No Arabic abstract
Data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (the First Look Survey - FLS) have recently been made public. We have compared the 24 micron images with very deep WSRT 1.4 GHz observations, centred on the FLS verification strip (FLSv). Approximately 75% of the radio sources have corresponding 24 micron identifications. Such a close correspondence is expected, especially at the fainter radio flux density levels, where star forming galaxies are thought to dominate both the radio and mid-IR source counts. However, a significant fraction of radio sources detected by WSRT (25%) have no mid-IR detection in the FLSv (implying a 24 micron flux density less than 0.1 mJy). We present initial results on the nature of the radio sources without Spitzer identification, using data from various multi-waveband instruments, including the publicly available R-band data from the Kitt Peak 4-m telescope.
We present a preliminary investigation of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and star-formation properties of a sample of Mid-IR selected Quasars. The mid-infrared SEDs of our objects are consistent with that expected from clumpy torus models. At longer wavelengths, the radio to infrared ratios of several objects are consistent with those of star-forming galaxies.
We present the multiwavelength properties of 266 cataloged radio sources identified with 20 and 6 cm VLA deep observations of the CDFS at a flux density limit of 42 mu Jy at the field centre at 1.4 GHz. These new observations probe the faint end of both the star formation and radio galaxy/AGN population. X-ray data, including upper limits, turn out to be a key factor in establishing the nature of faint radio sources. We find that, while the well-known flattening of the radio number counts below 1 mJy is mostly due to star forming galaxies, these sources and AGN make up an approximately equal fraction of the sub--millijansky sky, contrary to some previous results. We have also uncovered a population of distant AGN systematically missing from many previous studies of sub-millijansky radio source identifications. The AGN include radio galaxies, mostly of the low-power, Fanaroff-Riley I type, and a significant radio-quiet component, which amounts to approximately one fifth of the total sample. We also find that radio detected, X-ray AGN are not more heavily obscured than the X-ray detected AGN. This argues against the use of radio surveys as an efficient way to search for the missing population of strongly absorbed AGN.
Data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (the First Look Survey - FLS) have recently been made public. We have compared the 24 micron images with very deep WSRT 1.4 GHz observations (Morganti et al. 2004), centred on the FLS verification strip (FLSv). Approximately 75% of the radio sources have corresponding 24 micron identifications. Such a close correspondence is expected, especially at the fainter radio flux density levels, where star forming galaxies are thought to dominate both the radio and mid-IR source counts. Spitzer detects many sources that have no counter-part in the radio. However, a significant fraction of radio sources detected by the WSRT (about 25%) have no mid-IR identification in the FLSv (implying a 24 micron flux density less than 100 microJy). The fraction of radio sources without a counterpart in the mid-IR appears to increase with increasing radio flux density, perhaps indicating that some fraction of the AGN population may be detected more readily at radio than Mid-IR wavelenghts. We present initial results on the nature of the radio sources without Spitzer identification, using data from various multi-waveband instruments, including the publicly available R-band data from the Kitt Peak 4-m telescope.
In this Letter, we present the initial characterization of extragalactic 24um sources in the Spitzer First Look Survey (FLS) by examining their counterparts at 8um and R-band. The color-color diagram of 24-to-8 vs. 24-to-0.7um is populated with 18,734 sources brighter than the 3sigma flux limit of 110uJy, over an area of 3.7sq.degrees. The 24-to-0.7um colors of these sources span almost 4 orders of magnitudes, while the 24-to-8um colors distribute at least over 2 orders of magnitudes. In addition to identifying ~30% of the total sample with infrared quiescent, mostly low redshift galaxies, we also found that: (1) 23% of the 24um sources (~1200/sq.degrees) have very red 24-to-8 and 24-to-0.7 colors and are probably infrared luminous starbursts with L(IR)>3x10^(11)Lsun at z>1. In particular, 13% of the sample (660/sq.degrees) are 24um detected only, with no detectable emission in either 8um or R-band. These sources are the candidates for being ULIRGs at z>2. (2) 2% of the sample (85/sq.degrees) have colors similar to dust reddened AGNs, like Mrk231 at z~0.6-3. (3) We anticipate that some of these sources with extremely red colors may be new types of sources, since they can not be modelled with any familiar type of spectral energy distribution. We find that 17% of the 24um sources have no detectable optical counterparts brighter than R limit of 25.5mag. Optical spectroscopy of these optical extremely faint 24um sources would be very difficult, and mid-infrared spectroscopy from the Spitzer would be critical for understanding their physical nature (Abridged).
We investigate the nature of 24micron sources in M33 which have weak or no associated Halpha emission. Both bright evolved stars and embedded star forming regions are visible as compact infrared sources in the 8 and 24micron maps of M33 and contribute to the more diffuse and faint emission in these bands. Can we distinguish the two populations? We carry out deep CO J=2-1 and J=1-0 line searches at the location of compact mid-IR sources to unveil an ongoing star formation process. We use different assumptions to estimate cloud masses from pointed observations and analyze if SED and mid-IR colours can be used to discriminate between evolved stars and star forming regions. Molecular emission has been detected at the location of several sources at the level of 0.3 K km/s or higher in at least one of the CO rotational lines. Even though there are no giant molecular clouds beyond 4kpc in M33, our deep observations have revealed that clouds of smaller mass are very common. Sources which are known to be evolved variable stars show weaker or undetectable CO lines. Evolved stars occupy a well defined region of the IRAC color-color diagrams. Star forming regions are scattered throughout a larger area even though the bulk of the distribution has different IRAC colors than evolved variable stars. We estimate that about half of the 24 micron sources without an Halpha counterpart are genuine embedded star forming regions. Sources with faint but compact Halpha emission have an incomplete Initial Mass Function (IMF) at the high-mass end and are compatible with a population of young clusters with a stochastically sampled, universal IMF.