GOODS-Herschel: Radio-excess signature of hidden AGN activity in distant star-forming galaxies

Context. A tight correlation exists between far-infrared and radio emission for star-forming galaxies (SFGs), which seems to hold out to high redshifts (z ≈ 2). Any excess of radio emission over that expected from star formation processes is most likely produced by an active galactic nucleus (AGN), often hidden by large amounts of dust and gas. Identifying these radio-excess sources will allow us to study a population of AGN unbiased by obscuration and thus find some of the most obscured, Compton-thick AGN, which are in large part unidentified even in the deepest X-ray and infrared (IR) surveys. Aims: We present here a new spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting approach that we adopt to select radio-excess sources amongst distant star-forming galaxies in the GOODS-Herschel (North) field and to reveal the presence of hidden, highly obscured AGN. Methods: Through extensive SED analysis of 458 galaxies with radio 1.4 GHz and mid-IR 24 μm detections using some of the deepest Chandra X-ray, Spitzer and Herschel infrared, and VLA radio data available to date, we have robustly identified a sample of 51 radio-excess AGN (~1300 deg-2) out to redshift z ≈ 3. These radio-excess AGN have a significantly lower far-IR/radio ratio (q