scholarly journals Gone with the heat: a fundamental constraint on the imaging of dust and molecular gas in the early Universe

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 160025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-Yu Zhang ◽  
Padelis P. Papadopoulos ◽  
R. J. Ivison ◽  
Maud Galametz ◽  
M. W. L. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
Velocity Fields ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Gas Velocity ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Mass Distributions ◽  
Line Imaging ◽  
Cold Dust

Images of dust continuum and carbon monoxide (CO) line emission are powerful tools for deducing structural characteristics of galaxies, such as disc sizes, H 2 gas velocity fields and enclosed H 2 and dynamical masses. We report on a fundamental constraint set by the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on the observed structural and dynamical characteristics of galaxies, as deduced from dust continuum and CO-line imaging at high redshifts. As the CMB temperature rises in the distant Universe, the ensuing thermal equilibrium between the CMB and the cold dust and H 2 gas progressively erases all spatial and spectral contrasts between their brightness distributions and the CMB. For high-redshift galaxies, this strongly biases the recoverable H 2 gas and dust mass distributions, scale lengths, gas velocity fields and dynamical mass estimates. This limitation is unique to millimetre/submillimetre wavelengths and unlike its known effect on the global dust continuum and molecular line emission of galaxies, it cannot be addressed simply. We nevertheless identify a unique signature of CMB-affected continuum brightness distributions, namely an increasing rather than diminishing contrast between such brightness distributions and the CMB when the cold dust in distant galaxies is imaged at frequencies beyond the Raleigh–Jeans limit. For the molecular gas tracers, the same effect makes the atomic carbon lines maintain a larger contrast than the CO lines against the CMB.

scholarly journals Dust and gas content of high-redshift galaxies hosting obscured AGN in the Chandra Deep Field-South

2020 ◽  
Vol 636 ◽  
pp. A37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. D’Amato ◽  
R. Gilli ◽  
C. Vignali ◽  
M. Massardi ◽  
F. Pozzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flux Density ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
Major Axis ◽  
Gas Content ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
X Ray ◽  
The Continuum ◽  
Redshift Galaxies

Context. Obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) represent a significant fraction of the entire AGN population, especially at high redshift (∼70% at z = 3 − 5). They are often characterized by the presence of large gas and dust reservoirs that are thought to sustain and possibly obscure vigorous star formation processes that make these objects shine at FIR and submillimeter wavelengths. Studying the physical properties of obscured AGN and their host galaxies is crucial to shedding light on the early stages of a massive system lifetime. Aims. We aim to investigate the contribution of the interstellar medium (ISM) to the obscuration of quasars in a sample of distant highly star forming galaxies and to unveil their morphological and kinematics properties. Methods. We exploit Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Cycle 4 observations of the continuum (∼2.1 mm) and high-J CO emission of a sample of six X-ray selected, FIR detected galaxies hosting an obscured AGN at zspec >  2.5 in the 7 Ms Chandra Deep Field-South. We measured the masses and sizes of the dust and molecular gas by fitting the images, visibilities, and spectra, and we derived the gas density and column density on the basis of a uniform sphere geometry. Finally, we compared the measured column densities with those derived from the Chandra X-ray spectra. Results. We detected both the continuum and line emission for three sources for which we measured both the flux density and size. For the undetected sources, we derived an upper limit on the flux density from the root mean square of the images. We found that the detected galaxies are rich in gas and dust (molecular gas mass in the range < 0.5–2.7 × 1010 M⊙ for αCO = 0.8 and up to ∼2 × 1011 M⊙ for αCO = 6.5, and dust mass < 0.9–4.9 × 108 M⊙) and generally compact (gas major axis 2.1–3.0 kpc, dust major axis 1.4–2.7 kpc). The column densities associated with the ISM are on the order of 1023 − 24 cm−2, which is comparable with those derived from the X-ray spectra. For the detected sources we also derived dynamical masses in the range 0.8–3.7 × 1010 M⊙. Conclusions. We conclude that the ISM of high redshift galaxies can substantially contribute to nuclear obscuration up to the Compton-thick (> 1024 cm−2) regime. In addition, we found that all the detected sources show a velocity gradient reminding one rotating system, even though two of them show peculiar features in their morphology that can be associated with a chaotic, possibly merging, structure.

scholarly journals Detecting CO at High Redshift

1996 ◽  
Vol 171 ◽  
pp. 151-154
Author(s):  
Linda J. Tacconi
Keyword(s):  
Galaxy Evolution ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
Host Galaxy ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies ◽  
Star Formation In Galaxies ◽  
Cold Dust

Searches for molecular line emission from high redshift galaxies have become one of the recent highlights in millimeter astronomy, largely because detection of this emission enables one to study the potential for star formation in galaxies at epochs close to galaxy formation. Such information is crucial to models of galaxy evolution. Thus far, most of the searches have been to try to detect any of the rotational lines of CO, although many authors have also inferred the presence of molecular gas through detections of cold dust in the submillimeter region of the spectrum. In addition to providing information about the physical properties of the molecular gas in distant galaxies (when more than one transition or isotope is detected), the CO lines can be used to place stringent constrints on the dynamical masses of these systems. Moreover, since millimeter data has spectral resolutions of typically a few tens of km/s, one can pin down the redshift of the host galaxy with extremely high precision. One of the driving forces in most of the searches for CO emission at high redshift is the fact that molecular gas is known to be an important constituent in the low redshift counterparts to the types of objects that one expects to find at high redshifts, the Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs), (e.g. Mirabel and Sanders 1985; Sanders et al. 1986), powerful radio galaxies (e.g. Mazzarella et al. 1993), and nearby quasars (e.g. Barvainis et al. 1989), for example.

scholarly journals Molecular gas in the Herschel-selected strongly lensed submillimeter galaxies at z ~ 2–4 as probed by multi-J CO lines

2017 ◽  
Vol 608 ◽  
pp. A144 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Yang ◽  
A. Omont ◽  
A. Beelen ◽  
Y. Gao ◽  
P. van der Werf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Kinetic Temperature ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Line Energy ◽  
Submillimeter Galaxies ◽  
Dust Mass

We present the IRAM-30 m observations of multiple-J CO (Jup mostly from 3 up to 8) and [C I](3P2 → 3P1) ([C I](2–1) hereafter) line emission in a sample of redshift ~2–4 submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). These SMGs are selected among the brightest-lensed galaxies discovered in the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). Forty-seven CO lines and 7 [C I](2–1) lines have been detected in 15 lensed SMGs. A non-negligible effect of differential lensing is found for the CO emission lines, which could have caused significant underestimations of the linewidths, and hence of the dynamical masses. The CO spectral line energy distributions (SLEDs), peaking around Jup ~ 5–7, are found to be similar to those of the local starburst-dominated ultra-luminous infrared galaxies and of the previously studied SMGs. After correcting for lensing amplification, we derived the global properties of the bulk of molecular gas in the SMGs using non-LTE radiative transfer modelling, such as the molecular gas density nH2 ~ 102.5–104.1 cm-3 and the kinetic temperature Tk  ~ 20–750 K. The gas thermal pressure Pth ranging from~105 K cm-3 to 106 K cm-3 is found to be correlated with star formation efficiency. Further decomposing the CO SLEDs into two excitation components, we find a low-excitation component with nH2 ~ 102.8–104.6 cm-3 and Tk  ~ 20–30 K, which is less correlated with star formation, and a high-excitation one (nH2 ~ 102.7–104.2 cm-3, Tk  ~ 60–400 K) which is tightly related to the on-going star-forming activity. Additionally, tight linear correlations between the far-infrared and CO line luminosities have been confirmed for the Jup ≥ 5 CO lines of these SMGs, implying that these CO lines are good tracers of star formation. The [C I](2–1) lines follow the tight linear correlation between the luminosities of the [C I](2–1) and the CO(1–0) line found in local starbursts, indicating that [C I] lines could serve as good total molecular gas mass tracers for high-redshift SMGs as well. The total mass of the molecular gas reservoir, (1–30) × 1010M⊙, derived based on the CO(3–2) fluxes and αCO(1–0) = 0.8 M⊙ ( K km s-1 pc2)-1, suggests a typical molecular gas depletion time tdep ~ 20–100 Myr and a gas to dust mass ratio δGDR ~ 30–100 with ~20%–60% uncertainty for the SMGs. The ratio between CO line luminosity and the dust mass L′CO/Mdust appears to be slowly increasing with redshift for high-redshift SMGs, which need to be further confirmed by a more complete SMG sample at various redshifts. Finally, through comparing the linewidth of CO and H2O lines, we find that they agree well in almost all our SMGs, confirming that the emitting regions of the CO and H2O lines are co-spatially located.

scholarly journals Observations of Molecules in High Redshift Galaxies

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S280) ◽  
pp. 325-338
Author(s):  
Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Small Molecules ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Molecular Line ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Tremendous Progress ◽  
Submillimeter Galaxies ◽  
Redshift Galaxies

AbstractI present an overview of the molecular gas observations in high redshift galaxies. This field has seen tremendous progress in the past few years, with an increased number of detections of other molecules than CO. The molecular line observations are done towards different classes of massive starbursts, including submillimeter galaxies, quasars, and massive gas-rich disks. I will highlight results of detections of HCN, HCO+, and other small molecules, as well as the Spitzer detections of PAHs. Additionally, I will discuss about the excitation of CO and other species in the high-z galaxies and put this in the context of new telescopes such as ALMA.

Infrared line emission from high-redshift galaxies. 1: Calculations

1995 ◽  
Vol 442 ◽  
pp. 569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Mannucci ◽  
Steven V. W. Beckwith
Keyword(s):  
High Redshift ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Redshift Galaxies

scholarly journals Planck’s Dusty GEMS

2019 ◽  
Vol 624 ◽  
pp. A23 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. P. H. Nesvadba ◽  
R. Cañameras ◽  
R. Kneissl ◽  
S. Koenig ◽  
C. Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Redshift ◽  
Starburst Galaxies ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Atomic Carbon ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Neutral Gas ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Good Agreement

The bright 3P1–3P0 ([CI] 1–0) and 3P2–3P1 ([CI] 2–1) lines of atomic carbon are becoming more and more widely employed as tracers of the cold neutral gas in high-redshift galaxies. Here we present observations of these lines in the 11 galaxies of the set of Planck’s Dusty GEMS, the brightest gravitationally lensed galaxies on the extragalactic submillimeter sky probed by the Planck satellite. We have [CI] 1–0 and [CI] 2–1 measurements for seven and eight of these galaxies, respectively, including four galaxies where both lines have been measured. We use our observations to constrain the gas excitation mechanism, excitation temperatures, optical depths, atomic carbon and molecular gas masses, and carbon abundances. Ratios of LCI/LFIR are similar to those found in the local universe, and suggest that the total cooling budget through atomic carbon has not significantly changed in the last 12 Gyr. Both lines are optically thin and trace 1 − 6 × 107 M⊙ of atomic carbon. Carbon abundances, XCI, are between 2.5 and 4 × 10−5, for an ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) CO-to-H2 conversion factor of αCO = 0.8 M⊙ / [K km s−1 pc2]. Ratios of molecular gas masses derived from [CI] 1–0 and CO agree within the measurement uncertainties for five galaxies, and agree to better than a factor of two for another two with [CI] 1–0 measurements, after carefully taking CO excitation into account. This does not support the idea that intense, high-redshift starburst galaxies host large quantities of “CO-dark” gas. These results support the common assumptions underlying most molecular gas mass estimates made for massive, dusty, high-redshift starburst galaxies, although the good agreement between the masses obtained with both tracers cannot be taken as independent confirmation of either αCO or XCI.

scholarly journals Extreme conditions in the molecular gas of lensed star-forming galaxies at z ~3

2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. A142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Andreani ◽  
Edwin Retana-Montenegro ◽  
Zhi-Yu Zhang ◽  
Padelis Papadopoulos ◽  
Chentao Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Gas Phase ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Molecular Gas ◽  
Extreme Conditions ◽  
Atomic Carbon ◽  
Power Sources ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Star Forming ◽  
Nearby Galaxies

Context. Atomic carbon can be an efficient tracer of the molecular gas mass, and when combined to the detection of high-J and low-J CO lines it yields also a sensitive probe of the power sources in the molecular gas of high-redshift galaxies. Aims. The recently installed SEPIA 5 receiver at the focus of the APEX telescope has opened up a new window at frequencies 159–211 GHz allowing the exploration of the atomic carbon in high-z galaxies, at previously inaccessible frequencies from the ground. We have targeted three gravitationally lensed galaxies at redshift of about 3 and conducted a comparative study of the observed high-J CO/CI ratios with well-studied nearby galaxies. Methods. Atomic carbon (CI(2–1)) was detected in one of the three targets and marginally in a second, while in all three targets the J = 7→6 CO line is detected. Results. The CO(7–6)/CI(2–1), CO(7–6)/CO(1–0) line ratios and the CO(7–6)/(far-IR continuum) luminosity ratio are compared to those of nearby objects. A large excitation status in the ISM of these high-z objects is seen, unless differential lensing unevenly boosts the CO line fluxes from the warm and dense gas more than the CO(1–0), CI(2–1), tracing a more widely distributed cold gas phase. We provide estimates of total molecular gas masses derived from the atomic carbon and the carbon monoxide CO(1–0), which within the uncertainties turn out to be equal.

scholarly journals Predicting FIR lines from simulated galaxies

2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (4) ◽  
pp. 5160-5175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Lupi ◽  
Andrea Pallottini ◽  
Andrea Ferrara ◽  
Stefano Bovino ◽  
Stefano Carniani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Emission Lines ◽  
Cosmological Simulations ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Emission Models ◽  
Excellent Tool ◽  
Non Equilibrium

ABSTRACT Far-infrared (FIR) emission lines are a powerful tool to investigate the properties of the interstellar medium, especially in high-redshift galaxies, where ALMA observations have provided unprecedented information. Interpreting such data with state-of-the-art cosmological simulations post-processed with cloudy, has provided insights on the internal structure and gas dynamics of these systems. However, no detailed investigation of the consistency and uncertainties of this kind of analysis has been performed to date. Here, we compare different approaches to estimate FIR line emission from state-of-the-art cosmological simulations, either with cloudy or with on-the-fly non-equilibrium chemistry. We find that [C ii]158μ predictions are robust to the model variations we explored. [O i] emission lines, that typically trace colder and denser gas relative to [C ii]158μ, are instead model dependent, as these lines are strongly affected by the thermodynamic state of the gas and non-equilibrium photoionization effects. For the same reasons, [O i] lines represent an excellent tool to constrain emission models, hence future observations targeting these lines will be crucial.

scholarly journals Strongly time-variable ultraviolet metal-line emission from the circum-galactic medium of high-redshift galaxies

2016 ◽  
Vol 463 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niharika Sravan ◽  
Claude-André Faucher-Giguère ◽  
Freeke van de Voort ◽  
Dušan Kereš ◽  
Alexander L. Muratov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Redshift ◽  
Line Emission ◽  
Time Variable ◽  
Metal Line ◽  
High Redshift Galaxies ◽  
Redshift Galaxies
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