No Arabic abstract
A tight relation between the [CII]158$mu$m line luminosity and star formation rate is measured in local galaxies. At high redshift ($z>5$), though, a much larger scatter is observed, with a considerable (15-20%) fraction of the outliers being [CII]-deficient. Moreover, the [CII] surface brightness ($Sigma_{rm CII}$) of these sources is systematically lower than expected from the local relation. To clarify the origin of such [CII]-deficiency we have developed an analytical model that fits local [CII] data, and has been validated against radiative transfer simulations performed with CLOUDY. The model predicts an overall increase of $Sigma_{rm CII}$ with the surface star formation rate ($Sigma_*$). However, for $Sigma_* > 1 M_odot~{rm yr}^{-1}~{rm kpc}^{-2}$, $Sigma_{rm CII}$ saturates. We conclude that underluminous [CII] systems can result from a combination of three factors: (a) large upward deviations from the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation ($kappa_s gg 1$), parameterized by the burstiness parameter $kappa_s$; (b) low metallicity; (c) low gas density, at least for the most extreme sources (e.g. CR7). Observations of [CII] emission alone cannot break the degeneracy among the above three parameters; this requires additional information coming from other emission lines (e.g. [OIII]88$mu$m, CIII]1909A, CO lines). Simple formulae are given to interpret available data for low and high-$z$ galaxies.
We study the kinematical properties of galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization via the [CII] 158$mu$m line emission. The line profile provides information on the kinematics as well as structural properties such as the presence of a disk and satellites. To understand how these properties are encoded in the line profile, first we develop analytical models from which we identify disk inclination and gas turbulent motions as the key parameters affecting the line profile. To gain further insights, we use Althaea, a highly-resolved ($30, rm pc$) simulated prototypical Lyman Break Galaxy, in the redshift range $z = 6-7$, when the galaxy is in a very active assembling phase. Based on morphology, we select three main dynamical stages: I) Merger , II) Spiral Disk, and III) Disturbed Disk. We identify spectral signatures of merger events, spiral arms, and extra-planar flows in I), II), and III), respectively. We derive a generalised dynamical mass vs. [CII]-line FWHM relation. If precise information on the galaxy inclination is (not) available, the returned mass estimate is accurate within a factor $2$ ($4$). A Tully-Fisher relation is found for the observed high-$z$ galaxies, i.e. $L_{rm[CII]}propto (FWHM)^{1.80pm 0.35}$ for which we provide a simple, physically-based interpretation. Finally, we perform mock ALMA simulations to check the detectability of [CII]. When seen face-on, Althaea is always detected at $> 5sigma$; in the edge-on case it remains undetected because the larger intrinsic FWHM pushes the line peak flux below detection limit. This suggests that some of the reported non-detections might be due to inclination effects.
Observations of ionised carbon at 158 micron ([CII]) from luminous star-forming galaxies at z~0 show that their ratios of [CII] to far infrared (FIR) luminosity are systematically lower than those of more modestly star-forming galaxies. In this paper, we provide a theory for the origin of this so called [CII] deficit in galaxies. Our model treats the interstellar medium as a collection of clouds with radially-stratified chemical and thermal properties, which are dictated by the clouds volume and surface densities, as well as the interstellar radiation and cosmic ray fields to which they are exposed. [CII] emission arises from the outer, HI dominated layers of clouds, and from regions where the hydrogen is H2 but the carbon is predominantly C+. In contrast, the most shielded regions of clouds are dominated by CO and produce little [CII] emission. This provides a natural mechanism to explain the observed [CII]-star formation relation: galaxies star formation rates are largely driven by the surface densities of their clouds. As this rises, so does the fraction of gas in the CO-dominated phase that produces little [CII] emission. Our model further suggests that the apparent offset in the [CII]-FIR relation for high-z sources compared to those at present epoch may arise from systematically larger gas masses at early times: a galaxy with a large gas mass can sustain a high star formation rate even with relatively modest surface density, allowing copious [CII] emission to coexist with rapid star formation.
ALMA observations have revealed that [CII] 158$mu$m line emission in high-z galaxies is ~2-3$times$ more extended than the UV continuum emission. Here we explore whether surface brightness dimming (SBD) of the [CII] line is responsible for the reported [CII] deficit, and the large $L_{rm [OIII]}/L_{rm [CII]}$ luminosity ratio measured in early galaxies. We first analyse archival ALMA images of nine z>6 galaxies observed in both [CII] and [OIII]. After performing several uv-tapering experiments to optimize the identification of extended line emission, we detect [CII] emission in the whole sample, with an extent systematically larger than the [CII] emission. Next, we use interferometric simulations to study the effect of SBD on the line luminosity estimate. About 40% of the extended [CII] component might be missed at an angular resolution of 0.8$^{primeprime}$, implying that $L_{rm [CII]}$ is underestimated by a factor $approx2$ in data at low (<7) signal-to-noise ratio . By combining these results, we conclude that $L_{rm [CII]}$ of z>6 galaxies lies, on average, slightly below the local $L_{rm [CII]}-SFR$ relation ($Delta^{z=6-9}=-0.07pm0.3$), but within the intrinsic dispersion of the relation. SBD correction also yields $L_{rm [OIII]}/L_{rm [CII]}<10$, i.e. more in line with current hydrodynamical simulations.
The [CII] fine structure transition at 158 microns is the dominant cooling line of cool interstellar gas, and is the brightest of emission lines from star forming galaxies from FIR through meter wavelengths. With the advent of ALMA and NOEMA, capable of detecting [CII]-line emission in high-redshift galaxies, there has been a growing interest in using the [CII] line as a probe of the physical conditions of the gas in galaxies, and as a SFR indicator at z>4. In this paper, we use a semi-analytical model of galaxy evolution (G.A.S.) combined with the code CLOUDY to predict the [CII] luminosity of a large number of galaxies at 4< z<8. At such high redshift, the CMB represents a strong background and we discuss its effects on the luminosity of the [CII] line. We study the LCII-SFR and LCII-Zg relations and show that they do not strongly evolve with redshift from z=4 and to z=8. Galaxies with higher [CII] luminosities tend to have higher metallicities and higher star formation rates but the correlations are very broad, with a scatter of about 0.5 dex for LCII-SFR. Our model reproduces the LCII-SFR relations observed in high-redshift star-forming galaxies, with [CII] luminosities lower than expected from local LCII-SFR relations. Accordingly, the local observed LCII-SFR relation does not apply at high-z. Our model naturally produces the [CII] deficit, which appears to be strongly correlated with the intensity of the radiation field in our simulated galaxies. We then predict the [CII] luminosity function, and show that it has a power law form in the range of LCII probed by the model with a slope alpha=1. The slope is not evolving from z=4 to z=8 but the number density of [CII]-emitters decreases by a factor of 20x. We discuss our predictions in the context of current observational estimates on both the differential and cumulative luminosity functions.
The [CII] $158,mumathrm{m}$ fine-structure line is one of the dominant coolants of the neutral interstellar medium. It is hence one of the brightest far-infrared emission lines and can be observed not only in star-forming regions throughout the Galaxy, but also in the diffuse interstellar medium and in distant galaxies. [CII] line emission has been suggested to be a powerful tracer of star-formation. We aim to understand the origin of [CII] emission and its relation to other tracers of interstellar gas and dust. This includes a study of the heating efficiency of interstellar gas as traced by the [CII] line to test models of gas heating. We make use of a one-square-degree map of velocity-resolved [CII] line emission towards the Orion Nebula complex, including M43 and NGC 1977. The [CII] intensity is tightly correlated with PAH emission in the IRAC $8,mumathrm{m}$ band and far-infrared emission from warm dust. The correlation between [CII] and CO(2-1) is affected by the detailed geometry of the region. We find particularly low [CII]-over-FIR intensity ratios towards large columns of (warm and cold) dust, which suggest the interpretation of the [CII] deficit in terms of a FIR excess. A slight decrease in the FIR line-over-continuum intensity ratio can be attributed to a decreased heating efficiency of the gas. We find that, at the mapped spatial scales, predictions of the star-formation rate from [CII] emission underestimate the star-formation rate calculated from YSO counts in the Orion Nebula complex by an order of magnitude. [CII] emission from the Orion Nebula complex arises dominantly in the cloud surfaces, many viewed in edge-on geometry. [CII] emission from extended faint cloud surfaces may contribute significantly to the total [CII] emission on galactic scales.