No Arabic abstract
Using ALMA, we report high angular-resolution observations of the redshift z=3.63 galaxy, G09v1.97, one of the most luminous strongly lensed galaxies discovered by the H-ATLAS survey. We present 02-04 resolution images of the rest-frame 188 and 419$mu$m dust continuum and the CO(6-5), H2O(211-202) and J=2 H2O+ line emission. We also report the detection of H$_2^{18}$O in this source. The dust continuum and molecular gas emission are resolved into a nearly complete ~15 diameter Einstein ring plus a weaker image in the center, which is caused by a special dual deflector lensing configuration. The observed line profiles of the CO, H2O and H2O+ lines are strikingly similar. In the source plane, we reconstruct the dust continuum images and the spectral cubes of the line emission at sub-kpc scales. The reconstructed dust emission in the source plane is dominated by a compact disk with an effective radius of 0.7kpc plus an overlapping extended disk with a radius twice as large. While the average magnification for the dust continuum is $mu$~10-11, the magnification of the line emission varies 5 to 22 across different velocity components. The emission lines have similar spatial and kinematic distributions. The molecular gas and dust content reveal that G09v1.97 is a gas-rich major merger in its pre-coalescence phase. Both of the merging companions are intrinsically ULIRGs with LIR reaching $gtrsim 4times10^{12}L_odot$, and the total LIR of G09v1.97 is $1.4times10^{13}L_odot$. The approaching southern galaxy shows no obvious kinematic structure with a semi-major half-light radius a_s=0.4kpc, while the receding galaxy resembles an a_s=1.2kpc rotating disk. The two galaxies are separated by a projected distance of 1.3kpc, bridged by weak line emission that is co-spatially located with the cold-dust-emission peak, suggesting a large amount of cold ISM in the interacting region. (abridged)
(abridged) We report rest-frame submillimeter H2O emission line observations of 11 HyLIRGs/ULIRGs at z~2-4 selected among the brightest lensed galaxies discovered in the Herschel-ATLAS. Using the IRAM NOEMA, we have detected 14 new H2O emission lines. The apparent luminosities of the H2O emission lines are $mu L_{rm{H_2O}} sim 6-21 times 10^8 L_odot$, with velocity-integrated line fluxes ranging from 4-15 Jy km s$^{-1}$. We have also observed CO emission lines using EMIR on the IRAM 30m telescope in seven sources. The velocity widths for CO and H2O lines are found to be similar. With almost comparable integrated flux densities to those of the high-J CO line, H2O is found to be among the strongest molecular emitters in high-z Hy/ULIRGs. We also confirm our previously found correlation between luminosity of H2O ($L_{rm{H_2O}}$) and infrared ($L_{rm{IR}}$) that $L_{rm{H_2O}} sim L_{rm{IR}}^{1.1-1.2}$, with our new detections. This correlation could be explained by a dominant role of far-infrared (FIR) pumping in the H2O excitation. Modelling reveals the FIR radiation fields have warm dust temperature $T_rm{warm}$~45-75 K, H2O column density per unit velocity interval $N_{rm{H_2O}}/Delta V gtrsim 0.3 times 10^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$ km$^{-1}$ s and 100 $mu$m continuum opacity $tau_{100} > 1$ (optically thick), indicating that H2O is likely to trace highly obscured warm dense gas. However, further observations of $Jgeq4$ H2O lines are needed to better constrain the continuum optical depth and other physical conditions of the molecular gas and dust. We have also detected H2O+ emission in three sources. A tight correlation between $L_{rm{H_2O}}$ and $L_{rm{H_2O^+}}$ has been found in galaxies from low to high redshift. The velocity-integrated flux density ratio between H2O+ and H2O suggests that cosmic rays generated by strong star formation are possibly driving the H2O+ formation.
Submillimeter rotational lines of H2O are a powerful probe in warm gas regions of the ISM, tracing scales and structures ranging from kpc disks to the most compact and dust-obscured regions of galactic nuclei. The ortho-H2O(423-330) line at 448 GHz, which was recently detected in a local luminous infrared galaxy (Pereira-Santaella et al. 2017), offers a unique constraint on the excitation conditions and ISM properties in deeply buried galaxy nuclei since the line requires high far-IR optical depths to be excited. In this letter, we report the first high-redshift detection of the 448 GHz H2O(423-330) line using ALMA, in a strongly lensed submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z=3.63. After correcting for magnification, the luminosity of the 448 GHz H2O line is ~10^6 L_sun. In combination with three other previously detected H2O lines, we build a model that resolves the dusty ISM structure of the SMG, and find that it is composed of a ~1 kpc optically thin (optical depth at 100{mu}m {tau}_{100}~0.3) disk component with dust temperature T_{dust} approx 50 K emitting a total infrared power of 5e12 L_sun with surface density Sigma_{IR}=4e11 L_sun kpc^{-2}, and a very compact (0.1 kpc) heavily dust-obscured ({tau}_{100} gtrsim 1) nuclear core with very warm dust (100 K) and Sigma_{IR}=8e12 L_sun kpc^{-2}. The H2O abundance in the core component, X_{H2O}~(0.3-5)e{-5}, is at least one order of magnitude higher than in the disk component. The optically thick core has the characteristic properties of an Eddington-limited starburst, providing evidence that radiation pressure on dust is capable of supporting the ISM in buried nuclei at high redshifts. The multi-component ISM structure revealed by our models illustrates that dust and molecules such as H2O are present in regions characterized by highly differing conditions and scales, extending from the nucleus to more extended regions of SMGs.
The Herschel survey, H-ATLAS, with its large areal coverage, has recently discovered a number of bright, strongly lensed high-z submillimeter galaxies. The strong magnification makes it possible to study molecular species other than CO, which are otherwise difficult to observe in high-z galaxies. Among the lensed galaxies already identified by H-ATLAS, the source J090302.9-014127B (SDP.17b) at z = 2.305 is remarkable due to its excitation conditions and a tentative detection of the H2O 202-111 emission line (Lupu et al. 2010). We report observations of this line in SDP.17b using the IRAM interferometer equipped with its new 277- 371GHz receivers. The H2O line is detected at a redshift of z = 2.3049+/-0.0006, with a flux of 7.8+/-0.5 Jy km s-1 and a FWHM of 250+/-60 km s-1. The new flux is 2.4 times weaker than the previous tentative detection, although both remain marginally consistent within 1.6-sigma. The intrinsic line luminosity and ratio of H2O(202-111)/CO8-7 seem comparable with those of the nearby starburst/enshrouded-AGN Mrk 231, suggesting that SDP.17b could also host a luminous AGN. The detection of a strong H2O 202-111 line in SDP.17b implies an efficient excitation mechanism of the water levels that must occur in very dense and warm interstellar gas.
We study the spatially resolved physical properties of the Cosmic Snake arc in MACS J1206.2-0847 and the arc in Abell 0521 (A521). These are two strongly lensed galaxies at redshifts $z=1.036$ and $z=1.044$. We used observations of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The former gives access to the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass ($M_star$), and the latter to the H$_2$ molecular gas mass ($M_{mathrm{mol}}$). HST and ALMA observations have similar angular resolutions of $0.15^{prime prime}-0.2^{prime prime}$, which with the help of strong gravitational lensing enable us to reach spatial resolutions down to $sim 30,mathrm{pc}$ and $sim 100,mathrm{pc}$ in these two galaxies, respectively. These resolutions are close to the resolution of observations of nearby galaxies. We study the radial profiles of SFR, $M_star$, and $M_{mathrm{mol}}$ surface densities of these high-redshift galaxies and compare the corresponding exponential scale lengths with those of local galaxies. We find that the scale lengths in the Cosmic Snake are about $0.5,mathrm{kpc}-1.5,mathrm{kpc}$, and they are 3 to 10 times larger in A521. This is a significant difference knowing that the two galaxies have comparable integrated properties. These high-redshift scale lengths are nevertheless comparable to those of local galaxies, which cover a wide distribution. The particularity of our high-redshift radial profiles is the normalisation of the $M_{mathrm{mol}}$ surface density profiles ($Sigma M_{mathrm{mol}}$), which are offset by up to a factor of 20 with respect to the profiles of $z=0$ counterparts. The SFR surface density profiles are also offset by the same factor as $Sigma M_{mathrm{mol}}$, as expected from the Kennicutt-Schmidt law.
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.