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The Radio Galaxy Environment Reference Survey (RAGERS): a submillimetre study of the environments of massive radio-quiet galaxies at z = 1–3.

Authors :
Cornish, Thomas M
Wardlow, Julie L
Greve, Thomas R
Chapman, Scott
Chen, Chian-Chou
Dannerbauer, Helmut
Goto, Tomotsugu
Gullberg, Bitten
Ho, Luis C
Jiang, Xue-Jian
Lagos, Claudia
Lee, Minju
Serjeant, Stephen
Shim, Hyunjin
Smith, Daniel J B
Vijayan, Aswin
Wagg, Jeff
Zhou, Dazhi
Source :
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society; Sep2024, Vol. 533 Issue 1, p1032-1044, 13p
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Measuring the environments of massive galaxies at high redshift is crucial to understanding galaxy evolution and the conditions that gave rise to the distribution of matter we see in the Universe today. While high- z radio galaxies (H z RGs) and quasars tend to reside in protocluster-like systems, the environments of their radio-quiet counterparts are relatively unexplored, particularly in the submillimetre, which traces dust-obscured star formation. In this study, we search for 850  μ m-selected submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the environments of massive (⁠|$M_{\star }$| |$\gt 10^{11}$| |${\rm M}_{\odot }$|⁠), radio-quiet (⁠|$L_{500 {\rm MHz}}$| |$\lesssim 10^{25}$|  WHz |$^{-1}$|⁠) galaxies at |$z \sim 1\!-\!3$| using data from the SCUBA-2 COSMOS (S2COSMOS) survey. By constructing number counts in circular regions of radius 1–6 arcmin and comparing with blank-field measurements, we find no significant overdensities of SMGs around massive radio-quiet galaxies at any of these scales, despite being sensitive down to overdensities of |$\delta \sim 0.4$|⁠. To probe deeper than the catalogue we also examine the distribution of peaks in the SCUBA-2 signal-to-noise (SNR) map, which reveals only tentative signs of any difference in the SMG densities of the radio-quiet galaxy environments compared to the blank field, and only on smaller scales (1 arcmin radii, corresponding to |$\sim 0.5$|  Mpc) and higher SNR thresholds. We conclude that massive, radio-quiet galaxies at cosmic noon are typically in environments with |$\delta \lesssim 0.4$|⁠ , which are either consistent with the blank field or contain only weak overdensities spanning sub-Mpc scales. The contrast between our results and studies of H z RGs with similar stellar masses and redshifts implies an intrinsic link between the wide-field environment and the radio luminosity of the active galactic nucleus at high redshift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00358711
Volume :
533
Issue :
1
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
179092376
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1861