91 research outputs found
The SCUBA-2 850 follow-up of WISE-selected, luminous dust-obscured quasars
Hot dust-obscured galaxies (Hot DOGs) are a new population recently
discovered in the \wise All-Sky survey. Multiwavelength follow-up observations
suggest that they are luminous, dust-obscured quasars at high redshift. Here we
present the JCMT SCUBA-2 850 follow-up observations of 10 Hot DOGs.
Four out of ten Hot DOGs have been detected at level. Based on the
IR SED decomposition approach, we derive the IR luminosities of AGN torus and
cold dust components. Hot DOGs in our sample are extremely luminous with most
of them having . The torus emissions
dominate the total IR energy output. However, the cold dust contribution is
still non-negligible, with the fraction of the cold dust contribution to the
total IR luminosity being dependent on the choice of torus
model. The derived cold dust temperatures in Hot DOGs are comparable to those
in UV bright quasars with similar IR luminosity, but much higher than those in
SMGs. Higher dust temperatures in Hot DOGs may be due to the more intense
radiation field caused by intense starburst and obscured AGN activities.
Fourteen and five submillimeter serendipitous sources in the 10 SCUBA-2 fields
around Hot DOGs have been detected at and levels,
respectively. By estimating their cumulative number counts, we confirm the
previous argument that Hot DOGs lie in dense environments. Our results support
the scenario in which Hot DOGs are luminous, dust-obscured quasars lying in
dense environments, and being in the transition phase between extreme starburst
and UV-bright quasars.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, PASP accepte
LineStacker: A spectral line stacking tool for interferometric data
LineStacker is a new open access and open source tool for stacking of
spectral lines in interferometric data. LineStacker is an ensemble of CASA
tasks, and can stack both 3D cubes or already extracted spectra. The algorithm
is tested on increasingly complex simulated data sets, mimicking Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array and Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array observations
of [CII] and CO(3-2) emission lines, from and galaxies
respectively. We find that the algorithm is very robust, successfully
retrieving the input parameters of the stacked lines in all cases with an
accuracy \%. However, we distinguish some specific situations
showcasing the intrinsic limitations of the method. Mainly that high
uncertainties on the redshifts () can lead to poor signal to
noise ratio improvement, due to lines being stacked on shifted central
frequencies. Additionally we give an extensive description of the embedded
statistical tools included in LineStacker: mainly bootstrapping, rebinning and
subsampling. Velocity rebinning {is applied on the data before stacking and}
proves necessary when studying line profiles, in order to avoid artificial
spectral features in the stack. Subsampling is useful to sort the stacked
sources, allowing to find a subsample maximizing the searched parameters, while
bootstrapping allows to detect inhomogeneities in the stacked sample.
LineStacker is a useful tool for extracting the most from spectral observations
of various types.Comment: Resubmitted to MNRAS after referee repor
ALMA detects molecular gas in the halo of the powerful radio galaxy TXS 0828+193
Both theoretical and observational results suggest that high-redshift radio
galaxies (HzRGs) inhabit overdense regions of the universe and might be the
progenitors of local, massive galaxies residing in the centre of galaxy
clusters. In this paper we present CO(3-2) line observations of the HzRG TXS
0828+193 (z=2.57) and its environment using the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array. In contrast to previous observations, we detect
CO emission associated with the HzRG and derive a molecular gas mass of
. Moreover, we confirm the presence of
a previously detected off-source CO emitting region (companion #1), and detect
three new potential companions. The molecular gas mass of each companion is
comparable to that of the HzRG. Companion #1 is aligned with the axis of the
radio jet and has stellar emission detected by Spitzer. Thus this source might
be a normal star-forming galaxy or alternatively a result of jet-induced star
formation. The newly found CO sources do not have counterparts in any other
observing band and could be high-density clouds in the halo of TXS 0828+193 and
thus potentially linked to the large-scale filamentary structure of the cosmic
web.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; 9 pages, 4 figure
A merger in the dusty, galaxy A1689-zD1?
The gravitationally-lensed galaxy A1689-zD1 is one of the most distant
spectroscopically confirmed sources (). It is the earliest known galaxy
where the interstellar medium (ISM) has been detected; dust emission was
detected with the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA). A1689-zD1 is also
unusual among high-redshift dust emitters as it is a sub-L* galaxy and is
therefore a good prospect for the detection of gaseous ISM in a more typical
galaxy at this redshift. We observed A1689-zD1 with ALMA in bands 6 and 7 and
with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in band . To study the structure of
A1689-zD1, we map the mm thermal dust emission and find two spatial components
with sizes about \,kpc (lensing-corrected). The rough spatial
morphology is similar to what is observed in the near-infrared with {\it HST}
and points to a perturbed dynamical state, perhaps indicative of a major merger
or a disc in early formation. The ALMA photometry is used to constrain the
far-infrared spectral energy distribution, yielding a dust temperature (--\,K for ). We do not detect the CO(3-2) line
in the GBT data with a 95\% upper limit of 0.3\,mJy observed. We find a slight
excess emission in ALMA band~6 at 220.9\,GHz. If this excess is real, it is
likely due to emission from the [CII] 158.8\,m line at . The stringent upper limits on the [CII]/ luminosity ratio
suggest a [CII] deficit similar to several bright quasars and massive
starbursts.Comment: 9 pages, accepted to MNRAS, in pres
A Search for H2O in the Strongly Lensed QSO MG 0751+2716 at z=3.2
We present a search for 183 GHz H_2O(3_13-2_20) emission in the
infrared-luminous quasar MG 0751+2716 with the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA). At
z=3.200+/-0.001, this water emission feature is redshifted to 43.6 GHz. As
opposed to the faint rotational transitions of HCN (the standard high-density
tracer at high-z), H_2O(3_13-2_20) is observed with high maser amplification
factors in Galactic star-forming regions. It therefore holds the potential to
trace high-density star-forming regions in the distant universe. If indeed all
star-forming regions in massively star-forming galaxies at z>3 have similar
physical properties as e.g. the Orion or W49N molecular cloud cores, the flux
ratio between the maser-amplified H_2O(3_13-2_20) and the thermally excited
CO(1-0) transitions may be as high as factor of 20 (but has to be corrected by
their relative filling factor). MG 0751+2716 is a strong CO(4-3) emitter, and
therefore one of the most suitable targets to search for H_2O(3_13-2_20) at
cosmological redshifts. Our search resulted in an upper limit in line
luminosity of L'(H_2O) < 0.6 x 10^9 K km/s pc^2. Assuming a brightness
temperature of T_b(H_2O) ~= 500 K for the maser emission and CO properties from
the literature, this translates to a H_2O(3_13-2_20)/CO(4-3) area filling
factor of less than 1%. However, this limit is not valid if the H_2O(3_13-2_20)
maser emission is quenched, i.e. if the line is only thermally excited. We
conclude that, if our results were to hold for other high-z sources, H_2O does
not appear to be a more luminous alternative to HCN to detect high-density gas
in star-forming environments at high redshift.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, to appear in ApJ (accepted May 19, 2006
First Detection of HCO+ Emission at High Redshift
We report the detection of HCO+(1-0) emission towards the Cloverleaf quasar
(z=2.56) through observations with the Very Large Array. This is the first
detection of ionized molecular gas emission at high redshift (z>2). HCO+
emission is a star formation indicator similar to HCN, tracing dense molecular
hydrogen gas (n(H_2) ~= 10^5 cm^{-3}) within star-forming molecular clouds. We
derive a lensing-corrected HCO+ line luminosity of L'(HCO+) = 3.5 x 10^9 K km/s
pc^2. Combining our new results with CO and HCN measurements from the
literature, we find a HCO+/CO luminosity ratio of 0.08 and a HCO+/HCN
luminosity ratio of 0.8. These ratios fall within the scatter of the same
relationships found for low-z star-forming galaxies. However, a HCO+/HCN
luminosity ratio close to unity would not be expected for the Cloverleaf if the
recently suggested relation between this ratio and the far-infrared luminosity
were to hold. We conclude that a ratio between HCO+ and HCN luminosity close to
1 is likely due to the fact that the emission from both lines is optically
thick and thermalized and emerges from dense regions of similar volumes. The
CO, HCN and HCO+ luminosities suggest that the Cloverleaf is a composite
AGN--starburst system, in agreement with the previous finding that about 20% of
the total infrared luminosity in this system results from dust heated by star
formation rather than heating by the AGN. We conclude that HCO+ is potentially
a good tracer for dense molecular gas at high redshift.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, ApJL, in press (accepted May 17, 2006
CO(1-0) in z ≳ 4 Quasar Host Galaxies: No Evidence for Extended Molecular Gas Reservoirs
We present ^(12)CO(J = 1 → 0) observations of the high-redshift quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) BR 1202-0725 (z = 4.69), PSS J2322+1944 (z = 4.12), and APM 08279+5255 (z = 3.91) using the NRAO Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the MPIfR Effelsberg 100 m telescope. We detect, for the first time, the CO ground-level transition in BR 1202-0725. For PSS J2322+1944 and APM 08279+5255, our observations result in line fluxes that are consistent with previous NRAO Very Large Array (VLA) observations, but they reveal the full line profiles. We report a typical lensing-corrected velocity-integrated intrinsic ^(12)CO(J = 1 → 0) line luminosity of L'_(CO) = 5 × 10^(10) K km s^(-1) pc^2 and a typical total H_2 mass of M(H_2) = 4 × 10^(10) M_☉ for the sources in our sample. The CO/FIR luminosity ratios of these high-z sources follow the same trend as seen for low-z galaxies, leading to a combined solution of log L_(FIR) = (1.39 ± 0.05) log L_(CO) - 1.76. It has previously been suggested that the molecular gas reservoirs in some quasar host galaxies may exhibit luminous, extended ^(12)CO(J = 1 → 0) components that are not observed in the higher J CO transitions. Using the line profiles and the total intensities of our observations and large velocity gradient (LVG) models based on previous results for higher J CO transitions, we derive that emission from all CO transitions is described well by a single gas component in which all molecular gas is concentrated in a compact nuclear region. Thus, our observations and models show no indication of a luminous extended, low surface brightness molecular gas component in any of the high-redshift QSOs in our sample. If such extended components exist, their contribution to the overall luminosity is limited to at most 30%
Star Formation and Gas Kinematics of Quasar Host Galaxies at z~6: New insights from ALMA
We present ALMA observations of the [C II] 158 micron 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. The ALMA
observations were carried out in the extended array at 0.7" resolution. We have
detected the line and dust continuum in all five objects. The derived [C II]
line luminosities are 1.6x10^{9} to 8.8x10^{9} Lsun and the [C II]-to-FIR
luminosity ratios are 3.0-5.6x10^{-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 0.3" to 0.6" (i.e., 1.7 to 3.5
kpc) for the [C II] line emission and 0.2" to 0.4" (i.e., 1.2 to 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 atomic gas in the
starburst nuclei. 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 10^{10} to
10^{11} Msun. Given these estimates, the mass ratios between the SMBHs 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.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
High Sensitivity Array Observations of the z=1.87 Sub-Millimeter Galaxy GOODS 850-3
We present sensitive phase-referenced VLBI results on the radio continuum
emission from the z=1.87 luminous submillimeter galaxy (SMG) GOODS 850-3. The
observations were carried out at 1.4 GHz using the High Sensitivity Array
(HSA). Our sensitive tapered VLBI image of GOODS 850-3 at 0.47 x 0.34 arcsec
(3.9 x 2.9 kpc) resolution shows a marginally resolved continuum structure with
a peak flux density of 148 \pm 38 uJy/beam, and a total flux density of 168 \pm
73 uJy, consistent with previous VLA and MERLIN measurements. The derived
intrinsic brightness temperature is > 5 \pm 2 x 10^3 K. The radio continuum
position of this galaxy coincides with a bright and extended near-infrared
source that nearly disappears in the deep HST optical image, indicating a dusty
source of nearly 9 kpc in diameter. No continuum emission is detected at the
full VLBI resolution (13.2 x 7.2 mas, 111 x 61 pc), with a 4-sigma point source
upper limit of 26 uJy/beam, or an upper limit to the intrinsic brightness
temperature of 4.7 x 10^5 K. The extent of the observed continuum source at 1.4
GHz and the derived brightness temperature limits are consistent with the radio
emission (and thus presumably the far-infrared emission) being powered by a
major starburst in GOODS 850-3, with a star formation rate of ~2500 M_sun/yr.
Moreover, the absence of any continuum emission at the full resolution of the
VLBI observations indicates the lack of a compact radio AGN source in this
z=1.87 SMG.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A
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