No Arabic abstract
The earliest galaxies are expected to emerge in the first billion years of the Universe during the Epoch of Reionization. However, both the spectroscopic confirmation of photometrically-selected galaxies at this epoch and the characterization of their early dynamical state has been hindered by the lack of bright, accessible lines to probe the velocity structure of their interstellar medium. We present the first ALMA spectroscopic confirmation of such sources at z > 6 using the far-infrared [C II]{lambda}157.74{mu}m emission line, and, for the first time, measurement of the velocity structure, for two galaxies at z = 6.8540+/-0.0003 and z = 6.8076+/-0.0002. Remarkably, the [C II] line luminosity from these galaxies is higher than previously found in `normal star-forming galaxies at z > 6.5. This suggests that we are sampling a part of the galaxy population different from the galaxies found through detection of the Ly{alpha} line. The luminous and extended [C II] detections reveal clear velocity gradients that, if interpreted as rotation, would suggest these galaxies have turbulent, yet rotation-dominated disks, with similar stellar-to-dynamical mass fractions as observed for H{alpha} emitting galaxies 2 Gyr later at cosmic noon. Our novel approach for confirming galaxies during Reionization paves the way for larger studies of distant galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from ALMA. Particularly important, this opens up opportunities for high angular-resolution [C II] dynamics in galaxies less than one billion years after the Big Bang.
Recent stacked ALMA observations have revealed that normal, star-forming galaxies at $zapprox 6$ are surrounded by extended ($approx 10,mathrm{kpc}$) [CII] emitting halos which are not predicted by the most advanced, zoom-in simulations. We present a model in which these halos are the result of supernova-driven cooling outflows. Our model contains two free parameters, the outflow mass loading factor, $eta$, and the parent galaxy dark matter halo circular velocity, $v_c$. The outflow model successfully matches the observed [CII] surface brightness profile if $eta = 3.20 pm 0.10$ and $v_c = 170 pm 10{,rm km,s^{-1}}$, corresponding to a dynamical mass of $approx 10^{11}, mathrm{M}_odot$. The predicted outflow rate and velocity range are $128 pm 5 ,mathrm{M}_odot {rm yr}^{-1}$ and $300-500 {,rm km,s^{-1}}$, respectively. We conclude that: (a) extended halos can be produced by cooling outflows; (b) the large $eta$ value is marginally consistent with starburst-driven outflows, but it might indicate additional energy input from AGN; (c) the presence of [CII] halos requires an ionizing photon escape fraction from galaxies $f_{rm esc} ll 1$. The model can be readily applied also to individual high-$z$ galaxies, as those observed, e.g., by the ALMA ALPINE survey now becoming available.
We have recently developed a post-processing framework to estimate the abundance of atomic and molecular hydrogen (HI and H2, respectively) in galaxies in large-volume cosmological simulations. Here we compare the HI and H2 content of IllustrisTNG galaxies to observations. We mostly restrict this comparison to $z approx 0$ and consider six observational metrics: the overall abundance of HI and H2, their mass functions, gas fractions as a function of stellar mass, the correlation between H2 and star formation rate, the spatial distribution of gas, and the correlation between gas content and morphology. We find generally good agreement between simulations and observations, particularly for the gas fractions and the HI mass-size relation. The H2 mass correlates with star formation rate as expected, revealing an almost constant depletion time that evolves up to z = 2 as observed. However, we also discover a number of tensions with varying degrees of significance, including an overestimate of the total neutral gas abundance at z = 0 by about a factor of two and a possible excess of satellites with no or very little neutral gas. These conclusions are robust to the modelling of the HI/H2 transition. In terms of their neutral gas properties, the IllustrisTNG simulations represent an enormous improvement over the original Illustris run. All data used in this paper are publicly available as part of the IllustrisTNG data release.
We report interferometric imaging of [CII] and OH emission toward the center of the galaxy protocluster associated with the z=5.3 submillimeter galaxy (SMG) AzTEC-3, using the Atacama Large (sub)Millimeter Array (ALMA). We detect strong [CII], OH, and rest-frame 157.7 um continuum emission toward the SMG. The [CII] emission is distributed over a scale of 3.9 kpc, implying a dynamical mass of 9.7 x 10^10 Msun, and a star formation rate (SFR) surface density of Sigma_SFR = 530 Msun/yr/kpc2. This suggests that AzTEC-3 forms stars at Sigma_SFR approaching the Eddington limit for radiation pressure supported disks. We find that the OH emission is slightly blueshifted relative to the [CII] line, which may indicate a molecular outflow associated with the peak phase of the starburst. We also detect and dynamically resolve [CII] emission over a scale of 7.5 kpc toward a triplet of Lyman-break galaxies with moderate UV-based SFRs in the protocluster at ~95kpc projected distance from the SMG. These galaxies are not detected in the continuum, suggesting far-infrared SFRs of <18-54 Msun/yr, consistent with a UV-based estimate of 22 Msun/yr. The spectral energy distribution of these galaxies is inconsistent with nearby spiral and starburst galaxies, but resembles those of dwarf galaxies. This is consistent with expectations for young starbursts without significant older stellar populations. This suggests that these galaxies are significantly metal-enriched, but not heavily dust-obscured, normal star-forming galaxies at z>5, showing that ALMA can detect the interstellar medium in typical galaxies in the very early universe.
We present deep high resolution (0.03, 200pc) ALMA Band 7 observations covering the dust continuum and [CII] $lambda157.7mu$m emission in four $zsim4.4-4.8$ sub-millimeter galaxies (SMGs) selected from the ALESS and AS2UDS surveys. The data show that the rest-frame 160$mu$m (observed 345 GHz) dust emission is consistent with smooth morphologies on kpc scales for three of the sources. One source, UDS47.0, displays apparent substructure but this is also consistent with a smooth morphology, as indicated by simulations showing that smooth exponential disks can appear clumpy when observed at high angular resolution (0.03) and depth of these observations ($sigma_{345text{GHz}} sim27-47mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$). The four SMGs are bright [CII] emitters, and we extract [CII] spectra from the high resolution data, and recover $sim20-100$% of the [CII] flux and $sim40-80$% of the dust continuum emission, compared to the previous lower resolution observations. When tapered to 0.2 resolution our maps recover $sim80-100$% of the continuum emission, indicating that $sim60$% of the emission is resolved out on $sim200$pc scales. We find that the [CII] emission in high-redshift galaxies is more spatially extended than the rest-frame 160$mu$m dust continuum by a factor of $1.6pm0.4$. By considering the $L_{text{[CII]}}$/$L_{text{FIR}}$ ratio as a function of the star-formation rate surface density ($Sigma_{text{SFR}}$) we revisit the [CII] deficit, and suggest that the decline in the $L_{text{[CII]}}$/$L_{text{FIR}}$ ratio as a function of $Sigma_{text{SFR}}$ is consistent with local processes. We also explore the physical drivers that may be responsible for these trends and can give rise to the properties found in the densest regions of SMGs.
We study the molecular gas properties of two star-forming galaxies separated by 6 kpc in the projected space and belonging to a galaxy cluster selected from the Irac Shallow Cluster Survey, at a redshift $z=1.2$, i.e., $sim2$ Gyr after the cosmic star formation density peak. This work describes the first CO detection from $1<z<1.4$ star forming cluster galaxies with no reported clear evidence of AGN. We exploit observations taken with the NOEMA interferometer at $sim3$ mm to detect CO(2-1) line emission from the two selected galaxies, unresolved by our observations. Based on the CO(2-1) spectrum we estimate a total molecular gas mass $M({rm H_2})=(2.2^{+0.5}_{-0.4})times10^{10}$ $M_odot$ and dust mass $M_{rm dust}<4.2times10^8~M_odot$ for the two blended sources. The two galaxies have similar stellar masses and a large relative velocity of $sim$400 km/s estimated from the CO(2-1) line width. These findings tend to privilege a scenario where both sources contribute to the observed CO(2-1). By using the archival Spitzer MIPS flux at 24$mu$m we estimate an ${rm SFR(24mu m)}=(28^{+12}_{-8})~M_odot$/yr for each of the two galaxies. Assuming that the two sources equally contribute to the observe CO(2-1) our analysis yields a depletion time scale $tau_{rm dep}=(3.9^{+1.4}_{-1.8})times10^8$ yr, and a molecular gas to stellar mass ratio $0.17pm0.13$ for each of two sources, separately. Our results are in overall agreement with those of other distant cluster galaxies. The two target galaxies have molecular gas mass and depletion time that are marginally compatible with, but smaller than those of main sequence field galaxies, suggesting that the molecular gas has not been refueled enough. Higher resolution and higher frequency observations will enable us to spatially resolve the two sources and possibly distinguish between different gas processing mechanisms.