Riechers, Dominik A. and Carilli, Christopher L. and Maddalena, Ronald J. and Hodge, Jacqueline A. and Harris, Andrew I. and Baker, Andrew J. and Walter, Fabian and Wagg, Jeff and Vanden Bout, Paul A. and Weiβ, Axel and Sharon, Chelsea E. (2011) CO(J = 1→0) in z > 2 Quasar Host Galaxies: No Evidence for Extended Molecular Gas Reservoirs. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 739 (1). Art. No. L32. ISSN 2041-8205. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20110926-080647674
![]()
|
PDF
- Published Version
See Usage Policy. 685Kb |
Use this Persistent URL to link to this item: https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20110926-080647674
Abstract
We report the detection of CO(J = 1→0) emission in the strongly lensed high-redshift quasars IRAS F10214+4724 (z = 2.286), the Cloverleaf (z = 2.558), RX J0911+0551 (z = 2.796), SMM J04135+10277 (z = 2.846), and MG 0751+2716 (z = 3.200), using the Expanded Very Large Array and the Green Bank Telescope. We report lensing-corrected CO(J = 1→0) line luminosities of L'_(CO) = (0.34-18.4) × 10^(10) K km ^(s–1) pc^2 and total molecular gas masses of M(H_2) = (0.27-14.7) × 10^(10) M_☉ for the sources in our sample. Based on CO line ratios relative to previously reported observations in J ≥ 3 rotational transitions and line excitation modeling, we find that the CO(J = 1→0) line strengths in our targets are consistent with single, highly excited gas components with constant brightness temperature up to mid-J levels. We thus do not find any evidence for luminous-extended, low-excitation, low surface brightness molecular gas components. These properties are comparable to those found in z > 4 quasars with existing CO(J = 1→0) observations. These findings stand in contrast to recent CO(J = 1→0) observations of z ≃ 2-4 submillimeter galaxies (SMGs), which have lower CO excitation and show evidence for multiple excitation components, including some low-excitation gas. These findings are consistent with the picture that gas-rich quasars and SMGs represent different stages in the early evolution of massive galaxies.
Item Type: | Article | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Related URLs: |
| ||||||||||||||||
ORCID: |
| ||||||||||||||||
Additional Information: | © 2011 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2011 April 15; accepted 2011 June 10; published 2011 August 29. This Letter is dedicated to the memory of Phil Solomon. His contributions to the field were a true inspiration, and we gratefully acknowledge his wisdom in the early discussions of the GBT program. We thank the referee, Dr. Philip Maloney, for a helpful report. We thank Charles C. Figura for assistance in the development of data reduction techniques related to the GBT Spectrometer observations. We thank Christian Henkel for the original version of the LVG code. D.R. acknowledges support from NASA through a Spitzer Space Telescope grant. A.J.B. acknowledges support from NSF grant AST-0708653 to Rutgers University. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. | ||||||||||||||||
Funders: |
| ||||||||||||||||
Subject Keywords: | cosmology: observations; galaxies: active; galaxies: formation; galaxies: high-redshift; galaxies: starburst; radio lines: galaxies | ||||||||||||||||
Issue or Number: | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
Classification Code: | PACS: 95.85.Bh; 98.54.aj; 98.80.Es; 98.70.Dk; 98.62.Sb; 98.62.Py; 98.54.ep | ||||||||||||||||
Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20110926-080647674 | ||||||||||||||||
Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20110926-080647674 | ||||||||||||||||
Official Citation: | CO(J = 1→0) in z > 2 Quasar Host Galaxies: No Evidence for Extended Molecular Gas Reservoirs Dominik A. Riechers et al. 2011 ApJ 739 L32 | ||||||||||||||||
Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||||||||||||||
ID Code: | 25429 | ||||||||||||||||
Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | ||||||||||||||||
Deposited By: | Ruth Sustaita | ||||||||||||||||
Deposited On: | 26 Sep 2011 15:28 | ||||||||||||||||
Last Modified: | 06 Nov 2019 20:03 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page