Star Formation and ISM Properties in the Host Galaxies of Three Far-infrared Luminous Quasars at z ∼ 6

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal 2019-05, Vol.876 (2), p.99
• Main Authors: Shao, Yali, Wang, Ran, Carilli, Chris L., Wagg, Jeff, Walter, Fabian, Li, Jianan, Fan, Xiaohui, Jiang, Linhua, Riechers, Dominik A., Bertoldi, Frank, Strauss, Michael A., Cox, Pierre, Omont, Alain, Menten, Karl M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arrays; Astrophysics; Dust; Emission; Far infrared radiation; Galaxies; galaxies: active; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: high-redshift; Interstellar matter; Interstellar medium; Luminosity; Molecular gases; Photodissociation; Point sources; Quasars; quasars: general; radio lines: galaxies; Radio telescopes; Red shift; Sciences of the Universe; Space telescopes; Spectral energy distribution; Star & galaxy formation; Star formation; Star formation rate; Starburst galaxies; Stars & galaxies; submillimeter: galaxies
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab133d

We present Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array observations of the CO (2−1) line emission toward three far-infrared luminous quasars at z ∼ 6: SDSS J231038.88+185519.7 and SDSS J012958.51−003539.7 with ∼0 6 resolution and SDSS J205406.42−000514.8 with ∼2 1 resolution. All three sources are detected in the CO (2−1) line emission-one source is marginally resolved, and the other two appear as point sources. Measurements of the CO (2−1) line emission allow us to calculate the molecular gas mass even without a CO excitation model. The inferred molecular gas masses are (0.8-4.3) × 1010 M . The widths and redshifts derived from the CO (2−1) line are consistent with previous CO (6−5) and [C ii] measurements. We also report continuum measurements using Herschel for SDSS J231038.88+185519.7 and SDSS J012958.51−003539.7, and for SDSS J231038.88+185519.7 data obtained at ∼140 and ∼300 GHz using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. In the case of SDSS J231038.88+185519.7, we present a detailed analysis of the spectral energy distribution and derive the dust temperature (∼40 K), the dust mass (∼109 M ), the far-infrared luminosity (8-1000 m; ∼1013 L ), and the star formation rate (2400-2700 M yr−1). Finally, an analysis of the photodissociation regions associated with the three high-redshift quasars indicates that the interstellar medium in these sources has similar properties to local starburst galaxies.