The 1.4 GHz and Halpha Luminosity Functions and Star Formation Rates from Faint Radio Galaxies

Abstract

Using a recently completed survey of faint (sub-mJy) radio sources, selected at 1.4 GHz, a dust-free estimate of the local star formation rate (SFR) is carried out. The sample is 50% complete to 0.2 mJy, with over 50% of the radio sources having optical counterparts brighter than R = 21.5. Spectroscopic observations of 249 optically identified radio sources have been made, using the 2-degree Field (2dF) facility at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). Redshifts and equivalent widths of several spectral features (e.g., Hαand [OII]3727) sensitive to star formation have been measured and used to identify the star-forming and absorption-line systems. The spectroscopic sample is corrected for incompleteness and used to estimate the 1.4 GHz and Hαluminosity functions (LFs) and luminosity density distributions. The 1.4 GHz LF of the star-forming population has a much steeper faint-end slope (1.85) than that for the ellipticals (1.35). This implies an increasing preponderance of star-forming galaxies among the optically identified (i.e., z < 1) radio sources at fainter flux densities. The HαLF of the faint radio population agrees with published HαLFs derived from local samples selected by Hαemission. This suggests that the star-forming faint radio population is coincident with the Hαselected galaxies. The 1.4 GHz and Hαluminosity densities have been used to estimate the SFRs. The two estimates agree, both giving a SFR density of $0.032 M_\odot yr^{-1} Mpc^{-3}$ in the range z < 1.