Radio Emission and Star Formation in Galaxies
Summary
Radio emission provides a powerful, dust‐unbiased window onto the processes that govern star formation across cosmic time. Galaxies forming stars generate thermal free–free emission in H II regions and non‐thermal synchrotron radiation as supernova‐driven cosmic‐ray electrons spiral in magnetic fields. The balance between these components traces the recent star‐formation rate (SFR) and the interstellar medium’s conditions. At centimetre and metre wavelengths the synchrotron signal dominates, allowing deep surveys to reveal both quiescent and starbursting systems—even those heavily obscured at optical and infrared wavelengths. A tight far‐infrared–radio correlation links the dust‐heated thermal output of young massive stars to their supernova remnants, enabling radio luminosity to serve as a robust SFR indicator. Advances in wide‐area, high‐resolution interferometry have yielded catalogues of millions of sources and resolved studies of individual nearby galaxies, illuminating how feedback, magnetic fields and environment regulate cosmic‐ray propagation. These efforts underpin a more complete census of the star‐forming galaxy population from the local volume to high redshift, refining our understanding of galaxy evolution and the build-up of stellar mass in the Universe.
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Radio Emission and Star Formation in Galaxies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in radio emission and star formation in galaxies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Synchrotron emission: Non-thermal radiation produced by relativistic electrons spiralling in magnetic fields.
Free–free emission: Thermal bremsstrahlung generated by electrons scattering in ionised gas of H II regions.
Far-infrared–radio correlation: Empirical relation linking dust-heated infrared and synchrotron radio luminosities of star-forming galaxies.
Radio luminosity function: Number density of galaxies as a function of their radio power per unit comoving volume.
Spectral energy distribution (SED): Flux density of a source plotted across a wide range of frequencies or wavelengths.
Star-formation rate (SFR): Mass of gas converted into stars per unit time, often expressed in solar masses per year.
References
- The LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey. Astronomy & Astrophysics (2023).
- The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields data release 1. V. Survey description, source classifications, and host galaxy properties. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2023).
- Teaming up Radio and Sub-mm/FIR Observations to Probe Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies. Galaxies (2024).
- The Radio Spectral Energy Distribution and Star-formation Rate Calibration in Galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal (2017).
- THE FAR-INFRARED–RADIO CORRELATION AT HIGH REDSHIFTS: PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PROSPECTS FOR THE SQUARE KILOMETER ARRAY. The Astrophysical Journal (2009).
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