Pracy, M, Ching, J, Sadler, E, Croom, S, Baldry, IK, Bland-Hawthorn, J, Brough, S, Brown, M, Couch, W, Davis, T, Drinkwater, M, Hopkins, A, Jarvis, M, Jelliffe, B, Jurek, R, Loveday, J, Pimbblet, K, Prescott, M, Wisniosk, E and Woods, D (2016) GAMA/WiggleZ: The 1.4GHz radio luminosity functions of high- and low-excitation radio galaxies and their redshift evolution to z=0.75. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 460 (1). pp. 2-17. ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

We present radio Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) luminosity functions over the redshift range 0.005 < z < 0.75. The sample from which the luminosity functions are constructed is an optical spectroscopic survey of radio galaxies, identified from matched Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm survey (FIRST) sources and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) images.The radio AGN are separated into Low Excitation Radio Galaxies (LERGs) and High Excitation Radio Galaxies (HERGs) using the optical spectra. We derive radio luminosity functions for LERGs and HERGs separately in the three redshift bins (0.005 < z < 0.3, 0.3 < z < 0.5 and 0.5 < z <0.75). The radio luminosity functions can be well described by a double power-law. Assuming this double power-law shape the LERG population displays little or no evolution over this redshift range evolving as ~$(1+z)^{0.06}$ assuming pure density evolution or ~ $(1+z)^{0.46}$ assuming pure luminosity evolution. In contrast, the HERG population evolves more rapidly, best fitted by ~$(1+z)^{2.93}$ assuming a double power-law shape and pure density evolution. If a pure luminosity model is assumed the best fitting HERG evolution is parameterised by ~$(1+z)^{7.41}$. The characteristic break in the radio luminosity function occurs at a significantly higher power (~1 dex) for the HERG population in comparison to the LERGs. This is consistent with the two populations representing fundamentally different accretion modes.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.of high- and low-excitation radio galaxies and their redshift evolution to z=0.75 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw910
Uncontrolled Keywords:	astro-ph.GA; astro-ph.GA
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Related URLs:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.04332v1
Date Deposited:	20 May 2016 11:28
Last Modified:	09 May 2022 09:30
DOI or ID number:	10.1093/mnras/stw910
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/3639

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