An Ultra-deep Multiband Very Large Array (VLA) Survey of the Faint Radio Sky (COSMOS-XS): New Constraints on the Cosmic Star Formation History

Abstract

We make use of ultra-deep 3 GHz Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the COSMOS field from the multiband COSMOS-XS survey to infer radio luminosity functions (LFs) of star-forming galaxies (SFGs). Using ∼1300 SFGs with redshifts out to z ∼ 4.6, and fixing the faint and bright end shape of the radio LF to the local values, we find a strong redshift trend that can be fitted by pure luminosity evolution with the luminosity parameter given by α L ∝ (3.40 ± 0.11) − (0.48 ± 0.06) z . We then combine the ultra-deep COSMOS-XS data set with the shallower VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz large project data set over the wider COSMOS field in order to fit for joint density+luminosity evolution, finding evidence for significant density evolution. By comparing the radio LFs to the observed far-infrared and ultraviolet (UV) LFs, we find evidence of a significant underestimation of the UV LF by 22% ± 14% at high redshift (3.3 < z < 4.6, integrated down to 0.03 L z = 3 ⋆ ). We derive the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD) by integrating the fitted radio LFs and find that the SFRD rises up to z ∼ 1.8 and then declines more rapidly than previous radio-based estimates. A direct comparison between the radio SFRD and a recent UV-based SFRD, where we integrate both LFs down to a consistent limit ( 0.038 L z = 3 ⋆ ), reveals that the discrepancy between the radio and UV LFs translates to a significant (∼1 dex) discrepancy in the derived SFRD at z > 3, even assuming the latest dust corrections and without accounting for optically dark sources.