A MASSIVE MOLECULAR GAS RESERVOIR IN THE z = 5.3 SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY AzTEC-3

By D. Riechers, P. Capak, C. Carilli, P. Cox, R. Neri, N. Scoville, E. Schinnerer, F. Bertoldi, Lin Yan. 2010

134 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We report the detection of CO J = 2→1, 5→4, and 6→5 emission in the highest-redshift submillimeter galaxy (SMG) AzTEC-3 at z = 5.298, using the Expanded Very Large Array and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer. These observations ultimately confirm the redshift, making AzTEC-3 the most submillimeter-luminous galaxy in a massive z ≃ 5.3 protocluster structure in the COSMOS field. The strength of the CO line emission reveals a large molecular gas reservoir with a mass of 5.3 × 1010(αCO/0.8) M☉, which can maintain the intense 1800 M☉ yr−1 starburst in this system for at least 30 Myr, increasing the stellar mass by up to a factor of six in the process. This gas mass is comparable to “typical” z ∼ 2 SMGs and constitutes ≳80% of the baryonic mass (gas+stars) and 30%–80% of the total (dynamical) mass in this galaxy. The molecular gas reservoir has a radius of <4 kpc and likely consists of a “diffuse”, low-excitation component, containing (at least) 1/3 of the gas mass (depending on the relative conversion factor αCO), and a “dense”, high-excitation component, containing ∼2/3 of the mass. The likely presence of a substantial diffuse component besides highly excited gas suggests different properties between the star-forming environments in z > 4 SMGs and z > 4 quasar host galaxies, which perhaps trace different evolutionary stages. The discovery of a massive, metal-enriched gas reservoir in an SMG at the heart of a large z = 5.3 protocluster considerably enhances our understanding of early massive galaxy formation, pushing back to a cosmic epoch where the universe was less than 1/12 of its present age.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9b32d497a747f6b6eb4b868a3c40a7f3ccd0b2dc

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. D. M. Alexander
2. D. Narayanan
3. F. Walter
4. L. Hernquist
5. P. Hopkins
6. C. Casey
7. E. Daddi
8. C. Carilli

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. R. Ivison
2. D. M. Alexander
3. I. Smail
4. S. Chapman
5. A. Blain
6. F. Walter
7. C. Carilli
8. W. N. Brandt

Citations in the corpus

• ALMA REDSHIFTS OF MILLIMETER-SELECTED GALAXIES FROM THE SPT SURVEY: THE REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION OF DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2013, methodology): “…prescribed to be consistent with the observed redshift distribution from radio-identified DSFGs including recent spectroscopic data from the literature (Chapman et al. 2005; Capak et al. 2008; Coppin et al. 2009; Daddi et al. 2009a,b; Riechers et al. 2010; Banerji et al. 2011; Walter et al. 2012).”
• EVIDENCE FOR A CLUMPY, ROTATING GAS DISK IN A SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY AT z = 4 (2012, background): “Such large offsets between dust/molecular gas emission and (rest–frame) UV/optical imaging have been seen in a number of SMGs (Chapman et al. 2005; Capak et al. 2008; Riechers et al. 2010).”
• Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift (2014, background): “At the measured SFR, such a high mass of carbon could be assembled through supernovae over a timescale of 10 Myrs.”
• SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES AS PROGENITORS OF COMPACT QUIESCENT GALAXIES (2014, methodology): “…in the range 300 − 700 km s−1 (with a few outliers), and a mean 〈FWHM〉 = 456 ± 253 km s−1 (Schinnerer et al. 2008; Daddi et al. 2009a; Coppin et al. 2010; Riechers et al. 2010, 2011b,a; Swinbank et al. 2012; Walter et al. 2012) similar to stellar velocity dispersions σ = 300−500 km s−1…”
• A survey of molecular gas in luminous sub-millimetre galaxies (2012, methodology): “To extend the redshift range of the plot we include four SMGs at high redshift (z > 4), as recently presented by Schinnerer et al. (2008), Daddi et al. (2009), Coppin et al. (2010) and Riechers et al. (2010), in addition to GN20 in our sample at z = 4.05.”
• AN ALMA SURVEY OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES IN THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD SOUTH: THE REDSHIFT DISTRIBUTION AND EVOLUTION OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES (2013, background): “Moreover, their large molecular gas reservoirs (which comprise ∼ 50 per cent of the dynamical mass in the central few kpc; Greve et al. 2005; Riechers et al. 2010; Carilli et al. 2010; Bothwell et al. 2013) and star-formation rates mean they have the potential to form a significant proportion of…”
• 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): “We have recently identified AzTEC-3, a gas-rich SMG at z=5.3 (Riechers et al. 2010, hereafter R10; Capak et al. 2011, hereafter C11) in the AzTEC 1.1mm study of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field (Scoville et al. 2007; Scott et al. 2008).”
• AN INTENSELY STAR-FORMING GALAXY AT z ∼ 7 WITH LOW DUST AND METAL CONTENT REVEALED BY DEEP ALMA AND HST OBSERVATIONS (2013, background): “Thus far, neither cold dust continuum nor these low-ionization tracers of metallicity have been observed beyond z ∼ 6 (Vieira et al. 2013, Capak et al. 2011, Riechers et al. 2010, Coppin et al. 2010).”
• Cool Gas in High-Redshift Galaxies (2013, methodology): “For APM0827+5255, strong emission from very high order transitions is seen (Weiß et al. 2007a; Riechers et al. 2010c).”
• IDENTIFYING LUMINOUS ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI IN DEEP SURVEYS: REVISED IRAC SELECTION CRITERIA (2012, background): “…prevalent in the early universe, heavily dust obscured luminous star-forming galaxies have been selected as sub-mm galaxies (SMGs) out to z∼ 5 (Capak et al. 2008; Schinnerer et al. 2008; Daddi et al. 2009b,a; Coppin et al. 2009; Knudsen et al. 2010; Riechers et al. 2010; Smolčić et al. 2011).”