Poster Presentation Astronomical Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting including HWWS 2013

Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer Observations of Infrared Faint Radio Sources (#213)

Jordan D Collier 1 2 , Julie K Banfield 2 3 , Ray P Norris 2 , Dominic H F M Schnitzeler 2 4 , Amy Kimball 5 6 , Miroslav Filipovic 1 , Thomas H Jarrett 7 , Carol J Lonsdale 8
  1. University of Western Sydney, Kingswood, NSW, Australia
  2. CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Marsfield, NSW, Australia
  3. Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Weston Creek, ACT, Australia
  4. Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie, Universitat Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  5. Dept. of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
  6. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA, USA
  7. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Pasadena, CA, USA
  8. North American ALMA Science Center, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA, USA

We present a population of 1317 Infrared Faint Radio Sources (IFRSs) that are reliably detected in the infrared, generated by cross-correlating the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) all-sky survey with major radio surveys. We present the first spectroscopic redshifts of IFRSs, as well as the first X-ray counterparts of IFRSs, one of which is the only match from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. We propose that they represent a population of radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at z > 2. Evidence for this comes primarily from (1) spectroscopic redshifts for 18 sources, (2) a comparison between the WISE infrared colours, and (3) the radio morphology. 18 spectroscopic redshifts reveal their matching sources to be primarily broadline QSOs at 2 < z < 3. The WISE colours of the sources we present inhabit the same space occupied by obscured AGN, QSOs and Seyferts. The majority of sources are unresolved, but 213 sources contain morphologies of large-scale radio galaxies, showing that a significant portion of this sample consists of radio-loud AGN. We suggest that these are closer versions of the extreme IFRSs believed to be large redshifts (z > 3).

  1. Wright E. L., WISE Team 2009, in American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #214 Vol. 214 of American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, WISE - the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. p. 217.01