Radio Galaxies And The Role Of Environment

This dissertation describes research performed in the field of observational astrophysics as part of the Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large Scale Environment (ORELSE) survey, an ongoing multi-wavelength imaging and spectroscopic campaign investigating galaxyevolution in the environments of large scale structures (LSSs) surrounding 16 known clusters at the redshift range of $0.6 [less than or equal to] z [less than or equal to] 1.3. The aim of this dissertation is to contextualize how environment influences galaxy evolution among radio-emitting galaxies and radio Active Galactic Nucleus (RAGN) in a wide dynamic range of environments over cosmic time. In each of the three main chapters I present a sample of radio galaxies and an analysis of the connection to their environments. In the first part of this dissertation I describe the context of radio galaxies, galaxy environments, and the current state of the ORELSE survey. This initial section will set the framework for the variety of studies presented in this thesis. In the second part of this dissertation I present three studies undertaken to investigate various aspects of radio galaxies and the role of there environments. The first of these studies is an investigation of radio galaxies that are cross-matched to spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies in the large scale structures in the five fields of the ORELSE survey. To appropriately classify radio galaxies and study the properties of them separately, a two stage classification method is designed, where radio galaxies are classified into three sub-classes: active galactic nucleus (AGN), Hybrid, and star-forming galaxy (SFG). AGN tend to be preferentially located in locally dense environments and in the cores of clusters/groups, while SFGs exhibit a strong preference for intermediate-density global environments, with these preferences persisting when comparing to galaxies of similar color and stellar mass. These result has important consequences for galaxy evolutionary scenarios, as these two types of galaxies are thought to be the beginning and the end of galaxy evolution. The second of these studies is an investigation of the quenching effect of radio AGN (RAGN) on their neighboring galaxies. In this study, an elevated fraction of quenched RAGN neighbors was found in the most dense local and cluster environments, compared to those of non-RAGN control samples matched to the RAGN population in colour, stellar mass, and local environment. This result suggests that RAGN residing within clusters might heat the intracluster medium (ICM) affecting both in situ star formation and any inflowing gas that remains in their neighbors. This work has important consequences for understanding AGN feedback out of their host galaxies, which is the subject of much debate among astronomers.The final study in this dissertation is a full investigation of the co-evolution of AGN and star formation in radio galaxies in eight ORELSE fields. This study was first motivated by the Hybrid population analyzed in the first study, whose properties suggested that they have coeval star-formation and AGN activity with high accretion efficiency. Combining radio with mid-infrared and far-infrared data available in the ORELSE survey, the AGN and star formation contributions to the total infrared luminosity are well constrained. I present evidence for AGN quenching of the star formation in a rapid timescale in an orbital motion around the clusters/groups. This result has important consequences for galaxy evolutionary scenarios by connecting the two processes that are difficult to separate observationally and are thought to be related.