We present observations of 13CO(1-0) in 17 Combined Array for Research in Millimeter Astronomy ATLAS3D early-type galaxies (ETGs), obtained simultaneously with 12CO(1-0) observations. The 13CO in six ...ETGs is sufficiently bright to create images. In these six sources, we do not detect any significant radial gradient in the 13CO/12CO ratio between the nucleus and the outlying molecular gas. Using the 12CO channel maps as 3D masks to stack the 13CO emission, we are able to detect 15/17 galaxies to >3σ (and 12/17 to at least 5σ) significance in a spatially integrated manner. Overall, ETGs show a wide distribution of 13CO/12CO ratios, but Virgo cluster and group galaxies preferentially show a 13CO/12CO ratio about two times larger than field galaxies, although this could also be due to a mass dependence, or the CO spatial extent (RCO/Re). ETGs whose gas has a morphologically settled appearance also show boosted 13CO/12CO ratios. We hypothesize that this variation could be caused by (i) the extra enrichment of gas from molecular reprocessing occurring in low-mass stars (boosting the abundance of 13C to 12C in the absence of external gas accretion), (ii) much higher pressure being exerted on the mid-plane gas (by the intracluster medium) in the cluster environment than in isolated galaxies, or (iii) all but the densest molecular gas clumps being stripped as the galaxies fall into the cluster. Further observations of 13CO in dense environments, particularly of spirals, as well as studies of other isotopologues, should be able to distinguish between these hypotheses.
Context. Galaxies in Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) are believed to experience morphological transformations from blue, star-forming galaxies to red, early-type galaxies. Galaxies with a high ratio ...between the luminosities of the warm H2 to the 7.7 μm PAH emission (so-called Molecular Hydrogen Emission Galaxies, MOHEGs) are predominantly in an intermediate phase, the green valley. Their enhanced H2 emission suggests that the molecular gas is affected in the transition. Aims. We study the properties of the molecular gas traced by CO in galaxies in HCGs with measured warm H2 emission in order to look for evidence of the perturbations affecting the warm H2 in the kinematics, morphology and mass of the molecular gas. Methods. We observed the CO(1–0) emission of 20 galaxies in HCGs and complemented our sample with 11 CO(1–0) spectra from the literature. Most of the galaxies have measured warm H2 emission, and 14 of them are classified as MOHEGs. We mapped some of these galaxies in order to search for extra-galactic CO emission. We analyzed the molecular gas mass derived from CO(1–0), MH2, and its kinematics, and then compared it to the mass of the warm molecular gas, the stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR). Results. Our results are the following. (i) The mass ratio between the CO-derived and the warm H2 molecular gas is in the same range as found for field galaxies. (ii) Some of the galaxies, mostly MOHEGs, have very broad CO linewidths of up to 1000 km s-1 in the central pointing. The line shapes are irregular and show various components. (iii) In the mapped objects we found asymmetric distributions of the cold molecular gas. (iv) The star formation efficiency (=SFR/MH2) of galaxies in HCGs is very similar to isolated galaxies. No significant difference between MOHEGs and non-MOHEGs or between early-type and spiral galaxies has been found. In a few objects the SFE is significantly lower, indicating the presence of molecular gas that is not actively forming stars. (v) The molecular gas masses, MH2, and ratios MH2/LK are lower in MOHEGs (predominantly early-types) than in non-MOHEGs (predominantly spirals). This trend remains when comparing MOHEGs and non-MOHEGs of the same morphological type. Conclusions. We found differences in the molecular gas properties of MOHEGs that support the view that they have suffered (or are presently suffering) perturbations of the molecular gas, as well as a decrease in the molecular gas content and associated SFR. Higher resolution observations of the molecular gas are needed to shed light on the nature of these perturbations and their cause.
Context. Galaxies in Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) are believed to experience morphological transformations from blue, star-forming galaxies to red, early-type galaxies. Galaxies with a high ratio ...between the luminosities of the warm H2 to the 7.7 mu m PAH emission (socalled Molecular Hydrogen Emission Galaxies, MOHEGs) are predominantly in an intermediate phase, the green valley. Their enhanced H2 emission suggests that the molecular gas is affected in the transition. We study the properties of the molecular gas traced by CO in galaxies in HCGs with measured warm Hsub 2 emission in order to look for evidence of the perturbations affecting the warm Hsub 2 in the kinematics, morphology and mass of the molecular gas. We found differences in the molecular gas properties of MOHEGs that support the view that they have suffered perturbations of the molecular gas, as well as a decrease in the molecular gas content and associated SFR. Higher resolution observations of the molecular gas are needed to shed light on the nature of these perturbations and their cause.
We present C I(21) and multi-transition C-12 O observations of a dusty star-forming galaxy, ACT J2029+0120,which we spectroscopically confirm to lie at zeta = 2.64. We detect CO(3-2), CO(5-4), ...CO(7-6), CO(8-7), and C I(2-1) at high significance, tentatively detect HCO+(4-3), and place strong upper limits on the integrated strength of dense gas tracers (HCN(4-3) and CS(7-6)). Multi-transition CO observations and dense gas tracers can provide valuable constraints on the molecular gas content and excitation conditions in high-redshift galaxies. We therefore use this unique data set to construct a CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) of the source, which is most consistent with that of a ULIRG Seyfert or QSO host object in the taxonomy of the Herschel Comprehensive ULIRG Emission Survey. We employ RADEX models to fit the peak of the CO SLED, inferring a temperature of T approximately 117 K and n(sub H2) approximately 10(exp5) cm(exp -3), most consistent with a ULIRGQSO object and the presence of high-density tracers. We also find that the velocity width of the C I line is potentially larger than seen in all CO transitions forth is object, and that the L'(sub Ci(2-1))/L'(sub CO(3-2))ratio is also larger than seen in other lensed and unlensed submillimeter galaxies and QSO hosts; if confirmed, this anomaly could be an effect of differential lensing of a shocked molecular outflow.
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