CaltechAUTHORS
Published April 3, 2003 | Version Submitted
Journal Article Open

A Molecular Einstein Ring: Imaging a Starburst Disk Surrounding a Quasi-Stellar Object

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon National Radio Astronomy Observatory
  • 2. ROR icon University of Sydney
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon University of Paris-Saclay
  • 5. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
  • 6. ROR icon Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris

Abstract

Images of the molecular CO 2-1 line emission and the radio continuum emission from the redshift 4.12 gravitationally lensed quasi-stellar object (QSO) PSS J2322+1944 reveal an Einstein ring with a diameter of 1.5″. These observations are modeled as a star-forming disk surrounding the QSO nucleus with a radius of 2 kiloparsecs. The implied massive star formation rate is 900 solar masses per year. At this rate, a substantial fraction of the stars in a large elliptical galaxy could form on a dynamical time scale of 108 years. The observation of active star formation in the host galaxy of a high-redshift QSO supports the hypothesis of coeval formation of supermassive black holes and stars in spheroidal galaxies.

Additional Information

© 2003 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 21 January 2003; accepted 20 March 2003; published online 3 April 2003. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is operated by Associated Universities under a cooperative agreement with NSF. S.G.D. acknowledges partial support from the Bressler Foundation.

Attached Files

Submitted - 0304124.pdf

Files

0304124.pdf

Files (202.3 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:c7853fdbfa2b9bd0c5677898fb7b1fed
202.3 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
51861
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20141117-141533147

Related works

Describes
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0304124 (URL)

Funding

Bressler Foundation

Dates

Created
2014-11-18
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field