CO(1-0) in z >/~ 4 Quasar Host Galaxies: No Evidence for Extended Molecular Gas Reservoirs

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dc.creatorRiechers, Dominik A.
dc.creatorWalter, Fabian
dc.creatorCarilli, Christopher L.
dc.creatorKnudsen, Kirsten K.
dc.creatorLo, K. Y.
dc.creatorBenford, Dominic J.
dc.creatorStaguhn, Johannes G.
dc.creatorHunter, Todd R.
dc.creatorBertoldi, Frank
dc.creatorHenkel, Christian
dc.creatorMenten, Karl M.
dc.creatorWeiss, Axel
dc.creatorYun, Min S.
dc.creatorScoville, Nick Z.
dc.date2006-06-17
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:39:18Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:39:18Z
dc.descriptionWe present CO(1-0) observations of the high-redshift quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) BR 1202-0725 (z=4.69), PSS J2322+1944 (z=4.12), and APM 08279+5255 (z=3.91) using the NRAO Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the MPIfR Effelsberg 100m telescope. We detect, for the first time, the CO ground-level transition in BR 1202-0725. For PSS J2322+1944 and APM 08279+5255, our observations result in line fluxes that are consistent with previous NRAO Very Large Array (VLA) observations, but they reveal the full line profiles. We report a typical lensing-corrected velocity-integrated intrinsic CO(1-0) line luminosity of L'(CO) = 5 x 10^10 K km/s pc^2 and a typical total H_2 mass of M(H2) = 4 x 10^10 M_sun for the sources in our sample. The CO/FIR luminosity ratios of these high-z sources follow the same trend as seen for low-z galaxies, leading to a combined solution of log(L_FIR) = (1.39 +/- 0.05) x log(L(CO))-1.76. It has previously been suggested that the molecular gas reservoirs in some quasar host galaxies may exhibit luminous, extended CO(1-0) components that are not observed in the higher-J CO transitions. Utilizing the line profiles and the total intensities of our observations and large velocity gradient (LVG) models based on previous results for higher-J CO transitions, we derive that emission from all CO transitions is described well by a single gas component where all molecular gas is concentrated in a compact nuclear region. Thus, our observations and models show no indication of a luminous extended, low surface brightness molecular gas component in any of the high-redshift QSOs in our sample. If such extended components exist, their contribution to the overall luminosity is limited to at most 30%.
dc.description12 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, to appear in ApJ (accepted June 16, 2006)
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0606422
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0606422
dc.identifierAstrophys.J.650:604-613,2006
dc.identifierdoi:10.1086/507014
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/180982
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleCO(1-0) in z >/~ 4 Quasar Host Galaxies: No Evidence for Extended Molecular Gas Reservoirs
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