A Multi-wavelength Analysis of the Faint Radio Sky (COSMOS-XS): the Nature of the Ultra-faint Radio Population

Abstract

Ultra-deep radio surveys are an invaluable probe of dust-obscured star formation, but require a clear understanding of the relative contribution from radio AGN to be used to their fullest potential. We study the composition of the $\mu$Jy radio population detected in the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array COSMOS-XS survey based on a sample of 1540 sources detected at 3 GHz over an area of $\sim350\text{arcmin}^2$. This ultra-deep survey consists of a single pointing in the well-studied COSMOS field at both 3 and 10 GHz and reaches RMS-sensitivities of $0.53$ and $0.41\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$, respectively. We find multi-wavelength counterparts for $97\%$ of radio sources, based on a combination of near-UV/optical to sub-mm data, and through a stacking analysis at optical/near-infrared wavelengths we further show that the sources lacking such counterparts are likely to be high-redshift in nature (typical $z\sim4-5$). Utilizing the multi-wavelength data over COSMOS, we identify AGN through a variety of diagnostics and find these to make up $23.2\pm1.3\%$ of our sample, with the remainder constituting uncontaminated star-forming galaxies. However, more than half of the AGN exhibit radio emission consistent with originating from star-formation, with only $8.8\pm0.8\%$ of radio sources showing a clear excess in radio luminosity. At flux densities of $\sim30\mu$Jy at 3 GHz, the fraction of star-formation powered sources reaches $\sim90\%$, and this fraction is consistent with unity at even lower flux densities. Overall, our findings imply that ultra-deep radio surveys such as COSMOS-XS constitute a highly effective means of obtaining clean samples of star-formation powered radio sources.