Radio Continuum Emission from Evolving Star-Forming Galaxies -- I. Correlations Involving the Total Synchrotron Luminosity

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Main Authors: Ghosh, Sukanta, Chamandy, Luke, Jose, Charles, Shukurov, Anvar, Rodrigues, Luiz Felippe S., Tabatabaei, Fatemeh
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Ghosh, Sukanta
Chamandy, Luke
Jose, Charles
Shukurov, Anvar
Rodrigues, Luiz Felippe S.
Tabatabaei, Fatemeh
author_facet Ghosh, Sukanta
Chamandy, Luke
Jose, Charles
Shukurov, Anvar
Rodrigues, Luiz Felippe S.
Tabatabaei, Fatemeh
contents Synchrotron radiation dominates the continuum emission of star-forming galaxies in the frequency range from a few $\rm MHz$ to about $30\,\rm{GHz}$. We model the total synchrotron emission of a large population of evolving star-forming galaxies using the semi-analytic galaxy formation model GALFORM combined with the dynamo simulation code MAGNETIZER. Assuming local energy equipartition between cosmic rays and magnetic fields, we calculate the specific synchrotron luminosity $L_ν$ for each simulated galaxy at various frequencies and find strong positive correlations between $L_ν$ and both the star formation rate ($\rm SFR$) and characteristic galaxy rotation speed $V_{\rm rot}$ for redshifts up to $z\simeq 3$. At low redshifts, the turbulent magnetic field is found to dominate in the synchrotron luminosity, but the contribution of the large-scale magnetic field increases with redshift and becomes important for $z\gtrsim 1$. The correlation between $L_ν$ and $\rm SFR$ arises from the tight correlation between the disc gas mass $M_{\rm gas}$ and $\rm SFR$, and the correlation between $L_ν$ and $V_{\rm rot}$ is additionally a consequence of the stellar mass Tully--Fisher relation for main-sequence galaxies. At low redshifts, the model predictions and observational data compiled for this work show remarkable agreement, but a discrepancy arises at higher redshifts, where modelled $\rm SFR$ values are systematically smaller than those previously inferred from observations. These theoretical models will aid the interpretation of next-generation radio surveys with the Square Kilometre Array and other telescopes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2606_01957
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Radio Continuum Emission from Evolving Star-Forming Galaxies -- I. Correlations Involving the Total Synchrotron Luminosity
Ghosh, Sukanta
Chamandy, Luke
Jose, Charles
Shukurov, Anvar
Rodrigues, Luiz Felippe S.
Tabatabaei, Fatemeh
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Synchrotron radiation dominates the continuum emission of star-forming galaxies in the frequency range from a few $\rm MHz$ to about $30\,\rm{GHz}$. We model the total synchrotron emission of a large population of evolving star-forming galaxies using the semi-analytic galaxy formation model GALFORM combined with the dynamo simulation code MAGNETIZER. Assuming local energy equipartition between cosmic rays and magnetic fields, we calculate the specific synchrotron luminosity $L_ν$ for each simulated galaxy at various frequencies and find strong positive correlations between $L_ν$ and both the star formation rate ($\rm SFR$) and characteristic galaxy rotation speed $V_{\rm rot}$ for redshifts up to $z\simeq 3$. At low redshifts, the turbulent magnetic field is found to dominate in the synchrotron luminosity, but the contribution of the large-scale magnetic field increases with redshift and becomes important for $z\gtrsim 1$. The correlation between $L_ν$ and $\rm SFR$ arises from the tight correlation between the disc gas mass $M_{\rm gas}$ and $\rm SFR$, and the correlation between $L_ν$ and $V_{\rm rot}$ is additionally a consequence of the stellar mass Tully--Fisher relation for main-sequence galaxies. At low redshifts, the model predictions and observational data compiled for this work show remarkable agreement, but a discrepancy arises at higher redshifts, where modelled $\rm SFR$ values are systematically smaller than those previously inferred from observations. These theoretical models will aid the interpretation of next-generation radio surveys with the Square Kilometre Array and other telescopes.
title Radio Continuum Emission from Evolving Star-Forming Galaxies -- I. Correlations Involving the Total Synchrotron Luminosity
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.01957