The nature of the 3CR radio galaxies at z=1

Abstract

We present evidence that the 3CR radio galaxies at redshift one are already very massive, highly dynamically evolved galaxies, which lie at the heart of (proto--)cluster environments. Since nearby 3CR double radio sources are generally found in more isolated surroundings, the galactic environments of these galaxies must change dramatically with redshift. Therefore, the original `uniform population, closed box' interpretation of the infrared K--magnitude vs redshift relationship no longer appears valid. We propose a new interpretation: the powerful radio galaxies selected at high and low redshift have different evolutionary histories, but must contain a similar mass of stars, a few times 10-to-the-power-11 solar masses, and so conspire to produce the `passively evolving' K-z relation observed. We discuss this model in the context of the current understanding of powerful radio sources and, in light of this new model, we compare the K-z relation of the 3CR galaxies with those derived for lower power radio galaxies and for brightest cluster galaxies.