Radio imaging of the Subaru/XMM–Newton Deep Field – I. The 100-μJy catalogue, optical identifications, and the nature of the faint radio source population |
| |
| Authors: | Chris Simpson Alejo Martínez-Sansigre Steve Rawlings Rob Ivison Masayuki Akiyama Kazuhiro Sekiguchi Tadafumi Takata Yoshihiro Ueda Mike Watson |
| |
| Institution: | Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD;Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE;Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH;UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ;Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ;Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 650 N. A'ohōkūPlace, Hilo, HI 96720, USA;National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan;Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan;Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH |
| |
| Abstract: | We describe deep radio imaging at 1.4 GHz of the 1.3-deg2 Subaru/ XMM–Newton Deep Field (SXDF), made with the Very Large Array in B and C configurations. We present a radio map of the entire field, and a catalogue of 505 sources covering 0.8 deg2 to a peak flux density limit of 100 μJy. Robust optical identifications are provided for 90 per cent of the sources, and suggested identifications are presented for all but 14 (of which seven are optically blank, and seven are close to bright contaminating objects). We show that the optical properties of the radio sources do not change with flux density, suggesting that active galactic nuclei (AGN) continue to contribute significantly at faint flux densities. We test this assertion by cross-correlating our radio catalogue with the X-ray source catalogue and conclude that radio-quiet AGN become a significant population at flux densities below 300 μJy, and may dominate the population responsible for the flattening of the radio source counts if a significant fraction of them are Compton-thick. |
| |
| Keywords: | catalogues surveys galaxies: active radio continuum: galaxies |
|
|
