BLAST: the far-infrared/radio correlation in distant galaxies

Abstract

We investigate the correlation between far-infrared (FIR) and radio luminosities in distant galaxies, a lynchpin of modern astronomy. We use data from the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimetre Telescope (BLAST), Spitzer, the Large Apex BOlometer CamerA (LABOCA), the Very Large Array and the Giant Metre-wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS). For a catalogue of BLAST 250-μm-selected galaxies, we remeasure the 70–870-μm flux densities at the positions of their most likely 24-μm counterparts, which have a median [interquartile] redshift of 0.74 [0.25, 1.57]. From these, we determine the monochromatic flux density ratio, q_(250)(= log_(10) [ S_(250 μm)/S_(1400 MHz)]), and the bolometric equivalent, q_(IR). At z ≈ 0.6 , where our 250-μm filter probes rest-frame 160-μm emission, we find no evolution relative to q_(160) for local galaxies. We also stack the FIR and submm images at the positions of 24-μm- and radio-selected galaxies. The difference between q_(IR) seen for 250-μm- and radio-selected galaxies suggests that star formation provides most of the IR luminosity in ≲100-μJy radio galaxies, but rather less for those in the mJy regime. For the 24-μm sample, the radio spectral index is constant across 0 < z < 3 , but q_(IR) exhibits tentative evidence of a steady decline such that q_(IR) ∝ (1 +z)^(−0.15±0.03) – significant evolution, spanning the epoch of galaxy formation, with major implications for techniques that rely on the FIR/radio correlation. We compare with model predictions and speculate that we may be seeing the increase in radio activity that gives rise to the radio background.