Dust and gas in star-forming galaxies at z ~ 3: Extending galaxy uniformity to 11.5 billion years
Abstract:
We present millimetre dust emission measurements of two Lyman-break galaxies at z ∼ 3 and construct for the first time fully sampled infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs), from mid-IR to the Rayleigh-Jeans tail, of individually detected, unlensed, UV-selected, main sequence (MS) galaxies at z = 3. The SED modelling of the two sources confirms previous findings, based on stacked ensembles, of an increasing mean radiation field (U) with redshift, consistent with a rapidly decreasing gas metallicity in z > 2 galaxies. Complementing our study with CO[J = 3 → 2] emission line observations, we have measured the molecular gas mass reservoir (M H 2 ) of the systems using three independent approaches: 1) CO line observations; 2) the dust to gas mass ratio vs. metallicity relation; and 3) a single band, dust emission flux on the Rayleigh-Jeans side of the SED. All techniques return consistent M H 2 estimates within a factor of two or less, yielding gas depletion time-scales (τ dep ≈ 0.35 Gyr) and gas-to-stellar mass ratios (M H 2 /M ∗ ≈ 0.5-1) for our z ∼ 3 massive MS galaxies. The overall properties of our galaxies are consistent with trends and relations established at lower redshifts, extending the apparent uniformity of star-forming galaxies over the last 11.5 billion years.ALMA [N ii] 205 μm imaging spectroscopy of the interacting galaxy system BRI 1202-0725 at redshift 4.7
Abstract:
We present the results from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array imaging in the [N ii] 205μm fine-structure line (hereafter [N ii] ) and the underlying continuum of BRI 1202-0725, an interacting galaxy system at z = 4.7, consisting of a quasi-stellar object (QSO), a submillimeter galaxy (SMG), and two Ly emitters, all within ∼25 kpc of the QSO. We detect the QSO and SMG in both [N ii] and continuum. At the ∼1″ (or 6.6 kpc) resolution, both the QSO and SMG are resolved in [N ii] , with the de-convolved major axes of ∼9 and ∼14 kpc, respectively. In contrast, their continuum emissions are much more compact and unresolved even at an enhanced resolution of ∼0.″7. The ratio of the [N ii] flux to the existing CO(7-6) flux is used to constrain the dust temperature (T dust ) for a more accurate determination of the FIR luminosity LFIR . Our best estimated T dust equals 43 (±2) K for both galaxies (assuming an emissivity index β = 1.8). The resulting LCO(7-6) /L FIR ratios are statistically consistent with that of local luminous infrared galaxies, confirming that LCO(7-6) traces the star formation (SF) rate (SFR) in these galaxies. We estimate that the ongoing SF of the QSO (SMG) has an SFR of 5.1 (6.9) × 10^3 M⊙ yr^-1 (±30%) assuming Chabrier initial mass function, takes place within a diameter (at half maximum) of 1.3 (1.5) kpc, and will consume the existing 5 (5) × 10^11 M⊙ of molecular gas in 10 (7) × 10 7 years.Far-infrared metallicity diagnostics: application to local ultraluminous infrared galaxies
Abstract:
The abundance of metals in galaxies is a key parameter that permits to distinguish between different galaxy formation and evolution models. Most of the metallicity determinations are based on optical line ratios. However, the optical spectral range is subject to dust extinction and, for high-z objects (z > 3), some of the lines used in optical metallicity diagnostics are shifted to wavelengths not accessible to ground-based observatories. For this reason, we explore metallicity diagnostics using far-infrared (far-IR) line ratios which can provide a suitable alternative in such situations. To investigate these far-IR line ratios, we modelled the emission of a starburst with the photoionization code CLOUDY. The most sensitive far-IR ratios to measure metallicities are the [OIII]52 μm and 88 μm to [NIII]57 μm ratios. We show that this ratio produces robust metallicities in the presence of an active galactic nucleus and is insensitive to changes in the age of the ionizing stellar. Another metallicity-sensitive ratio is the [OIII]88 μm/[N II]122 μm ratio, although it depends on the ionization parameter. We propose various mid- and far-IR line ratios to break this dependence. Finally, we apply these far-IR diagnostics to a sample of 19 local ultraluminous IR galaxies (ULIRGs) observed with Herschel and Spitzer. We find that the gas-phase metallicity in these local ULIRGs is in the range 0.7 < Zgas/Z⊙ < 1.5, which corresponds to 8.5 < 12 + log(O/H) < 8.9. The inferred metallicities agree well with previous estimates for local ULIRGs and this confirms that they lie below the local mass–metallicity relation.