Aims. We use high-resolution continuum images obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to probe the surface density of star formation in z ~ 2 galaxies and study the different physical ...properties between galaxies within and above the star-formation main sequence of galaxies. Methods. We use ALMA images at 870 μm with 0.2 arcsec resolution in order to resolve star formation in a sample of eight star-forming galaxies at z ~ 2 selected among the most massive Herschel galaxies in the GOODS-South field. This sample is supplemented with eleven galaxies from the public data of the 1.3 mm survey of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, HUDF. We derive dust and gas masses for the galaxies, compute their depletion times and gas fractions, and study the relative distributions of rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) and far-infrared (FIR) light. Results. ALMA reveals systematically dense concentrations of dusty star formation close to the center of the stellar component of the galaxies. We identify two different starburst regimes: (i) the classical population of starbursts located above the SFR-M⋆ main sequence, with enhanced gas fractions and short depletion times and (ii) a sub-population of galaxies located within the scatter of the main sequence that experience compact star formation with depletion timescales typical of starbursts of ~150 Myr. In both starburst populations, the FIR and UV are distributed in distinct regions and dust-corrected star formation rates (SFRs) estimated using UV-optical-near-infrared data alone underestimate the total SFR. Starbursts hidden in the main sequence show instead the lowest gas fractions of our sample and could represent the last stage of star formation prior to passivization. Being Herschel-selected, these main sequence galaxies are located in the high-mass end of the main sequence, hence we do not know whether these “starbursts hidden in the main sequence” also exist below 1011 M⊙. Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are found to be ubiquitous in these compact starbursts, suggesting that the triggering mechanism also feeds the central black hole or that the active nucleus triggers star formation.
Abstract
In an earlier paper we modelled the far-infrared emission from a star-forming galaxy using the photoionization code cloudy and presented metallicity sensitive diagnostics based on ...far-infrared fine structure line ratios. Here, we focus on the applicability of the O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm line ratio as a gas-phase metallicity indicator in high-redshift submillimetre luminous galaxies. The O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm ratio is strongly dependent on the ionization parameter (which is related to the total number of ionizing photons) and on the gas electron density. We demonstrate how the ratio of 88/122 μm continuum flux measurements can provide a reasonable estimate of the ionization parameter, while the availability of the N ii 205 μm line can constrain the electron density. Using the O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm line ratios from a sample of nearby normal and star-forming galaxies, we measure their gas-phase metallicities and find that their mass–metallicity relation is consistent with the one derived using optical emission lines. Using new, previously unpublished, Herschel spectroscopic observations of key far-infrared fine structure lines of the z ∼ 3 galaxy HLSW-01 and additional published measurements of far-infrared fine structure lines of high-z submillimetre luminous galaxies,
we derive gas-phase metallicities using their O iii 88 μm/N ii 122 μm line ratio. We find that the metallicities of these z ∼ 3 submm-luminous galaxies are consistent with solar metallicities and that they appear to follow the mass–metallicity relation expected for z ∼ 3 systems.
We present ALMA Band 9 observations of the C II158 μm emission for a sample of 10 main-sequence galaxies at redshift z ˜ 2, with typical stellar masses (log M⋆/M⊙ ˜ 10.0-10.9) and star formation ...rates (˜35-115 M⊙ yr-1). Given the strong and well-understood evolution of the interstellar medium from the present to z = 2, we investigate the behaviour of the C II emission and empirically identify its primary driver. We detect C II from six galaxies (four secure and two tentative) and estimate ensemble averages including non-detections. The C II-to-infrared luminosity ratio (C II/LIR) of our sample is similar to that of local main-sequence galaxies (˜2 × 10-3), and ˜10 times higher than that of starbursts. The C II emission has an average spatial extent of 4-7 kpc, consistent with the optical size. Complementing our sample with literature data, we find that the C II luminosity correlates with galaxies' molecular gas mass, with a mean absolute deviation of 0.2 dex and without evident systematics: the C II-to-H2 conversion factor (α _C II ˜ 30 M⊙/L⊙) is largely independent of galaxies' depletion time, metallicity, and redshift. C II seems therefore a convenient tracer to estimate galaxies' molecular gas content regardless of their starburst or main-sequence nature, and extending to metal-poor galaxies at low and high redshifts. The dearth of C II emission reported for z > 6-7 galaxies might suggest either a high star formation efficiency or a small fraction of ultraviolet light from star formation reprocessed by dust.
Abstract
We present the first results from the Mapping Obscuration to Reionization with ALMA (MORA) survey, the largest Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) blank-field contiguous ...survey to date (184 arcmin
2
) and the only at 2 mm to search for dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). We use the 13 sources detected above 5
σ
to estimate the first ALMA galaxy number counts at this wavelength. These number counts are then combined with the state-of-the-art galaxy number counts at 1.2 and 3 mm and with a backward evolution model to place constraints on the evolution of the IR luminosity function and dust-obscured star formation in the past 13 billion years. Our results suggest a steep redshift evolution on the space density of DSFGs and confirm the flattening of the IR luminosity function at faint luminosities, with a slope of
. We conclude that the dust-obscured component, which peaks at
z
≈ 2–2.5, has dominated the cosmic history of star formation for the past ∼12 billion years, back to
z
∼ 4. At
z
= 5, the dust-obscured star formation is estimated to be ∼35% of the total star formation rate density and decreases to 25%–20% at
z
= 6–7, implying a minor contribution of dust-enshrouded star formation in the first billion years of the universe. With the dust-obscured star formation history constrained up to the end of the epoch of reionization, our results provide a benchmark to test galaxy formation models, to study the galaxy mass assembly history, and to understand the dust and metal enrichment of the universe at early times.
Abstract
We present dynamical measurements for 586 Hα-detected star-forming galaxies from the KMOS (K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph) Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS). The sample represents ...typical star-forming galaxies at this redshift (z = 0.6–1.0), with a median star formation rate of ≈7 M⊙ yr−1 and a stellar mass range of log (M⋆M⊙) ≈ 9–11. We find that the rotation velocity–stellar mass relationship (the inverse of the Tully–Fisher relationship) for our rotationally dominated sources (vC/σ0 > 1) has a consistent slope and normalization as that observed for z = 0 discs. In contrast, the specific angular momentum (j⋆; angular momentum divided by stellar mass) is ≈0.2–0.3 dex lower on average compared to z = 0 discs. The specific angular momentum scales as $j_{\rm s}\propto M_{\star }^{0.6\pm 0.2}$, consistent with that expected for dark matter (i.e. $j_{\rm DM}\propto M_{\rm DM}^{2/3}$). We find that z ≈ 0.9 star-forming galaxies have decreasing specific angular momentum with increasing Sérsic index. Visually, the sources with the highest specific angular momentum, for a given mass, have the most disc-dominated morphologies. This implies that an angular momentum–mass–morphology relationship, similar to that observed in local massive galaxies, is already in place by z ≈ 1.
Understanding how super-massive black holes form and grow in the early Universe has become a major challenge
since it was discovered that luminous quasars existed only 700 million years after the Big ...Bang
. Simulations indicate an evolutionary sequence of dust-reddened quasars emerging from heavily dust-obscured starbursts that then transition to unobscured luminous quasars by expelling gas and dust
. Although the last phase has been identified out to a redshift of 7.6 (ref.
), a transitioning quasar has not been found at similar redshifts owing to their faintness at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. Here we report observations of an ultraviolet compact object, GNz7q, associated with a dust-enshrouded starburst at a redshift of 7.1899 ± 0.0005. The host galaxy is more luminous in dust emission than any other known object at this epoch, forming 1,600 solar masses of stars per year within a central radius of 480 parsec. A red point source in the far-ultraviolet is identified in deep, high-resolution imaging and slitless spectroscopy. GNz7q is extremely faint in X-rays, which indicates the emergence of a uniquely ultraviolet compact star-forming region or a Compton-thick super-Eddington black-hole accretion disk at the dusty starburst core. In the latter case, the observed properties are consistent with predictions from cosmological simulations
and suggest that GNz7q is an antecedent to unobscured luminous quasars at later epochs.
We present high-fidelity, 30 mas (200 pc) resolution ALMA rest-frame 240 m observations of cold dust emission in three typical main-sequence star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z ∼ 3 in the Hubble ...Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF). The cold dust is distributed within the smooth disklike central regions of star formation 1-3 kpc in diameter, despite their complex and disturbed rest-frame UV and optical morphologies. No dust substructures or clumps are seen down to 1-3 yr−1 (1 ) per 200 pc beam. No dust emission is observed at the locations of UV-emitting clumps, which lie 2-10 kpc from the bulk of star formation. Clumpy substructures can contribute no more than 1%-7% of the total star formation in these galaxies (3 upper limits). The lack of star-forming substructures in our HUDF galaxies is to be contrasted with the multiple substructures characteristic of submillimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs) at the same cosmic epoch, particularly the far-IR-bright SMGs with similarly high-fidelity ALMA observations of Hodge et al. Individual star-forming substructures in these SMGs contain ∼10%-30% of their total star formation. A substructure in these SMGs is often comparably bright in the far-infrared to (or in some cases brighter than) our typical SFGs, suggesting that these SMGs originate from a class of disruptive events involving multiple objects at the scale of our HUDF galaxies. The scale of the disruptive event found in our main-sequence SFGs, characterized by the lack of star-forming substructures at our resolution and sensitivity, could be less violent, e.g., gas-rich disk instability or minor mergers.
We investigate the CO excitation of normal (near-IR selected BzK) star-forming (SF) disk galaxies at z = 1.5 using IRAM Plateau de Bure observations of the CO2–1, CO3–2, and CO5–4 transitions for ...four galaxies, including VLA observations of CO1–0 for three of them, with the aim of constraining the average state of H2 gas. By exploiting previous knowledge of the velocity range, spatial extent, and size of the CO emission, we measure reliable line fluxes with a signal-to-noise ratio >4–7 for individual transitions. While the average CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) has a subthermal excitation similar to the Milky Way (MW) up to CO3–2, we show that the average CO5–4 emission is four times stronger than assuming MW excitation. This demonstrates that there is an additional component of more excited, denser, and possibly warmer molecular gas. The ratio of CO5–4 to lower-J CO emission is lower than in local (ultra-)luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and high-redshift starbursting submillimeter galaxies, however, and appears to be closely correlated with the average intensity of the radiation field ⟨ U ⟩ and with the star formation surface density, but not with the star formation efficiency. The luminosity of the CO5–4 transition is found to be linearly correlated with the bolometric infrared luminosity over four orders of magnitudes. For this transition, z = 1.5 BzK galaxies follow the same linear trend as local spirals and (U)LIRGs and high-redshift star-bursting submillimeter galaxies. The CO5–4 luminosity is thus empirically related to the dense gas and might be a more convenient way to probe it than standard high-density tracers that are much fainter than CO. We see excitation variations among our sample galaxies that can be linked to their evolutionary state and clumpiness in optical rest-frame images. In one galaxy we see spatially resolved excitation variations, where the more highly excited part of the galaxy corresponds to the location of massive SF clumps. This provides support to models that suggest that giant clumps are the main source of the high-excitation CO emission in high-redshift disk-like galaxies.
Star-forming galaxies (SFGs) display a continuous specific star formation rate (sSFR) distribution, which can be approximated by two log-normal functions: one encompassing the galaxy main sequence ...(MS), and the other a rarer, starbursting population. Starburst (SB) sSFRs can be regarded as the outcome of a physical process (plausibly merging) taking the mathematical form of a log-normal boosting kernel that enhances star formation activity. We explore the utility of splitting the star-forming population into MS and SB galaxies-an approach we term the "2-Star Formation Mode" framework-for understanding their molecular gas properties. Star formation efficiency (SFE) and gas fraction variations among SFGs take a simple redshift-independent form, once these quantities are normalized to the corresponding values for average MS galaxies. SFE enhancements during SB episodes scale supra-linearly with the SFR increase, as expected for mergers. Consequently, galaxies separate more clearly into loci for SBs and normal galaxies in the Schmidt-Kennicutt plane than in (s)SFR versus Mlow * space. SBs with large deviations (> 10 fold) from the MS, e.g., local ULIRGs, are not average SBs, but are much rarer events whose progenitors had larger gas fractions than typical MS galaxies. Statistically, gas fractions in SBs are reduced two-to threefold compared to their direct MS progenitors, as expected for short-lived SFR boosts where internal gas reservoirs are depleted more quickly than gas is re-accreted from the cosmic web. We predict variations of the conversion factor alpha sub(CO) in the SFR-Mlow * plane and we show that the higher sSFR of distant galaxies is directly related to their larger gas fractions.
We investigate the properties of a sample of 35 galaxies, detected with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 1.1 mm in the GOODS-ALMA field (area of 69 arcmin
2
, resolution = ...0.60″, rms ≃ 0.18 mJy beam
−1
). Using the ultraviolet-to-radio deep multiwavelength coverage of the GOODS–South field, we fit the spectral energy distributions of these galaxies to derive their key physical properties. The galaxies detected by ALMA are among the most massive at
z
= 2−4 (
M
⋆, med
= 8.5 × 10
10
M
⊙
) and they are either starburst or located in the upper part of the galaxy star-forming main sequence. A significant portion of our galaxy population (∼40%), located at
z
∼ 2.5 − 3, exhibits abnormally low gas fractions. The sizes of these galaxies, measured with ALMA, are compatible with the trend between the rest-frame 5000 Å size and stellar mass observed for
z
∼ 2 elliptical galaxies, suggesting that they are building compact bulges. We show that there is a strong link between star formation surface density (at 1.1 mm) and gas depletion time: The more compact a galaxy’s star-forming region is, the shorter its lifetime will be (without gas replenishment). The identified compact sources associated with relatively short depletion timescales (∼100 Myr) are the ideal candidates to be the progenitors of compact elliptical galaxies at
z
∼ 2.
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![The [C ii] emission as a mo...](http://api.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/image/issn/XR4PS5YY4K/0035-8711/small "The [C ii] emission as a molecular gas mass tracer in galaxies at low and high redshifts")
