The evolution of star forming galaxies with the Wide Field X-ray Telescope
Abstract
Star forming galaxies represent a small yet sizable fraction of the X-ray sky (1%-20%, depending on the flux). X-ray surveys allow to derive their luminosity function and evolution, free from uncertainties due to absorption. However, much care must be put in the selection criteria to build samples clean from contamination by AGN. Here we review the possibilities offered by the proposed WFXT mission for their study. We analyze the expected luminosity and redshift distributions of star forming galaxies in the proposed WFXT surveys. We discuss the impact of such a mission on the knowledge of the cosmic star formation history, and provide a few suggestions.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1004.5561,
title = {The evolution of star forming galaxies with the Wide Field X-ray Telescope},
author = {Piero Ranalli},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1004.5561},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
6 pages, 4 figures. Proceedings of "The Wide Field X-ray Telescope Workshop", held in Bologna, Italy, Nov. 25-26 2009. To appear in Memorie della Societ\`a Astronomica Italiana.