The SKA view of the interplay between SF and AGN activity, and its role in galaxy evolution

Conference item

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}}<$100~$\mu$Jy). The sensitivity and resolution of the SKA will allow us to identify, and separately trace, the total star formation in the bulges of individual high-redshift galaxies, the related nuclear activity and any star formation occurring on larger scales within a disc. We will therefore gain a detailed picture of the apparently simultaneous development of stellar populations and black holes in the redshift range where both star-formation and AGN activity peak (1$\leq$z$\leq$4). In this chapter we discuss the role of the SKA in studying the connection between AGN activity and galaxy evolution, and the most critical technical requirements for such of studies

Authors: McAlpine, K; Prandoni, I; Jarvis, M; Seymour, N; Padovani, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Proceedings of Science
• Host title: Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (AASKA14)
• Journal: Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array (AASKA14)
• Article number: 083
• Publication date: 2015-05-29
• ISSN: 1824-8039
• Keywords: astro-ph.GA; astro-ph.CO