ATCA detections of massive molecular gas reservoirs in dusty, high-z radio galaxies

Journal article

Observations using the 7 mm receiver system on the Australia Telescope Compact Array have revealed large reservoirs of molecular gas in two high-redshift radio galaxies: HATLAS J090426.9+015448 (zz = 2.37) and HATLAS J140930.4+003803 (zz = 2.04). Optically the targets are very faint, and spectroscopy classifies them as narrow-line radio galaxies. In addition to harbouring an active galactic nucleus the targets share many characteristics of sub-mm galaxies. Far-infrared data from Herschel-ATLAS suggest high levels of dust (>109 M⊙) and a correspondingly large amount of obscured star formation (∼1000 M⊙ / yr). The molecular gas is traced via the J = 1 → 0 transition of 12CO, its luminosity implying total H2 masses of (1.7 ± 0.3) × 1011 and (9.5 ± 2.4) × 1010 (αCO/0.8) M⊙ in HATLAS J090426.9+015448 and HATLAS J140930.4+003803 respectively. Both galaxies exhibit molecular line emission over a broad (∼1000 km/s) velocity range, and feature double-peaked profiles. We interpret this as evidence of either a large rotating disk or an on-going merger. Gas depletion timescales are ∼100 Myr. The 1.4 GHz radio luminosities of our targets place them close to the break in the luminosity function. As such they represent ‘typical’ zz > 2 radio sources, responsible for the bulk of the energy emitted at radio wavelengths from accretion-powered sources at high redshift, and yet they rank amongst the most massive systems in terms of molecular gas and dust content. We also detect 115 GHz rest-frame continuum emission, indicating a very steep high-radio-frequency spectrum, possibly classifying the targets as compact steep spectrum objects.

Authors: Heywood, I; Contreras, Y; Smith, D; Cooray, A; Dunne, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Publication date: 2016-10-27
• Acceptance date: 2016-01-01
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stw2774
• ISSN: 0035-8711 and 1365-2966
• Keywords: galaxies: high-redshift; radio lines: galaxies; radio continuum: galaxies