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Register a new userEarly Science with the Large Millimeter Telescope: Exploring the Effect of AGN Activity on the Relationships Between Molecular Gas, Dust, and Star Formation
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Added by
Allison Kirkpatrick
Publication date
2014
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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The molecular gas, H$_2$, that fuels star formation in galaxies is difficult to observe directly. As such, the ratio of $L_{rm IR}$ to $L^prime_{rm CO}$ is an observational estimation of the star formation rate compared with the amount of molecular gas available to form stars, which is related to the star formation efficiency and the inverse of the gas consumption timescale. We test what effect an IR luminous AGN has on the ratio $L_{rm IR}/L^prime_{rm CO}$ in a sample of 24 intermediate redshift galaxies from the 5 mJy Unbiased Spitzer Extragalactic Survey (5MUSES). We obtain new CO(1-0) observations with the Redshift Search Receiver on the Large Millimeter Telescope. We diagnose the presence and strength of an AGN using Spitzer IRS spectroscopy. We find that removing the AGN contribution to $L_{rm IR}^{rm tot}$ results in a mean $L_{rm IR}^{rm SF}/L^prime_{rm CO}$ for our entire sample consistent with the mean $L_{rm IR}/L^prime_{rm CO}$ derived for a large sample of star forming galaxies from $zsim0-3$. We also include in our comparison the relative amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission for our sample and a literature sample of local and high redshift Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies and find a consistent trend between $L_{6.2}/L_{rm IR}^{rm SF}$ and $L_{rm IR}^{rm SF}/L^prime_{rm CO}$, such that small dust grain emission decreases with increasing $L_{rm IR}^{rm SF}/L^prime_{rm CO}$ for both local and high redshift dusty galaxies.
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An understanding of the mass build-up in galaxies over time necessitates tracing the evolution of cold gas (molecular and atomic) in galaxies. To that end, we have conducted a pilot study called CO Observations with the LMT of the Blind Ultra-Deep H I Environment Survey (COOL BUDHIES). We have observed 23 galaxies in and around the two clusters Abell 2192 (z = 0.188) and Abell 963 (z = 0.206), where 12 are cluster members and 11 are slightly in the foreground or background, using about 28 total hours on the Redshift Search Receiver (RSR) on the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) to measure the $^{12}$CO J = 1 --> 0 emission line and obtain molecular gas masses. These new observations provide a unique opportunity to probe both the molecular and atomic components of galaxies as a function of environment beyond the local Universe. For our sample of 23 galaxies, nine have reliable detections (S/N$geq$3.6) of the $^{12}$CO line, and another six have marginal detections (2.0 < S/N < 3.6). For the remaining eight targets we can place upper limits on molecular gas masses roughly between $10^9$ and $10^{10} M_odot$. Comparing our results to other studies of molecular gas, we find that our sample is significantly more abundant in molecular gas overall, when compared to the stellar and the atomic gas component, and our median molecular gas fraction lies about $1sigma$ above the upper limits of proposed redshift evolution in earlier studies. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy, with the most likely conclusion being target selection and Eddington bias.
We present constraints on the dust continuum flux and inferred gas content of a gravitationally lensed massive quiescent galaxy at $z$=1.883$pm$0.001 using AzTEC 1.1mm imaging with the Large Millimeter Telescope. MRG-S0851 appears to be a prototypical massive compact quiescent galaxy, but has evidence that it experienced a centrally concentrated rejuvenation event in the last 100 Myr (see Akhshik et al. 2020). This galaxy is undetected in the AzTEC image but we calculate an upper limit on the millimeter flux and use this to estimate the H$_2$ mass limit via an empirically calibrated relation that assumes a constant molecular gas-to-dust ratio of 150. We constrain the 3$sigma$ upper limit of the H$_2$ fraction from the dust continuum in MRG-S0851 to be ${M_{H_2}/M_{star}}$ $leq$ 6.8%. MRG-S0851 has a low gas fraction limit with a moderately low sSFR owing to the recent rejuvenation episode, which together results in a relatively short depletion time of $<$0.6 Gyr if no further H$_2$ gas is accreted. Empirical and analytical models both predict that we should have detected molecular gas in MRG-S0851, especially given the rejuvenation episode; this suggests that cold gas and/or dust is rapidly depleted in at least some early quiescent galaxies.
Sensitive, imaging observations of the 1.1 mm dust continuum emission from a 1 deg^2 area collected with the AzTEC bolometer camera on the Large Millimeter Telescope are presented. A catalog of 1545 compact sources is constructed based on a Wiener-optimization filter. These sources are linked to larger clump structures identified in the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey. Hydrogen column densities are calculated for all sources and mass and mean volume densities are derived for the subset of sources for which kinematic distances can be assigned. The AzTEC sources are localized, high density peaks within the massive clumps of molecular clouds and comprise 5-15% of the clump mass. We examine the role of the gravitational instability in generating these fragments by comparing the mass of embedded AzTEC sources to the Jeans mass of the parent BGPS object. For sources with distances less than 6 kpc the fragment masses are comparable to the clump Jeans mass, despite having isothermal Mach numbers between 1.6 and 7.2. AzTEC sources linked to ultra-compact HII regions have mass surface densities greater than the critical value implied by the mass-size relationship of infrared dark clouds with high mass star formation while AzTEC sources associated with Class II methanol masers have mass surface densities greater than 0.7 g cm^{-2} that approaches the proposed threshold required to form massive stars.
We present LMT/AzTEC 1.1mm observations of $sim100$ luminous high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxy candidates from the $sim600,$sq.deg $Herschel$-ATLAS survey, selected on the basis of their SPIRE red far-infrared colours and with $S_{500murm m}=35-80$ mJy. With an effective $theta_{rm FWHM}approx9.5,$ arcsec angular resolution, our observations reveal that at least 9 per cent of the targets break into multiple systems with SNR $geq 4$ members. The fraction of multiple systems increases to $sim23,$ per cent (or more) if some non-detected targets are considered multiples, as suggested by the data. Combining the new AzTEC and deblended $Herschel$ photometry we derive photometric redshifts, IR luminosities, and star formation rates. While the median redshifts of the multiple and single systems are similar $(z_{rm med}approx3.6)$, the redshift distribution of the latter is skewed towards higher redshifts. Of the AzTEC sources $sim85,$ per cent lie at $z_{rm phot}>3$ while $sim33,$ per cent are at $z_{rm phot}>4$. This corresponds to a lower limit on the space density of ultra-red sources at $4<z<6$ of $sim3times10^{-7}, textrm{Mpc}^{-3}$ with a contribution to the obscured star-formation of $gtrsim 8times10^{-4}, textrm{M}_odot textrm{yr}^{-1} textrm{Mpc}^{-3}$. Some of the multiple systems have members with photometric redshifts consistent among them suggesting possible physical associations. Given their angular separations, these systems are most likely galaxy over-densities and/or early-stage pre-coalescence mergers. Finally, we present 3mm LMT/RSR spectroscopic redshifts of six red-$Herschel$ galaxies at $z_{rm spec}=3.85-6.03$, two of them (at $z sim 4.7$) representing new redshift confirmations. Here we release the AzTEC and deblended $Herschel$ photometry as well as catalogues of the most promising interacting systems and $z>4$ galaxies.
We present 8.5 arcsec resolution 1.1mm continuum imaging and CO spectroscopic redshift measurements of eight extremely bright submillimetre galaxies identified from the Planck and Herschel surveys, taken with the Large Millimeter Telescopes AzTEC and Redshift Search Receiver instruments. We compiled a candidate list of high redshift galaxies by cross-correlating the Planck Surveyor missions highest frequency channel (857 GHz, FWHM = 4.5 arcmin) with the archival Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) imaging data, and requiring the presence of a unique, single Herschel counterpart within the 150 arcsec search radius of the Planck source positions with 350 micron flux density larger than 100 mJy, excluding known blazars and foreground galaxies. All eight candidate objects observed are detected in 1.1mm continuum by AzTEC bolometer camera, and at least one CO line is detected in all cases with a spectroscopic redshift between 1.3 < z(CO) < 3.3. Their infrared spectral energy distributions mapped using the Herschel and AzTEC photometry are consistent with cold dust emission with characteristic temperature between $T_d$ = 43 K and 84 K. With apparent infrared luminosity of up to L(IR) = $3times10^{14} mu^{-1} L_odot$, they are some of the most luminous galaxies ever found (with yet unknown gravitational magnification factor $mu$). The analysis of their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) suggests that star formation is powering the bulk of their extremely large IR luminosities. Derived molecular gas masses of $M_{H2}=(0.6-7.8)times 10^{11} M_odot$ (for $mu$~10) also make them some of the most gas-rich high redshift galaxies ever detected.
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