MEASUREMENTS OF CO REDSHIFTS WITH Z-SPEC FOR LENSED SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES DISCOVERED IN THE H-ATLAS SURVEY

We present new observations from Z-Spec, a broadband 185−305 GHz spectrometer, of five submillimeter bright lensed sources selected from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) science demonstration phase (SDP) catalog. We construct a redshift finding algorithm using combina...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Itziar Aretxaga, David Hughes
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:México
Institución:Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional del INAOE
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx:1009/1932
Acceso en línea:http://inaoe.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/handle/1009/1932
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Submillimeter: galaxies
info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Galaxies:distances and redshifts
info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Galaxies:high-redshift
info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Galaxies:ISM
info:eu-repo/classification/Inspec/Line:identification
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/1
info:eu-repo/classification/cti/21
Descripción
Sumario:We present new observations from Z-Spec, a broadband 185−305 GHz spectrometer, of five submillimeter bright lensed sources selected from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) science demonstration phase (SDP) catalog. We construct a redshift finding algorithm using combinations of the signal-to-noise of all the lines falling in the Z-Spec bandpass to determine redshifts with high confidence, even in cases where the signal-to-noise in individual lines is low. We measure the dust continuum in all sources and secure CO redshifts for four out of five (z ∼ 1.5−3). In one source, SDP.17, we tentatively identify two independent redshifts and a water line, confirmed at z=2.308. Our sources have properties characteristic of dusty starburst galaxies, with magnification-corrected star formation rates of 10²⁻³ Mꙩ yr⁻¹ . Lower limits for the dust masses (∼a few 10⁸ Mꙩ) and spatial extents (∼1 kpc equivalent radius) are derived from the continuum spectral energy distributions, corresponding to dust temperatures between 54 and 69 K. In the LTE approximation, we derive relatively low CO excitation temperatures (≲100 K) and optical depths (τ≲1). Performing a non-LTE excitation analysis using RADEX, we find that the CO lines measured by Z-Spec (from J= 4 → 3 to 10 → 9, depending on the galaxy) localize the best solutions to either a high-temperature / low-density region, or a low-temperature / high-density region near the LTE solution, with the optical depth varying accordingly. Observations of additional CO lines, CO(1−0) in particular, are needed to constrain the non-LTE models.