Submillimeter galaxies at z ~ 2: evidence for major mergers and constraints on lifetimes, IMP and CO-H_2 conversion factor
Creators
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1.
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
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2.
University of California, Berkeley
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3.
Durham University
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4.
International Research Institute for Radio Astronomy
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5.
University of Cambridge
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6.
UK Astronomy Technology Centre
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7.
University of Edinburgh
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8.
California Institute of Technology
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9.
French National Centre for Scientific Research
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10.
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
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11.
Princeton University
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12.
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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13.
University of Bologna
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14.
Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation
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15.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Abstract
We report subarcsecond resolution IRAM PdBI millimeter CO interferometry of four z ~ 2 submillimeter galaxies (SMGs), and sensitive CO(3-2) flux limits toward three z ~ 2 UV/optically selected star-forming galaxies. The new data reveal for the first time spatially resolved CO gas kinematics in the observed SMGs. Two of the SMGs show double or multiple morphologies, with complex, disturbed gas motions. The other two SMGs exhibit CO velocity gradients of ~500 km s^−1 across ≤0.2" (1.6 kpc) diameter regions, suggesting that the star-forming gas is in compact, rotating disks. Our data provide compelling evidence that these SMGs represent extreme, short-lived "maximum" star-forming events in highly dissipative mergers of gas-rich galaxies. The resulting high-mass surface and volume densities of SMGs are similar to those of compact quiescent galaxies in the same redshift range and much higher than those in local spheroids. From the ratio of the comoving volume densities of SMGs and quiescent galaxies in the same mass and redshift ranges, and from the comparison of gas exhaustion timescales and stellar ages, we estimate that the SMG phase duration is about 100 Myr. Our analysis of SMGs and optically/UV selected high-redshift star-forming galaxies supports a "universal" Chabrier IMF as being valid over the star-forming history of these galaxies. We find that the ^(12)CO luminosity to total gas mass conversion factors at z ~ 2-3 are probably similar to those assumed at z ~ 0. The implied gas fractions in our sample galaxies range from 20% to 50%.
Additional Information
© 2008 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2007 November 13, accepted for publication 2008 January 23. We thank the staff of the IRAM Observatory for their support of this program. We are grateful to Thorsten Naab, Andi Burkert, and Amiel Sternberg for valuable discussions. We also thank the referee for constructive comments that have helped to clarify and improve the paper. I. R. S. acknowledges support from the Royal Society, and A. M. S. acknowledges support from STFC.Attached Files
Published - TACapj08.pdf
Files
TACapj08.pdf
Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 14227
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20090514-185548161
Funding
- Royal Society
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Dates
- Created
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2009-06-03Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-08Created from EPrint's last_modified field