A Study of CO Emission in High‐Redshift QSOs Using the Owens Valley Millimeter Array

2004/03/17 by L. J. Hainline, N. Z. Scoville, Min S. Yun +5 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Emission spectrum #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gravitational lens #Millimeter #Physics #QSOS #Redshift #Spectral line #Star formation #Submillimeter Array #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/420920

published as Astrophys.J. 609 (2004) 61 · 18 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted to ApJ. Changes made for version 2: citations added, 2 objects added to Table 2 and Figure 5

arxiv created 2004/03/17 · openalex publication_date 2004/06/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2020/11/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Searches for CO emission in high-redshift objects have traditionally suffered from the accuracy of optically derived redshifts for lack of bandwidth in correlators at radio observatories. This problem has motivated the creation of the new COBRA continuum correlator with 4 GHz available bandwidth at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Millimeter Array. Presented here are the first scientific results from COBRA. We report detections of redshifted CO ( J = 3 → 2) emission in the QSOs SMM J04135+10277 and VCV J140955.5+562827, as well as a probable detection in RX J0911.4+0551. At redshifts of z = 2.846, 2.585, and 2.796, we find integrated CO flux densities of 5.4, 2.4, and 2.9 Jy km s -1 for SMM J04135+10277, VCV J140955.5+562827, and RX J0911.4+0551, respectively, over line widths of Δ V FWHM ~ 350 km s -1 . These measurements, when corrected for gravitational lensing, correspond to molecular gas masses of order M (H 2 ) ~ 10 9.6 -10 11.1 M ☉ and are consistent with previous CO observations of high-redshift QSOs. We also report 3 σ upper limits on CO (3 → 2) emission in the QSO LBQS 0018-0220 of 1.3 Jy km s -1 . We do not detect significant 3 mm continuum emission from any of the QSOs, with the exception of a tentative (3 σ) detection in RX J0911.4+0551 of S 3 mm = 0.92 mJy beam -1 .

Citations

• Detection of CO (3–2) Emission at [CLC][ITAL]z[/ITAL][/CLC] = 2.64 from the Gravitationally Lensed Quasar MG 0414+0534
• The NRAO VLA Sky Survey
• A 1.2 mm MAMBO/IRAM–30 m study of dust emission from optically luminous z ≈ 2 quasars
• The nature of faint submillimetre-selected galaxies
• APM 08279+5255: An Ultraluminous Broad Absorption Line Quasar at a Redshiftz= 3.87
• Submillimeter Observations of the Ultraluminous Broad Absorption Line Quasar APM 08279+5255
• Molecular gas and dust around a radio-quiet quasar at redshift 4.69
• Interferometric Observations of Powerful CO Emission from Three Submillimeter Galaxies at z =2.39, 2.51, and 3.35
• A 1.2 mm MAMBO/IRAM-30 m survey of dust emission from the highest redshift PSS quasars
• Observations of az= 1.44 Dusty, Ultraluminous Galaxy and Implications for Deep Submillimeter Surveys
• A Relationship between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion
• SCUBA: a common-user submillimetre camera operating on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
• CO emission from z>3 radio galaxies
• The SCUBA Bright Quasar Survey (SBQS) — II. Unveiling the quasar epoch at submillimetre wavelengths
• Rotating Nuclear Rings and Extreme Starbursts in Ultraluminous Galaxies
• Deep radio imaging of the SCUBA 8-mJy survey fields: submillimetre source identifications and redshift distribution

Cited by

• Gravitational lensing reveals extreme dust-obscured star formation in quasar host galaxies
• MOLECULAR GAS IN LENSEDz>2 QUASAR HOST GALAXIES AND THE STAR FORMATION LAW FOR GALAXIES WITH LUMINOUS ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI