We report the detection of a CO emission line from the submillimeter galaxy (SMG) GN10 in the GOODS-N field. GN10 lacks any counterpart in extremely deep optical and near-IR imaging obtained with the ...Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based facilities. This is a prototypical case of a source that is extremely obscured by dust, for which it is practically impossible to derive a spectroscopic redshift in the optical/near-IR. Under the hypothesis that GN10 is part of a proto-cluster structure previously identified at z ~ 4.05 in the same field, we searched for CO4-3 at 91.4 GHz with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer, and successfully detected a line. We find that the most likely redshift identification is z = 4.0424 ± 0.0013, based on: (1) the very low chance that the CO line is actually serendipitous from a different redshift; (2) a radio-IR photometric redshift analysis; (3) the identical radio-IR spectral energy distribution, within a scaling factor of 2 other SMGs at the same redshift. The faintness at optical/near-IR wavelengths requires an attenuation of A V ~ 5-7.5 mag. This result supports the case that a substantial population of very high-z SMGs exists that had been missed by previous spectroscopic surveys. This is the first time that a CO emission line has been detected for an SMG that is invisible in the optical and near-IR. Our work demonstrates the power of existing and planned facilities for completing the census of star formation and stellar mass in the distant universe by measuring redshifts of the most obscured galaxies through millimeter spectroscopy.
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.
We report Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of four high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxy candidates selected from far-infrared (FIR)/submillimeter observations in the COSMOS ...field. We securely detect all galaxies in the continuum and spectroscopically confirm them at z = 3.62-5.85 using ALMA 3 mm line scans, detecting multiple CO and/or C i transitions. This includes the most distant dusty galaxy currently known in the COSMOS field, ID85001929 at z = 5.847. These redshifts are lower than we had expected, as these galaxies have substantially colder dust temperatures (i.e., their spectral energy distributions peak at longer rest-frame wavelengths) than most literature sources at z > 4. The observed cold dust temperatures are best understood as evidence for optically thick dust continuum in the FIR, rather than the result of low star formation efficiency with rapid metal enrichment. We provide direct evidence that, given their cold spectral energy distributions, cosmic microwave background (CMB) plays a significant role in biasing their observed Rayleigh-Jeans (RJ) slopes to unlikely steep values and, possibly, reducing their CO fluxes by a factor of two. We recover standard RJ slopes when the CMB contribution is taken into account. High-resolution ALMA imaging shows compact morphology and evidence for mergers. This work reveals a population of cold dusty star-forming galaxies that were underrepresented in current surveys and are even colder than typical main-sequence galaxies at the same redshift. High FIR dust optical depth might be a widespread feature of compact starbursts at any redshift.
We present new measurements of the cosmic cold molecular gas evolution out to redshift 6 based on systematic mining of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) public archive in the ...COSMOS deep field (A3COSMOS). Our A3COSMOS data set contains ∼700 galaxies (0.3 z 6) with high-confidence ALMA detections in the (sub)millimeter continuum and multiwavelength spectral energy distributions. Multiple gas mass calibration methods are compared, and biases in band conversions (from observed ALMA wavelength to rest-frame Rayleigh-Jeans tail continuum) have been tested. Combining our A3COSMOS sample with ∼1000 CO-observed galaxies at 0 z 4 (75% at z < 0.1), we parameterize galaxies' molecular gas depletion time ( ) and molecular gas to stellar mass ratio ( ) each as a function of the stellar mass ( ), offset from the star-forming main sequence ( ) and cosmic age (or redshift). Our proposed functional form provides a statistically better fit to current data (than functional forms in the literature) and implies a "downsizing" effect (i.e., more-massive galaxies evolve earlier than less-massive ones) and "mass quenching" (gas consumption slows down with cosmic time for massive galaxies but speeds up for low-mass ones). Adopting galaxy stellar mass functions and applying our function for gas mass calculation, we for the first time infer the cosmic cold molecular gas density evolution out to redshift 6 and find agreement with CO blind surveys as well as semianalytic modeling. These together provide a coherent picture of cold molecular gas, star formation rate, and stellar mass evolution in galaxies across cosmic time.
Abstract
We investigate the fraction of close pairs and morphologically identified mergers on and above the star-forming main sequence (MS) at 0.2 ≤ z ≤2.0. The novelty of our work lies in the use of ...a non-parametric morphological classification performed on resolved stellar mass maps, reducing the contamination by non-interacting, high-redshift clumpy galaxies. We find that the merger fraction rapidly rises to ≥70 per cent above the MS, implying that – already at z ≳ 1 – starburst (SB) events (ΔMS ≥ 0.6) are almost always associated with a major merger (1:1 to 1:6 mass ratio). The majority of interacting galaxies in the SB region are morphologically disturbed, late-stage mergers. Pair fractions show little dependence on MS offset and pairs are more prevalent than late-stage mergers only in the lower half of the MS. In our sample, major mergers on the MS occur with a roughly equal frequency of ∼5–10 per cent at all masses ≳ 1010 M⊙. The MS major merger fraction roughly doubles between z = 0.2 and 2, with morphological mergers driving the overall increase at z ≳ 1. The differential redshift evolution of interacting pairs and morphologically classified mergers on the MS can be reconciled by evolving observability time-scales for both pairs and morphological disturbances. The observed variation of the late-stage merger fraction with ΔMS follows the perturbative 2-Star Formation Mode model, where any MS galaxy can experience a continuum of different star formation rate enhancements. This points to an SB–merger connection not only for extreme events, but also more moderate bursts which merely scatter galaxies upward within the MS, rather than fully elevating them above it.
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.
We model the intensity of emission lines from the CO molecule, based on hydrodynamic simulations of spirals, mergers, and high-redshift galaxies with very high resolutions (3 pc and 103 M⊙) and ...detailed models for the phase-space structure of the interstellar gas including shock heating, stellar feedback processes, and galactic winds. The simulations are analyzed with a large velocity gradient (LVG) model to compute the local emission in various molecular lines in each resolution element, radiation transfer, opacity effect, and the intensity emerging from galaxies to generate synthetic spectra for various transitions of the CO molecule. This model reproduces the known properties of CO spectra and CO-to-H2 conversion factors in nearby spirals and starbursting major mergers. The high excitation of CO lines in mergers is dominated by an excess of high-density gas, and the high turbulent velocities and compression that create this dense gas excess result in broad linewidths and low CO intensity-to-H2 mass ratios. When applied to high-redshift gas-rich disks galaxies, the same model predicts that their CO-to-H2 conversion factor is almost as high as in nearby spirals, and much higher than in starbursting mergers. High-redshift disk galaxies contain giant star-forming clumps that host a high-excitation component associated to gas warmed by the spatially concentrated stellar feedback sources, although CO(1−0) to CO(3−2) emission is dominated overall by low-excitation gas around the densest clumps. These results generally highlight a strong dependence of CO excitation and the CO-to-H2 conversion factor on galaxy type, even at similar star formation rates or densities. The underlying processes are driven by the interstellar medium structure and turbulence and its response to stellar feedback, which depend on global galaxy structure and in turn affect the CO emission properties.
ABSTRACT We study the relationship between stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), ionization state, and gas-phase metallicity for a sample of 41 normal star-forming galaxies at 3 z 3.7. The ...gas-phase oxygen abundance, ionization parameter, and electron density of ionized gas are derived from rest-frame optical strong emission lines measured on near-infrared spectra obtained with Keck/Multi-Object Spectrograph for Infra-Red Exploration. We remove the effect of these strong emission lines in the broadband fluxes to compute stellar masses via spectral energy distribution fitting, while the SFR is derived from the dust-corrected ultraviolet luminosity. The ionization parameter is weakly correlated with the specific SFR, but otherwise the ionization parameter and electron density do not correlate with other global galaxy properties such as stellar mass, SFR, and metallicity. The mass-metallicity relation (MZR) at z 3.3 shows lower metallicity by 0.7 dex than that at z = 0 at the same stellar mass. Our sample shows an offset by 0.3 dex from the locally defined mass-metallicity-SFR relation, indicating that simply extrapolating such a relation to higher redshift may predict an incorrect evolution of MZR. Furthermore, within the uncertainties we find no SFR-metallicity correlation, suggesting a less important role of SFR in controlling the metallicity at high redshift. We finally investigate the redshift evolution of the MZR by using the model by Lilly et al., finding that the observed evolution from z = 0 to z 3.3 can be accounted for by the model assuming a weak redshift evolution of the star formation efficiency.
We present high-resolution observations of the 880 mum (rest-frame FIR) continuum emission in the z= 4.05 submillimeter galaxy GN20 from the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI). These data ...resolve the obscured star formation (SF) in this unlensed galaxy on scales of 0".3 x 0".2 (~2.1 x 1.3 kpc). The observations reveal a bright (16 + or - 1 mJy) dusty starburst centered on the cold molecular gas reservoir and showing a bar-like extension along the major axis. The striking anti-correlation with the Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3 imaging suggests that the copious dust surrounding the starburst heavily obscures the rest-frame UV/optical emission. A comparison with 1.2 mm PdBI continuum data reveals no evidence for variations in the dust properties across the source within the uncertainties, consistent with extended SF, and the peak star formation rate surface density (119 + or - 8 M sub(middot in circle) yr super(-1) kpc super(-2)) implies that the SF in GN20 remains sub-Eddington on scales down to 3 kpc super(2). We find that the SF efficiency (SFE) is highest in the central regions of GN20, leading to a resolved SF law with a power-law slope of Sigma sub(SFR)~ (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted), and that GN20 lies above the sequence of normal star-forming disks, implying that the dispersion in the SF law is not due solely to morphology or choice of conversion factor. These data extend previous evidence for a fixed SFE per free-fall time to include the star-forming medium on ~kiloparsec scales in a galaxy 12 Gyr ago.
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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")
