Star formation and the interstellar medium in z>6 UV-luminous Lyman-break galaxies

We present Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) detections of atomic carbon line and dust continuum emission in two UV-luminous galaxies at redshift 6. The far-infrared (FIR) luminosities of these galaxies are substantially lower than similar starbursts at later cosmic epochs, indicating an evolution in the dust properties with redshift, in agreement with the evolution seen in ultraviolet (UV) attenuation by dust. The [CII] to FIR ratios are found to be higher than at low redshift showing that [CII] should be readily detectable by ALMA within the reionization epoch. One of the two galaxies shows a complex merger nature with the less massive component dominating the UV emission and the more massive component dominating the FIR line and continuum. Using the interstellar atomic carbon line to derive the systemic redshifts we investigate the velocity of Lyman alpha emission emerging from high-z galaxies. In contrast to previous work, we find no evidence for decreasing Lyman alpha velocity shifts at high-redshift. We observe an increase in velocity shifts from z$\sim$2 to z$\sim$6, consistent with the effects of increased IGM absorption.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to ApJ, revised after referees comment

350 μm dust emission from high-redshift quasars

We report detections of six high-redshift (1.8 ≤ z ≤ 6.4), optically luminous, radio-quiet quasars at 350 μm, using the SHARC II bolometer camera at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. Our observations double the number of high-redshift quasars for which 350 μm photometry is available. By combining the 350 μm measurements with observations at other submillimeter/millimeter wavelengths, for each source we have determined the temperature of the emitting dust (ranging from 40 to 60 K) and the far-infrared luminosity [(0.6-2.2) × 10^(13) L⊙]. The combined mean spectral energy distribution of all high-redshift quasars with two or more rest-frame far-infrared photometric measurements is best fit with a graybody with temperature of 47 ± 3 K and a dust emissivity power-law spectral index of β = 1.6 ± 0.1. This warm dust component is a good tracer of the starburst activity of the quasar host galaxy. The ratio of the far-infrared to radio luminosities of infrared-luminous, radio-quiet high-redshift quasars is consistent with that found for local star-forming galaxies

Star Formation and Gas Kinematics of Quasar Host Galaxies at z~6: New Insights from ALMA

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the [C II] 158 μm fine structure line and dust continuum emission from the host galaxies of five redshift 6 quasars. We also report complementary observations of 250 GHz dust continuum and CO (6-5) line emission from the z = 6.00 quasar SDSS J231038.88+185519.7 using the IRAM facilities. The ALMA observations were carried out in the extended array at 0.\u27\u277 resolution. We have detected the line and dust continuum in all five objects. The derived [C II] line luminosities are 1.6 × 109 to 8.7 × 109 L ☉ and the [C II]-to-FIR luminosity ratios are 2.9-5.1 ×10–4, which is comparable to the values found in other high-redshift quasar-starburst systems and local ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. The sources are marginally resolved and the intrinsic source sizes (major axis FWHM) are constrained to be 0.\u27\u273-0.\u27\u276 (i.e., 1.7-3.5 kpc) for the [C II] line emission and 0.\u27\u272-0.\u27\u274 (i.e., 1.2-2.3 kpc) for the continuum. These measurements indicate that there is vigorous star formation over the central few kpc in the quasar host galaxies. The ALMA observations also constrain the dynamical properties of the star-forming gas in the nuclear region. The intensity-weighted velocity maps of three sources show clear velocity gradients. Such velocity gradients are consistent with a rotating, gravitationally bound gas component, although they are not uniquely interpreted as such. Under the simplifying assumption of rotation, the implied dynamical masses within the [C II]-emitting regions are of order 1010-1011 M ☉. Given these estimates, the mass ratios between the supermassive black holes and the spheroidal bulge are an order of magnitude higher than the mean value found in local spheroidal galaxies, which is in agreement with results from previous CO observations of high redshift quasars

HCN Observations of Dense Star-Forming Gas in High Redshift Galaxies

We present here the sensitive HCN(1-0) observations made with the VLA of two submillimeter galaxies and two QSOs at high-redshift. HCN emission is the signature of dense molecular gas found in GMC cores, the actual sites of massive star formation. We have made the first detection of HCN in a submillimeter galaxy, SMM J16359+6612. The HCN emission is seen with a signal to noise ratio of 4$\sigma$ and appears to be resolved as a double-source of \approxlt 2'' separation. Our new HCN observations, combined with previous HCN detections and upper limits, show that the FIR/HCN ratios in these high redshift sources lie systematically above the FIR/HCN correlation established for nearby galaxies by about a factor of 2. Even considering the scatter in the data and the presence of upper limits, this is an indication that the FIR/HCN ratios for the early Universe molecular emission line galaxies (EMGs) deviate from the correlation that fits Galactic giant molecular cloud cores, normal spirals, LIRGs, and ULIRGs. This indicates that the star formation rate per solar mass of dense molecular gas is higher in the high-$z$ objects than in local galaxies including normal spirals LIRGs and ULIRGs. The limited HCN detections at high-redshift show that the HCN/CO ratios for the high-$z$ objects are high and are comparable to those of the local ULIRGs rather than those of normal spirals. This indicates that EMGs have a high fraction of dense molecular gas compared to total molecular gas traced by CO emission.Comment: 14 pages including 4 figures; ApJL accepte