The Redshift Distribution of Extragalactic Radio Sources

Abstract

Extragalactic radio sources are a unique cosmological probe in that they trace large-scale structure on scales inaccessible to other wavelengths. However as radio survey data is inherently 2D, the redshift distribution, N(z), is necessary to derive spatial information. To obtain this distribution either we measure thousands of radio source redshifts to directly determine N(z) or we derive N(z) from statistical analyses of radio source count and identification data. In this paper we show how the dual-population unification scheme can be incorporated into a rigorous statistical analysis of radio source count data, with the result that our simple parametric evolution and beaming model revises previous estimations of N(z), specifically at low flux densites. This revision is particularly pertinent given that the new generation of radio surveys extend to milli-jansky flux density levels: sampling source densities high enough to reveal spatial structure. In turn, these new radio surveys will provide potent tests which will refine our model.