Deep, ultra-high-resolution radio imaging of submillimetre galaxies using Very Long Baseline Interferometry

We present continent-scale very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) - obtained with the European VLBI Network (EVN) at a wavelength of 18 cm - of six distant, luminous submillimetre-selected galaxies (SMGs). Our images have a synthesized beamwidth of approximate to 30 mas FWHM - three orders of magnitude smaller in area than the highest resolution Very Large Array (VLA) imaging at this frequency - and are capable of separating radio emission from ultra-compact radio cores (associated with active super-massive black holes - SMBHs) from that due to starburst activity. Despite targeting compact sources - as judged by earlier observations with the VLA and MERLIN - we identify ultra-compact cores in only two of our targets. This suggests that the radio emission from SMGs is produced primarily on larger scales than those probed by the EVN, and therefore is generated by star formation rather than an active galactic nucleus (AGN) - a result consistent with other methods used to identify the presence of SMBHs in these systems.