Probing the Full CO Spectral Line Energy Distribution (SLED) in the Nuclear Region of a Quasar-starburst System at z = 6.003

Release time:2023-03-22 Hits:

Impact Factor:5.8

DOI number:10.3847/1538-4357/ab65fa

Journal:The Astrophysical Journal

Abstract:We report Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of CO(8–7), (9–8), ${{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}({2}_{\mathrm{0,2}}\mbox{--}{1}_{\mathrm{1,1}})$, and ${\mathrm{OH}}^{+}({1}_{1}\mbox{--}{0}_{1})$ and NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array observations of CO(5–4), (6–5), (12–11), and (13–12) toward the z = 6.003 quasar SDSS J231038.88+185519.7, aiming to probe the physical conditions of the molecular gas content of this source. We present the best sampled CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) at z = 6.003, and analyzed it with the radiative transfer code MOLPOP-CEP. Fitting the CO SLED to a one-component model indicates a kinetic temperature Tkin = 228 K, molecular gas density $\mathrm{log}(n({{\rm{H}}}_{2})/{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$) = 4.75, and CO column density $\mathrm{log}(N(\mathrm{CO})/{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2})=17.5$; although, a two-component model better fits the data. In either case, the CO SLED is dominated by a "warm" and "dense" component. Compared to samples of local (Ultra) Luminous Infrared Galaxies, starburst galaxies, and high-redshift submillimeter galaxies, J2310+1855 exhibits higher CO excitation at (J ≥ 8), like other high-redshift quasars. The high CO excitation, together with the enhanced ${L}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}/{L}_{\mathrm{IR}}$, ${L}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}/{L}_{\mathrm{CO}}$, and ${L}_{{\mathrm{OH}}^{+}}/{L}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}$ ratios, suggests that besides the UV radiation from young massive stars, other mechanisms such as shocks, cosmic-rays, and X-rays might also be responsible for the heating and ionization of the molecular gas. In the nuclear region probed by the molecular emissions lines, any of these mechanisms might be present due to the powerful quasar and the starburst activity.

Co-author:Ran Wang, Dominik Riechers, Fabian Walter, Roberto Decarli, Bram P. Venamans, Roberto Neri, Yali Shao, Xiaohui Fan, Yu Gao, Chris L. Carilli, Alain Omont, Pierre Cox, Karl M. Menten, Jeff Wagg, Frank Bertoldi, and Desika Narayanan

First Author:Jianan Li

Volume:889

Issue:2

Page Number:162

Translation or Not:no

Date of Publication:2020-02-04

Included Journals:SCI

Links to published journals:https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab65fa