On the nature of infrared-faint radio sources in the SXDF and VLA-VVDS fields

Abstract

Infrared-Faint Radio Sources (IFRSs) are an unusual class of objects that are relatively bright at radio wavelengths but have faint or undetected infrared counterparts even in deep surveys. We identify and investigate the nature of IFRSs using deep radio (S$_{\rm 1.4~GHz}$ $\sim$ 100 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ at 5$\sigma$), optical (m$_{\rm r}$ $\sim$ 26 - 27.7 at 5$\sigma$), and near-IR (S$_{\rm 3.6~{\mu}m}$ $\sim$ 1.3 - 2.0 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ at 5$\sigma$) data available in two deep fields namely the Subaru X-ray Deep Field (SXDF) and the Very Large Array - VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VLA-VVDS) field. In 1.8 deg$^{2}$ of the two fields we identify a total of nine confirmed and ten candidate IFRSs. We find that our IFRSs are high-redshift radio-loud AGN, with 12/19 sources having redshift estimates in the range of $z$ $\sim$ 1.7 - 4.3, while a limit of $z$ $\geq$ 2.0 is placed for the remaining seven sources. Notably, our study finds, for the first time, IFRSs with measured redshift $>$ 3.0, and also, the redshift estimates for IFRSs in the faintest 3.6 $\mu$m flux regime i.e., S$_{\rm 3.6~{\mu}m}$ $<$ 1.3 ${\mu}$Jy. Radio observations show that our IFRSs exhibit both compact unresolved as well as extended double-lobe morphologies, and have predominantly steep radio spectra between 1.4 GHz and 325 MHz. The non-detection of all but one IFRSs in the X-ray band and the optical-to-MIR colour (m$_{\rm r}$ - m$_{\rm 24~{\mu}m}$) suggest that a significant fraction of IFRSs are likely to be hosted in dusty obscured galaxies.