pieces of research within the thesis are as follows: - A sample of 576 AGNs in the nearby universe was assembled and used to find a relationship between radio luminosity, X-ray luminosity and black hole mass. Moreover, the relationship is valid over at least 15 orders of magnitude in X-ray luminosity, strongly suggesting that the process responsible for the launching of radio jets is scale-invariant. - The established "Likelihood Ratio" technique was refined to incorporate colour information in order to optimally match the radio sources in the ELAIS-N1 field with their host galaxies. - The resulting catalogue was used to investigate ways in which radio sources can be matched automatically with their host galaxies (and so avoiding laborious visual examination of each source). The conclusions have helped the design of a pipeline for an extensive wide-area survey currently being conducted by the LOFAR telescope. - The catalogue was also used to investigate the evolution of jet-mode AGNs. This involved: deriving source counts; obtaining redshifts for each object; classifying the radio sources into the different populations of radiative-mode AGNs, jet-mode AGNs and star-forming galaxies; and using the above preparatory work in order to derive a luminosity function for jet-mode AGNs. - Key conclusions are that (1) feedback from jet-mode AGNs peaks at around a redshift of 0.75, (2) the space density of jet-mode AGNs declines steadily with redshift and (3) the typical luminosity of a jet-mode AGN increases steadily with redshift.

At very low frequencies, the new pan-European radio telescope LOFAR is opening the last unexplored window of the electromagnetic spectrum for astrophysical studies. The revolutionary APERTIF phased arrays that are about to be installed on the Westerbork radio telescope (WSRT) will dramatically increase the survey speed for the WSRT. Combined surveys with these two facilities will deeply chart the northern sky over almost two decades in radio frequency from \sim 15 up to 1400 MHz. Here we briefly describe some of the capabilities of these new facilities and what radio surveys are planned to study fundamental issues related the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. In the second part we briefly review some recent observational results directly showing that diffuse radio emission in clusters traces shocks due to cluster mergers. As these diffuse radio sources are relatively bright at low frequencies, LOFAR should be able to detect thousands of such sources up to the epoch of cluster formation. This will allow addressing many question about the origin and evolution of shocks and magnetic fields in clusters. At the end we briefly review some of the first and very preliminary LOFAR results on clusters., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, Invited talk at the conference "Diffuse Relativistic Plasmas", Bangalore, 1-4 March 2011; in press for publication in special issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

The most intensely star-forming galaxies lie at z ∼ 2 and are thought to be the progenitors of the most massive galaxies today, yet study of this important population has been hampered by vast quantities of dust, making them almost invisible in the optical and ultraviolet (UV) regimes, and by the low sensitivity and angular resolution of many infrared (IR) facilities. Chapter 2 describes the use of the flux and angular extent boost provided by strong gravitational lensing in the detailed study of individual high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). The low number density of such systems has been overcome by recent wide area far-infrared (FIR)–mm surveys, and a sample of candidate systems which are bright enough to study with single-dish FIR telescopes are assembled from these surveys. The chapter further describes spectra of these galaxies obtained using the the Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE; Griffin et al. 2010) Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) on board the Herschel Space Observatory (Pilbratt et al. 2010), exploiting the increased flux densities to search for FIR atomic and ionic spectral lines: important coolants of warm gas surrounding star-formation regions. Chapter 3 describes the first “blind” redshift obtained using Herschel, via the detection of [C ii] 158 μm in one of our spectra. Confirmation of this redshift was provided by detection of CO lines with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI), and along with multi-wavelength photometric follow-up, allowed a characterisation of the galaxy, indicating both a merger-driven starburst and an active galactic nucleus (AGN) within the system. Chapter 4 describes the first detection of a massive outflow of molecular gas at high-redshift. Stacking five repeat spectra of the Cosmic Eyelash, one of the best-studied strongly lensed DSFGs, one of the massive star-forming clumps is shown to drive this outflow, albeit likely at a velocity lower than that required to become unbound from the hosting gravitational potential well. Chapter 5 describes line measurements and spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting from the full set of spectra and Herschel PACS mini scan maps. The spectra are stacked to search for faint lines, and compared to a detailed interstellar medium (ISM) model to determine average physical properties of the star-forming gas. Photodissociation region (PDR) properties are found to be similar to those derived using other models, however a cosmic ray ionisation rate of 103 times that of the Milky Way, expected in galaxies of this type cannot reproduce the observed line ratios, in particular the low [O i] 63 μm flux. Chapter 6 finally describes the conclusions drawn from the work presented in this thesis and how these data and analysis add to our knowledge and interpretation of high-redshift DSFGs.

The work contained within this thesis Is made up primarily of two pieces Both address active galactic nuclei And the galaxies that live nearby The obscured fraction of the population Is the topic of one publication And the type-II fraction in the optical regime In chapter four this is the theme I research the vicinity overdensity Around radio galaxies in chapter three, you’ll see I reduce some spectra at redshift one But not all observations in the end got done With the spectra I have I do what I can As if all target observations had actually ran In the end I conclude with results and the theme of research to be done further downstream. The works contained herein addresses two major topics in extragalactic astrophysics, namely the Type-II AGN fraction and the Overdensity-Radio power relation. Quantifying the Type-II AGN fraction has been attempted by many works in many different observational regimes, finding rather contrasting results. Accretion onto supermassive black holes contributes between 5 per cent and 20 per cent of the luminosity of the Universe, and seems to be closely linked to star formation processes. The large uncertainty on this value is due to the ill-determined contribution from obscured accretion, namely the Type-II fraction. In Chapters 3 and 4 I address this issue from a theoretical standpoint in the X-ray regime and an observational standpoint in the optical regime respectively. In Chapter 3 I show how crude X-ray spectroscopy of partially obscured AGN can lead to catastrophic underestimations of the intrinsic X-ray luminosity of these sources. Acting over an entire population, these partial obscurers can produce an obscured AGN fraction which decreases as a function of observed luminosity. The results are consistent with observations in the X-ray vs. IR luminosity of AGN classes. In Chapter 4 I select a statistically significant sample of AGN from an unbiased 250μm galaxy sample. After spectroscopic classification I find the optical Type- II AGN fraction to be consistent across several decades in [OIII] luminosity, a common proxy for intrinsic AGN luminosity. I also investigate the relation of AGN activity to host galaxy mass, as well as star formation activity and star formation history. Probing the environments of protoclusters will help to constrain the models of structure formation in the Universe. Until now, no dataset has been big enough to probe the environments of high redshift radio galaxies at a statistical level; While many believe that the feedback processes of high luminosity radio jets will have a direct impact on star formation in the surrounding medium it has not been tested. In Chapter 2 I investigate this on an statistical level, finding no meaningful correlation between radio galaxy radio power and source overdensity in the vicinities of these sources. In Chapter 5 I discuss the reduction of a 24μm sample at redshift z ∼ 1 for direct comparison with a local 12μm sample. With only a fraction of the target sample being observed, no statistically significant results could be derived, but the objects are spectroscopically classified and spectroscopic redshifts are measured where possible. Correlations in the data set are investigated and the limitations of the sample selection strategy are discussed.

A significant fraction of the star formation density between z = 1–3 has been traced to luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. Among the most extreme objects seen are those identified via surveys at submillimetre wavelengths; the high infrared luminosities (LIR = 10¹¹−¹³ L⊙) of these “submillimetre galaxies” (SMGs) arise due to the reprocessing of UV and optical light from massive, young stars by interstellar dust, and imply star formation rates SFR= 50–2000M⊙ yr−¹. Such SFRs, combined with the observed increase in number density of SMGs by a factor ∼ 20× out to z = 2 make them candidates to be the progenitors of the most massive “red and dead” elliptical galaxies which dominate the cores of clusters in the present day, yet limitations in the technical capabilities of radio and infrared telescopes have long hindered a detailed understanding of these galaxies, and in particular, the physics of the interstellar medium (ISM). Hence the following key questions remain unanswered: (i) how much molecular gas (H2) do SMGs contain, and what are the likely upper-limits on how long they can sustain their present level of activity?; (ii) do the prodigious luminosities of SMGs stem from a common origin, or does the selection criterion return a “mixed bag” of galaxies?; (iii) what are internal kinematics of SMGs, and to what extent do these influence the global and local star-formation (Schmidt-Kennicutt) law?; (iv) is star-formation in distant SMGs distributed across the entire galaxy, or does it occur in isolated clumps?; (v) what are the typical densities and temperatures of star-forming regions in SMGs, and do they adhere to the observed correlation between far-infrared and radio emission in star-forming galaxies? Recent upgrades to the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), the inauguration of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), and the superlative legacy of the Herschel Space Observatory have jointly provided the toolkit to study the gas and dust emission in distant galaxies in unprecedented detail, and thus to begin to address these fundamental questions. In this thesis, I present ∼120 hours of new VLA observations of ¹²CO J =1−0 emission – the best tracer of molecular gas – in a sample of four lensed SMGs. The combination of high angular resolution with the VLA and the magnifying effects of gravitational lensing allow the ISM properties of these z ∼ 2.5 star-forming galaxies to be seen for the first time on sub-galactic scales, implying gas masses of 10⁹−¹ºM⊙ (subject to the 12CO-luminosity-to-H2-mass conversion factor, αCO), and demonstrating the presence of an extended, low-excitation gas reservoir. In conjunction with observations of the excited gas phase from the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI), these new data point to variations in the densities and temperatures of H2 throughout each galaxy. The wide bandwidth and phenomenal sensitivity of the VLA yields the first detections of 115-GHz continuum emission at high redshift, which I use in conjunction with well-sampled dust spectra from Herschel and data at longer wavelengths from the VLA to decompose the radio spectra of two galaxies into contributions arising from thermal dust emission, optically-thin free-free emission from Hii regions, and non-thermal synchrotron emission. From these measurements, estimates of SFRradio are made, providing an independent check on SFRIR, and enabling the degeneracy between the heating of dust due to star formation and that due to hidden AGN activity to be broken. Via this spectral index de-convolution, I find L[AGN]/LIR fractions of 35% and 55% for the two SMGs, in broad agreement with previously published estimates for these sources based on their mid-IR spectral properties. In the exceptional case of SMMJ23152–0102, magnification by the foreground cluster is so extreme (∼ 32.5×) that the VLA synthesised beam traces regions of order ∼ 130 pc in the source plane, and identifies a series of cool, dense clumps (Tk = 30–70 k; log[n(H2)/cm−3]= 3.6–3.9) within the gas reservoir, which contain between them 10–60% of the total molecular gas of the system. These clumps are offset from the far-infrared/radio correlation, which I argue has implications for their ages.

Supermassive black holes are leading candidates for the regulation of galaxy growth and evolution over cosmic time, via ‘feedback’ processes, whereby outflows from the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) halt star formation within the galaxy. AGN feedback is generally thought to occur in two modes, high-excitation (HERG, or ‘quasar-mode’) and low-excitation (LERG or ’radio-mode’) each having a different effect on the host galaxy. LERGs curtail the growth of the most massive galaxies, whereas HERGs are thought to be activated by mergers/interactions, switching off star formation at high redshift. A critical problem in current extragalactic astrophysics lies in understanding the precise physical mechanisms by which these feedback processes operate, and how they evolve over cosmic time. Radio-loud AGN are an essential tool for studying major feedback mechanisms, as they are found within the largest ellipticals, and hence are beacons for the most massive black holes across the bulk of cosmic time. In this thesis I develop and study existing complete radio samples with extensive new multi-wavelength data in the radio, optical and infrared, aiming to investigate the evolution of AGN feedback modes, and methods to locate and study such systems at the very highest redshifts. This will serve to inform further studies of radio-AGN planned with next generation radio instruments such as the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR). Very few radio-loud AGN systems are currently known at high redshifts, and the effectiveness of traditional high redshift selection techniques, such as selection based on steep spectral index, have not been well quantified. A purely evidence-based approach to determining the efficiency of various high redshift selection techniques is presented, using nine highly spectroscopically complete radio samples; although weak correlations are confirmed between spectral index and linear size and redshift, selection first of infrared-faint radio sources remains by far the most efficient method of selecting high-z radio galaxies from complete samples. Radio spectral curvature in four of the complete samples is analysed and the effect of radio spectral shape on the measurement of the radio luminosity function (RLF) of steep-spectrum radio sources is investigated. Below z=1, curvature has negligible effect on the measurement of the RLF, however at higher redshifts, where source numbers are low, the shape of the radio spectrum should be taken into account, as individual source luminosities can change up to 0.1-0.2 dex, and this can in some cases introduce errors in space density measurements of up to a factor of 2-3 where source numbers are low. Building upon these samples, the very first independent determinations of the separate RLFs for high and low excitation radio sources across the bulk of cosmic time are made, out to z=1. Here it is shown that HERGs show very clear signs of strong evolution, in line with theoretical predictions. LERGs also show some very weak evolution with redshift, showing increases in space density of typically around a factor of 2. These measurements are also used to estimate the contribution of LERGs, which typically show weak or no emission lines to the ‘missing redshift’ population, which are sources within the complete samples not identifiable spectroscopically. Complementary to this, a pilot study is presented in selecting ‘missing redshift’ sources which are classed as infra-red faint (IFRS), which show no optical or near-IR identification, and are compact in the radio. Follow up spectroscopy on these candidate high z sources detected no line emission. Finally, work carried out towards the testing and commissioning of the new LOFAR telescope is presented. The findings from this thesis will serve to both streamline and inform high redshift radio-AGN searches and studies planned to be carried out with LOFAR and other multi-wavelength complementary surveys in the near future, and help to open up an as yet unexplored epoch in radio-AGN formation and evolution.

The first stars, galaxies and black holes in the universe produced large quantities of ionising UV radiation; forming H II regions in the neutral gas before the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR). These ionisation fronts will have come into contact with overdensities in the surrounding Intergalactic Medium (IGM), including haloes which were in the process of collapse. Previous studies have shown that the feedback processes on these secondary haloes can either disrupt the gas, or induce further cooling from the formation of molecular hydrogen. The ionising source will eventually die and create a defunct H II region, which expands into the surrounding neutral IGM. Minihaloes at the edge of these defunct H II regions are particularly susceptible to positive feedback due to not having been photoevaporated like their counterparts further inside the ionised volume. In this thesis, numerical simulations of minihaloes at the edges of H II regions formed by the first luminous objects before the EoR are presented. A methodology of including secondary ionisations from high energy photons is also implemented into the radiation hydrodynamical code ZEUS-RT. The interaction of differing spectral index sources with minihaloes including secondary ionisation is discussed. The secondary ionisations show the greatest effect for hard spectral sources with a large fraction of high energy photons; where a decrease in photoheating and an increase in ionisation rate is found at the outer reaches of the ionisation front (I-front). The increased ionisation rate lowers the optical depth of the gas for subsequent photons, and thus reduces the trapping of I-fronts in high densities found in the minihalo cores. The ratio of the free electron fraction to the temperature in the core of the minihaloes is found to constrain the resulting evolution. A high ratio is correlated with the creation of molecular hydrogen, which can then induce further cooling and the collapse of the system. A large parameter suite of 3780 two-dimensional minihalo models utilising radiative hydrodynamical simulations with 12 species and a coupled reaction network, including H2 cooling, HD cooling, Lyman-Werner radiation and secondary ionisation is performed. The parameter space includes: the spectral index representing different sources such as quasars or galaxies, the mass of the minihaloes from 10⁵ - 10⁶ M⨀, the redshift of ionisation from z ~ 10 - 30, and other factors which denote the position of the minihalo relative to the boundary of the H II region. Minihaloes with average core densities of n₀ = 2 - 10 cm⁻³ show almost unanimous positive feedback, while the majority of minihaloes under this average density are disrupted. Minihaloes with core densities above this value generally would have collapsed in isolation anyway, but are found to not be delayed by the I-front. The H₂ fraction in the minihalo gas is also increased in models with no blowout by factors between 2 - 100 times that of an isolated minihalo. This is especially significant for lower redshift, z ≤ 15, minihaloes. Finally, a parameter suite of larger 10⁶ - 10⁷ M⨀ minihaloes results in the creation of self-gravitating clumps of gas moving out of the dark matter potential. The gas core is compressed by the I-front, enriched with molecular hydrogen, and ejected by the pressure front after the source dies. These "baryon bullets" could be progenitors of primordial globular clusters found in the haloes of galaxies today. Properties such as old stellar populations and the lack of dark matter haloes can be explained by this radiative ejection method. The dynamical nature of these interacting systems and diversity of subsequent evolution suggest that minihaloes less than 10⁸ M⨀ are important in the early formation history of the universe, and in determining the constraining parameters of the EoR. The feedback mechanisms investigated, and secondary ionisation physics, should be included in astrophysical simulations and analytical calculations determining the evolution of the universe at this critical epoch.

The centrepiece of this thesis is a deep, new, high-resolution 1.4-GHz image covering the United Kingdom Infrared (IR) Telescope IR Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Ultra Deep Survey (UDS) legacy field. Deep pseudo-continuum observations were made using the Very Large Array, prior to its recent upgrade, in its A, B and DnC configurations. The resulting mosaic has a full-width-at-half-maximum synthesised beam width of ≈ 1.7 arcsec and a point-source sensitivity of ≈ 60μJy (6σ ) across the central 0.6 deg2, while conserving flux from sources of extended emission. The full image covers 1.3 deg2. I also present a catalogue containing over 1,000 radio emitters, having chosen the 6-σ threshold by maximising the number of radio sources with secure optical/near-IR counterparts. Most of the sources in the catalogue (≈ 90 per cent) lie in the sub-mJy flux density regime. Deep, complementary data covering a wide range of wavelengths was used to explore this faint radio population, whose nature remains controversial. It was found that 53 per cent of the sample comprise active galactic nuclei (AGN). AGN dominate at & 0.2mJy and remain a significant population down to 0.1mJy; at lower fluxes – the so-called μJy radio population – star-forming galaxies become dominant. The radio sample presented here was also matched to Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the UDS field (which is part of the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey – CANDELS) to classify the faint radio population morphologically. These classifications were done using the Gini–M20 method. It was found that a low fraction of AGN and SFGs are undergoing interactions and mergers, 33 ± 9 and 13 ± 7 per cent, respectively. The merger fraction does not appear to have evolved significantly since z ∼ 3. This suggests that mergers have played a relatively minor role in the assembly of galaxies and super-massive black holes – certainly less significant than previously thought. Finally, I present a study of cosmic star-formation activity as a function of stellar mass and redshift, exploiting panchromatic stacking. Mid-IR–through–radio images, including new data from Herschel, are stacked at the positions of a K-selected (i.e. an approximately mass-selected) sample in the UDS field. Specific star-formation rates (SSFR, i.e. star-formation rate per stellar mass, or the rate at which a galaxy is converting its gas into stars) were derived from UDS radio luminosities measured here and stellar masses from the literature. The SSFR was found to be poorly correlated with stellar mass; it decreases with decreasing redshift; at a given mass, SSFR rises with redshift. These results indicate that at early epochs, galaxies were forming stars more efficiently and at a higher rate.

MOONS is a new conceptual design for a Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph for the Very Large Telescope (VLT), selected by ESO for a Phase A study. The baseline design consists of 1000 fibers deployable over a field of view of 500 square arcmin, the largest patrol field offered by the Nasmyth focus at the VLT. The total wavelength coverage is 0.8um-1.8um and two resolution modes: medium resolution and high resolution. In the medium resolution mode (R=4,000-6,000) the entire wavelength range 0.8um-1.8um is observed simultaneously, while the high resolution mode covers simultaneously three selected spectral regions: one around the CaII triplet (at R=8,000) to measure radial velocities, and two regions at R=20,000 one in the J-band and one in the H-band, for detailed measurements of chemical abundances. The grasp of the 8.2m Very Large Telescope (VLT) combined with the large multiplex and wavelength coverage of MOONS - extending into the near-IR - will provide the observational power necessary to study galaxy formation and evolution over the entire history of the Universe, from our Milky Way, through the redshift desert and up to the epoch of re-ionization at z>8-9. At the same time, the high spectral resolution mode will allow astronomers to study chemical abundances of stars in our Galaxy, in particular in the highly obscured regions of the Bulge, and provide the necessary follow-up of the Gaia mission. Such characteristics and versatility make MOONS the long-awaited workhorse near-IR MOS for the VLT, which will perfectly complement optical spectroscopy performed by FLAMES and VIMOS., 9 pages, 5 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation + Telescopes conference, Amsterdam, 2012

Determining the cosmic star formation history of the Universe is fundamental for our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. While surveys now suggest that the "epoch" of galaxy formation occurred more than 6 billion years ago, our measurements still suff er from signi ficant scatter and uncertainties due to the use of diff erent indicators, dust extinction and the e ffects of cosmic variance in the current samples. Furthermore, understanding galaxy formation and evolution require us to go much beyond simply determining the star formation history of the Universe with high accuracy: what are the physical mechanisms driving the strong evolution that we observe? How does star formation depend on stellar mass and environment and how does that change with cosmic time? This thesis presents both a completely self-consistent determination of the star formation history of the Universe (based on a single, sensitive and well-calibrated star formation indicator up to redshift z ~ 2:3: the H α luminosity) and investigates its drivers by exploring large area surveys (probing a range of environments and overcoming cosmic variance) obtained with the High-redshift Emission Line Survey (HiZELS). HiZELS is a panoramic extragalactic survey using the WFCAM instrument on the 3.8-m UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) which utilizes a set of existing and custom-made narrow-band filters in the J, H and K bands to detect emission line galaxies (main targets are H α emitters at z = 0:84, z = 1:47 and z = 2:23) up to z ~ 9 over square degree areas of extragalactic sky. Detailed measurements of the H α luminosity function and its evolution with redshift are presented, revealing a signi ficant luminosity evolution. The clustering properties of H α emitters at high-redshift are quantifi ed and investigated for the first time, revealing that these distant galaxies reside in Milky-Way type dark matter haloes at z ~ 1. Mass and environment are found to have important and inter-dependent roles on star formation at high-z and the results are able to reconcile previously contradictory results in the literature. Furthermore, by conducting a novel double-narrow band survey at z = 1:47, the relationship between the [Oii]3727 and H α emission lines is studied in detail and directly compared to z ~ 0, showing no signifi cant evolution in the dust properties of star-forming galaxies, despite the very strong luminosity evolution. Finally, this thesis also presents the widest search for very distant Ly α emitters at z ~ 9.

Stars of all ages and evolutionary stages are seen to be surrounded by discs of matieral. during the formation of a stellar system the stars are orbited by a massive protoplanetary disc composed of interstellar gas and dust, in which planet formation occurs. Betewwen 1 and 10 Myr the protoplanetary disc disperses, leaving behind the newly formed system of planets and smaller bodies. The remaining material which has not formed into planets is referred to as a debris disc. Even though the interstellar dust grains from the protoplanetary disc have long been removed from the system, debris discs can contain large quantities of dust due to collisions between larger bodies and cometary activity. such dust can be detected by its thermal emission. This thesis focuses on observational studies at far-infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths of debris discs and the late stages of protoplanetary disc evolution. An overview of surveys for debris discs performed to date is presented, highlighting the limitations and statistical biases. the motivation, design and sample selection for two large surveys for debris discs around nearby stars, with the Hershel space observatory and the SCUBA-2 sub-millimetre camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, are described. The combination of a uniform obstevational strategy, longer wavelengths than previous surveys, and a large, clearly chosen sample - unbiased by stellar properties - will allow robust statistical conclusions of how the incidence and properties of debris discs depend on system parameters such as stellar mass, age, metallicity, binarity and the presence of planets. As a precursor to the Hershel and SCUBA-2 surveys, a volume-limited ample of 130 A type star systems was surveyed using observations at 24 and 70 μm, which were required to determine the presence of emission from dust, were predicted by fitting model flux distributions to optical and near-infrared photometry. Debris discs were detected around 46 systems, 12 of which including the system with the largest dust mass - are new discoveries. This survey adds to the results of previous studies which show that debris disc incidence is not correleated with host star metallicity despite the wll known giant planet - metallicity correlation, This is in accordance with what is predicted from the core accretion theory of planet formation. The most signigicant result from this survey is that, contrary to results reported in a previous work, debris discs are oberall less common around binary stars. Further investigation shows that systems with separations of ~3-150 AU are especially deficient of debris, while closer binaries and the primaries of wider binaries show debris detection rates consisten with those for single stars. A sample of circumstellar discs around 29 young stellar systems with ages of 5-30 Myr were observed with the LABOCA sub-millimetre instrument on the APEX telescope at 870μm, to provide disc masses or mass upper limits in support of a large Hershel programme. These targets included the η Chamaeleontis cluster and four bright Herbig Ae/Be stars which have not previously been observed at this wavelength. All but the Herbig Ae/Be stars were not detected, and 3σ dust mass upper limits of ~ 0.1-3 M are determined, with corresponding total disc masses of ~0.03-1Mjup. These mass limits indicate that there is insufficient remaining material in these discs to form gas giant planets, and add to the prevailing view that protoplanetary discs typically disperse within 10 Myr and that gas giant planet formation must be completed before this time. A search for cold dust emimission from two of the Solar System's nearest neighbours - α Centauri AB and ε Indi - was also performed with LABOCA. In both cases no debris disc emission was detected. A bright resolved feature was detected near α Centauri AB, nowever, follow-up observations at a second epoch, two years after the initial observations, showed that the feature is not co-moving with the stars. It is argued that the feature is most likely a pre-stellar core. The stars α Centauri A and B are detected, which is one of only very few detections of main sequence stellar photospheres at sub-millimetre wavelengths.

The two SCUBA HAlf-Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) fields are amongst the richest places in the sky in terms of multi-wavelength coverage. They comprise an eastern section of the Lockman Hole (LH) and the central portion of the Subaru- XMM/Newton Deep Field (SXDF). In this thesis, I have obtained extremely deep, multi-frequency radio imaging of the SHADES fields using the GiantMetre-wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and the Very Large Array (VLA), at 610MHz and 1.4GHz, respectively. These data are used to analyse the nature of the sub-milliJansky (sub-mJy) radio population, which has been hotly debated in the last few years: are they powered by star-forming or nuclear activity? To tackle the problem, I employ different approaches making use of the large variety of multi-wavelength data in the SHADES fields. I begin by analysing the spectral index, α610MHz 1.4GHz , of radio sources detected in the LH, to explore the dominant emission mechanism. Based on a robust 10 σ detection criterion, I find a constantmedian spectral index of α610MHz 1.4GHz ≈ −0.6 to −0.7 for sources between S1.4GHz ≈ 200 μJy and 10mJy. This result suggests that the galaxy population in the sub-mJy regime is powered by optically-thin synchrotron emission – starforming galaxies or lobe-dominated active galactic nuclei (AGN). Making use of X-ray observations in the LH, I show that the fraction of radio sources detected in the hard X-ray band (between 2 and 10 keV) decreases from 50 to 15 per cent between S1.4GHz ≈ 1mJy and . 100 μJy, which strongly suggests a transition from AGN to star-forming galaxies. Based on the deep, multi-wavelength coverage of the SXDF, I explore the behaviour of the far-infrared (FIR)/radio correlation as a function of redshift. I combine the q24 factor – the logarithmic flux density ratio between Spitzer 24-μm and VLA 1.4- GHz flux densities – with available photometric redshifts and find strong evidence that the correlation holds out to z ≈ 3.5. Based on M82-like k-corrections and using a high-significance (S1.4GHz > 300 μJy) radio sub-sample, I find a mean and scatter of q24 = 0.71 ± 0.47. Monte-Carlo simulations based on these findings show that fewer sources deviate from the correlation at fainter flux densities (i.e. fewer radioloud AGN). I predict that the radio-loud fraction drops from 50 per cent at ∼ 1mJy to zero at . 100 μJy. The validity of the FIR/radio correlation out to very high redshifts adds credibility to identifications of sub-millimetre (submm) galaxies (SMGs) made at radio wavelengths. Based on a sample of 45 radio-identified SMGs in the LH, I find a median radio spectral index of α610MHz 1.4GHz = −0.72 ± 0.07, which suggests that optically-thin synchrotron is the dominant radio emission mechanism. Finally, as anAppendix I include a theoretical treatment that constrains the average geometry of the dusty, torus-like structures believed to obscure a large fraction of the AGN population. I use the distribution of column densities (NH) obtained from deep ∼ 1Msec X-ray observations in the Chandra Deep Field South. I find that to reproduce the wide observed range of NH, the best torus model is given by a classical “donut”- shaped distribution with an exponential angular dependency of the density profile.