2008ApJ...689L...5S -
Astrophys. J., 689, L5-L8 (2008/December-2)
Molecular gas in a submillimeter galaxy at z = 4.5: evidence for a major merger at 1 billion years after the Big Bang.
SCHINNERER E., CARILLI C.L., CAPAK P., MARTINEZ-SANSIGRE A., SCOVILLE N.Z., SMOLCIC V., TANIGUCHI Y., YUN M.S., BERTOLDI F., LE FEVRE O. and DE RAVEL L.
Abstract (from CDS):
We report the detection of CO molecular line emission in the z=4.5 millimeter-detected galaxy COSMOS J100054+023436 (hereafter J1000+0234) using the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer (PdBI) and NRAO's Very Large Array (VLA). The 12CO(4-3) line as observed with PdBI has a full line width of ∼1000 km/s, an integrated line flux of 0.66 Jy km/s, and a CO luminosity of 3.2x1010 L☉. Comparison to the 3.3 σ detection of the CO(2-1) line emission with the VLA suggests that the molecular gas is likely thermalized to the J=4-3 transition level. The corresponding molecular gas mass is 2.6x1010 M☉ assuming an ULIRG-like conversion factor. From the spatial offset of the red- and blueshifted line peaks and the line width a dynamical mass of 1.1x1011 M☉ is estimated assuming a merging scenario. The molecular gas distribution coincides with the rest-frame optical and radio position of the object while being offset by 0.5" from the previously detected Lyα emission. J1000+0234 exhibits very typical properties for lower redshift (z∼2) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) and thus is very likely one of the long sought after high-redshift (z>4) objects of this population. The large CO(4-3) line width taken together with its highly disturbed rest-frame UV geometry suggest an ongoing major merger about a billion years after the big bang. Given its large star formation rate (SFR) of >1000 M☉/yr and molecular gas content this object could be the precursor of a ``red and dead'' elliptical observed at a redshift of z=2.
Abstract Copyright:
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Journal keyword(s):
Galaxies: Formation - Galaxies: High-Redshift - Galaxies: ISM - Galaxies: Starburst - Submillimeter
Simbad objects:
3
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