A submillimetre survey of the star formation history of radio galaxies

We present the results of the first major systematic submillimetre survey of radio galaxies spanning the redshift range 1 2.5, and the average submillimetre luminosity rises at a rate ∝(1+z)3 out to z≃4. Moreover, our extensive sample allows us to argue that this behaviour is not driven by underlying correlations with other radio galaxy properties such as radio power, radio spectral index, or radio source size/age. Although radio selection may introduce other more subtle biases, the redshift distribution of our detected objects is in fact consistent with the most recent estimates of the redshift distribution of comparably bright submillimetre sources discovered in blank field surveys. The evolution of submillimetre luminosity found here for radio galaxies may thus be representative of massive ellipticals in general.