Bibcode
Riechers, D. A.; Leung, T. K. Daisy; Ivison, Rob J.; Pérez-Fournon, I.; Lewis, Alexander J. R.; Marques-Chaves, R.; Oteo, Iván; Clements, Dave L.; Cooray, Asantha; Greenslade, Josh; Martínez-Navajas, P.; Oliver, Seb; Rigopoulou, Dimitra; Scott, Douglas; Weiss, Axel
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 850, Issue 1, article id. 1, 8 pp. (2017).
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11
2017
Journal
Citations
82
Refereed citations
76
Description
We report the detection of ADFS-27, a dusty, starbursting major merger
at a redshift of z = 5.655, using the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). ADFS-27 was selected from
Herschel/Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and
APEX/LABOCA data as an extremely red “870 μm riser”
(i.e., {S}250μ {{m}}< {S}350μ {{m}}<
{S}500μ {{m}}< {S}870μ {{m}}),
demonstrating the utility of this technique to identify some of the
highest-redshift dusty galaxies. A scan of the 3 mm atmospheric window
with ALMA yields detections of CO(J = 5 → 4) and CO(J = 6 → 5)
emission, and a tentative detection of H2O(211
→ 202) emission, which provides an unambiguous redshift
measurement. The strength of the CO lines implies a large molecular gas
reservoir with a mass of M gas = 2.5 × 1011
({α }{CO}/0.8)(0.39/{r}51) M
⊙, sufficient to maintain its ∼2400 M
⊙ yr‑1 starburst for at least ∼100
Myr. The 870 μm dust continuum emission is resolved into two
components, 1.8 and 2.1 kpc in diameter, separated by 9.0 kpc, with
comparable dust luminosities, suggesting an ongoing major merger. The
infrared luminosity of L IR ≃ 2.4 ×
1013 L ⊙ implies that this system represents a
binary hyper-luminous infrared galaxy, the most distant of its kind
presently known. This also implies star formation rate surface densities
of {{{Σ }}}{SFR}=730 and 750 M ⊙
yr‑1 kpc2, consistent with a binary
“maximum starburst.” The discovery of this rare system is
consistent with a significantly higher space density than previously
thought for the most luminous dusty starbursts within the first billion
years of cosmic time, easing tensions regarding the space densities of z
∼ 6 quasars and massive quiescent galaxies at z ≳ 3.
Related projects
Formation and Evolution of Galaxies: Observations in Infrared and other Wavelengths
This IAC research group carries out several extragalactic projects in different spectral ranges, using space as well as ground-based telescopes, to study the cosmological evolution of galaxies and the origin of nuclear activity in active galaxies. The group is a member of the international consortium which built the SPIRE instrument for the
Ismael
Pérez Fournon