A 158 μm [C ii] LINE SURVEY OF GALAXIES AT z ∼ 1–2: AN INDICATOR OF STAR FORMATION IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE

By Gordon J. Stacey, S. Hailey-Dunsheath, C. Ferkinhoff, T. Nikola, S. Parshley, Dominic J. Benford, J. Staguhn, N. Fiolet. 2010

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We have detected the 158 μm [C ii] line from 12 galaxies at z ∼ 1–2. This is the first survey of this important star formation tracer at redshifts covering the epoch of maximum star formation in the universe and quadruples the number of reported high-z [C ii] detections. The line is very luminous, between <0.024% and 0.65% of the far-infrared (FIR) continuum luminosity of our sources, and arises from photodissociation regions on molecular cloud surfaces. An exception is PKS 0215+015, where half of the [C ii] emission could arise from X-ray-dominated regions near the central active galactic nucleus (AGN). The L[C ii]/LFIR ratio in our star formation-dominated systems is ∼8 times larger than that of our AGN-dominated systems. Therefore this ratio selects for star formation-dominated systems. Furthermore, the L[C ii]/LFIR and L[C ii]/L(CO(1–0)) ratios in our star-forming galaxies and nearby starburst galaxies are the same, so that luminous star-forming galaxies at earlier epochs (z ∼ 1–2) appear to be scaled-up versions of local starbursts entailing kiloparsec-scale starbursts. Most of the FIR and [C ii] radiation from our AGN-dominated sample (excepting PKS 0215+015) also arises from kiloparsec-scale star formation, but with far-UV radiation fields ∼8 times more intense than in our star formation-dominated sample. We speculate that the onset of AGN activity stimulates large-scale star formation activity within AGN-dominated systems. This idea is supported by the relatively strong [O iii] line emission, indicating very young stars, that was recently observed in high-z composite AGN/starburst systems. Our results confirm the utility of the [C ii] line, and in particular, the L[C ii]/L(FIR) and L[C ii]/LCO(1–0) ratios as tracers of star formation in galaxies at high redshifts.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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Citations in the corpus

• The applicability of far-infrared fine-structure lines as star formation rate tracers over wide ranges of metallicities and galaxy types (2014, background): “…a potential powerful tracer of the star formation activity in the nearby as well as the more distant Universe (Stacey et al. 1991; Boselli et al. 2002; Stacey et al. 2010; De Looze et al. 2011; Sargsyan et al. 2012) and we, now, aim to expand this analysis to nearby, low-metallicity dwarf galaxies.”
• Physical Properties of 15 Quasars at z ≳ 6.5 (2017, background): “At z > 1, the scenario is less clear, where the scatter in the measurements of L[CII]/LFIR for star-forming galaxies (Stacey et al. 2010, Brisbin et al. 2015, Gullberg et al. 2015), SMGs and quasars increases.”
• GAS AND DUST IN A SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY AT z = 4.24 FROM THE HERSCHEL ATLAS (2011, background): “Assuming a conversion factor of αCO = 0.8 M (K km s−1 pc2)−1 from L′CO(1–0) to MH2 , appropriate for starburst galaxies as derived from observations of local ULIRGs (Downes & Solomon 1998; Tacconi et al. 2008), yields a molecular gas mass MH2 = 3.5 × 1011 μ−1L M .”
• AN INTENSELY STAR-FORMING GALAXY AT z ∼ 7 WITH LOW DUST AND METAL CONTENT REVEALED BY DEEP ALMA AND HST OBSERVATIONS (2013, background): “In the case of a), a hard ionizing spectrum of AGN can produce little [Cii] luminosity relative to FIR luminosity, due to the intense ionization field (Stacey et al. 2010).”
• EXPLAINING THE [C ii]157.7 μm DEFICIT IN LUMINOUS INFRARED GALAXIES—FIRST RESULTS FROM A HERSCHEL/PACS STUDY OF THE GOALS SAMPLE (2013, methodology): “As an example, in Figure 7 we show two intermediate redshift z ∼ 1.2 galaxies from Stacey et al. (2010) (SMMJ123633 and 3C368) and three high redshift z ∼ 4.5 sub-millimeter galaxies (SMGs) (LESS 61.1 and LESS 65.1: Swinbank et al. 2012; LESS 033229.3: De Breuck et al. 2011; Wardlow et al. 2011)…”
• HerMES: CANDIDATE GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED GALAXIES AND LENSING STATISTICS AT SUBMILLIMETER WAVELENGTHS (2012, methodology): “Recently, the [C II]158µm fine-structure transition was detected (Hailey-Dunsheath et al. 2010; Stacey et al. 2010), and [O I]63µm and [O III]52µm were observed with Herschel PACS (Sturm et al. 2010).”
• A Herschel/PACS Far-infrared Line Emission Survey of Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies (2017, background): “…Magnelli et al. 2011), and a number of works have already shown that local LIRGs (and not ULIRGs) are probably the closest local analogs of this high-z, IR-bright galaxy population (Desai et al. 2007; Pope et al. 2008; Menéndez-Delmestre et al. 2009; Dı́az-Santos et al. 2010b; Stacey et al. 2010).”
• ALMA IMAGING OF GAS AND DUST IN A GALAXY PROTOCLUSTER AT REDSHIFT 5.3: [C ii] EMISSION IN “TYPICAL” GALAXIES AND DUSTY STARBURSTS ≈1 BILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG (2014, background): “…it was only detected in some of the most luminous quasars and starburst galaxies in the past (e.g., Maiolino et al. 2005, 2009; Walter et al. 2009; Stacey et al. 2010; Wagg et al. 2010; Valtchanov et al. 2011; Riechers et al. 2013; Wang et al. 11 Based on photometric redshifts and several…”
• Cool Gas in High-Redshift Galaxies (2013, methodology): “Mechanical shock models have also been invoked to explain the extreme excitation conditions in nuclear starburst or other dense regions (e.g. Flower & Pineau des Forets 2003, Kristensen et al. 2008, Meijerink et al. 2013; Stacey et al. 2010; Nikola et al. 2010).”
• COLLISIONAL EXCITATION OF THE [C ii] FINE STRUCTURE TRANSITION IN INTERSTELLAR CLOUDS (2012, background): “…been recognized as an important tracer of star formation throughout the universe, to a significant degree because of its great luminosity, which is typically between 0.1% and 1% of the far-infrared luminosity of star-forming galaxies (Madden et al. 1993; Malhotra et al. 2001; Stacey et al. 2010).”
• THE PdBI ARCSECOND WHIRLPOOL SURVEY (PAWS). I. A CLOUD-SCALE/MULTI-WAVELENGTH VIEW OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM IN A GRAND-DESIGN SPIRAL GALAXY (2013, background): “Typically most of the [CII] emission in nearby galaxies arises from the surface layer of molecular clouds where the gas is warm, dense and photo-dissociated by FUV emission from either nearby hot (OB) stars and/or the interstellar radiation field (see, e.g., introduction of Stacey et al. 2010).”
• Terahertz Spectroscopy for Astronomy: From Comets to Cosmology (2011, background): “ZEUS observed the C line in 12 galaxies at redshifts between 1 and 2 [ 67 ], finding the origin to be photon-dominated regions (PDRs) for all galaxies but one, which may find its origin in x-ray dominated regions (XDRs).”
• PHIBSS: Unified Scaling Relations of Gas Depletion Time and Molecular Gas Fractions (2017, background): “…the dense gas fraction increases (Gracia-Carpio et al 2011, Lada et al. 2012), and the ratio of FIR cooling line to continuum luminosity drops (“FIR line deficit”) indicative of local volumetric changes in ISM properties (Stacey et al. 2010, Gracia-Carpio et al 2011, Herrera-Camus et al. 2018).”
• Jet-induced star formation in gas-rich galaxies (2011, background): “Stacey et al. (2010) detected 158µm [CII] line emission in galaxies at z ∼ 1−2, and inferred most of the FIR and [CII] emission originates from kpc-scale cores in the AGN-dominated galaxies where the local FUV field is much higher than in the star-formation-dominated galaxies.”
• The Herschel Dwarf Galaxy Survey - I. Properties of the low-metallicity ISM from PACS spectroscopy (2015, background): “…line emerges as the brightest cooling line of the ISM in star-forming galaxies and as a good tracer of the star formation activity, accounting for ∼0.1-1% of the FIR luminosity (e.g., Stacey et al. 2010; Pierini et al. 2003; Boselli et al. 2002; De Looze et al. 2011, 2014a; Sargsyan et al. 2014).”