The AGN-Starburst connection in nearby (U)LIRGs: a radio view

I review the main results obtained by our team in the last few years, on studies of nearby Luminous and Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs, respectively). These galaxies are expected to form stars at rates as large as (10-100) Msolar/yr, or even higher, and constitute excellent laboratories for studies of star-formation. They are also expected to be bright at radio wavelengths. 

Among other results, I will present the impressive discovery of an extremely prolific supernova factory in the galaxy Arp 299-A (D=45 Mpc)  and the monitoring of a large number of very compact radio sources, the detection and precise location of the long-sought AGN in Arp 299-A and, more recently, the evidence for the existence of nuclear disks (<~ 100 pc in size) in starburst galaxies from the radial distribution of supernovae. All those results show that very-high angular resolution studies of nearby (U)LIRGs are of high relevance for the comprehension of both local and high-z starbursting galaxies.