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Register a new userUnderstanding Physical Conditions in High Redshift Galaxies through C I Fine Structure Lines: Data and Methodology
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We probe the physical conditions in high redshift galaxies, specifically, the Damped Lyman-alpha Systems (DLAs) using neutral carbon (CI) fine structure lines and molecular hydrogen (H2). We report five new detections of CI and analyze the CI in an additional 2 DLAs with previously published data. We also present one new detection of H2 in a DLA. We present a new method of analysis that simultaneously constrains emph{both} the volume density and the temperature of the gas, as opposed to previous studies that a priori assumed a gas temperature. We use only the column density of CI measured in the fine structure states and the assumption of ionization equilibrium in order to constrain the physical conditions in the gas. We present a sample of 11 CI velocity components in 6 DLAs and compare their properties to those derived by the global CII* technique. The resulting median values for this sample are: <n(HI)> = 69 cm^{-3}, <T> = 50 K, and <log(P/k)> = 3.86 cm^{-3} K, with standard deviations, sigma_{n(HI)} = 134 cm^{-3}, sigma_T = 52 K, and sigma_{log(P/k)} = 3.68 cm^{-3} K. This can be compared with the integrated median values for the same DLAs : <n(HI)> = 2.8 cm^{-3}, <T> = 139 K, and <log(P/k)> = 2.57 cm^{-3} K, with standard deviations sigma_{n(HI)} = 3.0 cm^{-3}, sigma_T = 43 K, and sigma_{log(P/k)} = 0.22 cm^{-3} K. Interestingly, the pressures measured in these high redshift CI clouds are similar to those found in the Milky Way. We conclude that the CI gas is tracing a higher-density, higher-pressure region, possibly indicative of post-shock gas or a photodissociation region on the edge of a molecular cloud. We speculate that these clouds may be direct probes of the precursor sites of star formation in normal galaxies at high redshift.
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We report results from a large molecular line survey of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (L_{IR} >= 10^{11} L_sol) in the local Universe (z<=0.1), conducted during the last decade with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the IRAM 30-m telescope. This work presents the CO and {13}CO line data for 36 galaxies, further augmented by multi-J total CO luminosities available for other IR-bright galaxies from the literature. This yields a sample of N=70 galaxies with the star-formation (SF) powered fraction of their IR luminosities spanning L_{IR} (10^{10}-2x10^{12}) L_sol and a wide range of morphologies. Simple comparisons of their available CO Spectral Line Energy Distributions (SLEDs) with local ones, as well as radiative transfer models discern a surprisingly wide range of average ISM conditions, with most of the surprises found in the high-excitation regime. These take the form of global CO SLEDs dominated by a very warm (T_{kin}>=100 K) and dense (n>=10^4 cm^{-3}) gas phase, involving galaxy-sized (~(few)x10^9 M_sol) gas mass reservoirs under conditions that would otherwise amount only ~1% of mass per typical SF molecular cloud in the Galaxy. Some of the highest excitation CO SLEDs are found in the so-called Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies and seem irreducible to ensembles of ordinary SF-powered regions. Highly supersonic turbulence and high cosmic ray (CR) energy densities rather than far-UV/optical photons or SNR-induced shocks from individual SF sites can globally warm the large amounts of dense gas found in these merger-driven starbursts and easily power their extraordinary CO line excitation.....
Following the first pioneering efforts in the 1990s that have focused on the detection of the molecular interstellar medium in high redshift galaxies, recent years have brought great advances in our understanding of the actual physical properties of the gas that set the conditions for star formation. Observations of the ground-state CO J=1-0 line have furnished crucial information on the total masses of the gas reservoirs, as well as reliable dynamical mass and size estimates. Detailed studies of rotational ladders of CO have provided insight on the temperature and density of the gas. Investigations of the very dense gas associated with actively star-forming regions in the interstellar medium, most prominently through HCN and HCO+, have enabled a better understanding of the nature of the extreme starbursts found in many high-redshift galaxies, which exceed the star formation rates of their most active present-day counterparts by an order of magnitude. Key progress in this area has been made through targeted studies of few, well-selected systems with current facilities. With the completion of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and the Atacama Large (sub)Millimeter Array, it will become possible to develop a more general framework for the interpretation of these investigations based on unbiased studies of normal star-forming galaxies back to the earliest cosmic epochs.
We present results of analysis of physical conditions (number density, intensity of UV field, kinetic temperature) in the cold H$_2$-bearing interstellar medium of local and high redshift galaxies. Our measurements based on the fit to the observed population of H$_2$ rotational levels and CI fine-structure levels with the help of grids of numerical models calculated with the PDR Meudon code. A joint analysis of low H$_2$ rotational levels and CI fine-structure levels allows to break the degeneracy in the $I_{UV}-n_{rm{H}}$ plane and provides significantly tighter constraints on the number density and intensity of UV field. Using archive data from the VLT/UVES, KECK/HIRES, HST/STIS and FUSE telescopes we selected 12 high redshift damped Ly$alpha$ systems (DLAs) in quasar spectra and 14 H$_2$ absorption systems along the lines of sight towards stars in the Milky-Way and the Magellanic Clouds galaxies. These systems have strong H$_2$ components with the column density $log N({rm{H_2}})/{rm{cm}}^{-2}>18$ and associated CI absorptions. We find that H$_2$-bearing medium in high redshift DLAs and in local galaxies has similar values of the kinetic temperatures $T_{rm{kin}}sim100$K and number density $10-500$ cm$^{-3}$. However, the intensity of incident UV radiation in DLAs is varied in the wide range ($0.1-100$ units of Mathis field), while it is $sim0.1-3$ units of Mathis field for H$_2$ systems in Milky-Way and LMC and SMC galaxies. The large dispersion of measured UV flux in DLAs is probably a consequence that DLA sample probes the galaxies selected from the overall galaxy population at high-z and therefore corresponds to the wide range of the physical conditions.
We analyze the physical conditions in the interstellar gas of 11 actively star-forming galaxies at z~2, based on integral-field spectroscopy from the ESO-VLT and HST/NICMOS imaging. We concentrate on the high H-alpha surface brightnesses, large line widths, line ratios and the clumpy nature of these galaxies. We show that photoionization calculations and emission line diagnostics imply gas pressures and densities that are similar to the most intense nearby star-forming regions at z=0 but over much larger scales (10-20 kpc). A relationship between surface brightness and velocity dispersion can be explained through simple energy injection arguments and a scaling set by nearby galaxies with no free parameters. The high velocity dispersions are a natural consequence of intense star formation thus regions of high velocity dispersion are not evidence for mass concentrations such as bulges or rings. External mechanisms like cosmological gas accretion generally do not have enough energy to sustain the high velocity dispersions. In some cases, the high pressures and low gas metallicites may make it difficult to robustly distinguish between AGN ionization cones and star formation, as we show for BzK-15504 at z=2.38. We construct a picture where the early stages of galaxy evolution are driven by self-gravity which powers strong turbulence until the velocity dispersion is high. Then massive, dense, gas-rich clumps collapse, triggering star formation with high efficiencies and intensities as observed. At this stage, the intense star formation is likely self-regulated by the mechanical energy output of massive stars.
We present Herschel-SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) and radio follow-up observations of two Herschel-ATLAS (H-ATLAS) detected strongly lensed distant galaxies. In one of the targeted galaxies H-ATLAS J090311.6+003906 (SDP.81) we detect [OIII] 88mum and [CII] 158mum lines at a signal-to-noise ratio of ~5. We do not have any positive line identification in the other fainter target H-ATLAS J091305.0-005343 (SDP.130). Currently SDP.81 is the faintest sub-mm galaxy with positive line detections with the FTS, with continuum flux just below 200 mJy in the 200-600 mum wavelength range. The derived redshift of SDP.81 from the two detections is z=3.043 +/-0.012, in agreement with ground-based CO measurements. This is the first detection by Herschel of the [OIII] 88mum line in a galaxy at redshift higher than 0.05. Comparing the observed lines and line ratios with a grid of photo-dissociation region (PDR) models with different physical conditions, we derive the PDR cloud density n ~ 2000 cm^{-3} and the far-UV ionizing radiation field G_0 ~ 200 (in units of the Habing field -- the local Galactic interstellar radiation field of 1.6x10^{-6} W/m^2). Using the CO derived molecular mass and the PDR properties we estimate the effective radius of the emitting region to be 500-700 pc. These characteristics are typical for star-forming, high redshift galaxies. The radio observations indicate that SDP.81 deviates significantly from the local FIR/radio correlation, which hints that some fraction of the radio emission is coming from an AGN. The constraints on the source size from millimiter-wave observations put a very conservative upper limit of the possible AGN contribution to less than 33%. These indications, together with the high [OIII]/FIR ratio and the upper limit of [OI] 63mum/[CII] 158mum suggest that some fraction of the ionizing radiation is likely to originate from an AGN.
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