| 1. |
- Hodge, J. A., et al.
(author)
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ALMA Reveals Potential Evidence for Spiral Arms, Bars, and Rings in High-redshift Submillimeter Galaxies
- 2019
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In: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 876:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present subkiloparsec-scale mapping of the 870 mu m ALMA continuum emission in six luminous (LIR similar to 5 x 10(12 )L(circle dot)) submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from the ALESS survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. Our high-fidelity 0 ''.07-resolution imaging (similar to 500 pc) reveals robust evidence for structures with deconvolved sizes of less than or similar to 0.5-1 kpc embedded within (dominant) exponential dust disks. The large-scale morphologies of the structures within some of the galaxies show clear curvature and/or clump-like structures bracketing elongated nuclear emission, suggestive of bars, star-forming rings, and spiral arms. In this interpretation, the ratio of the "ring" and "bar" radii (1.9 +/- 0.3) agrees with that measured for such features in local galaxies. These potential spiral/ring/bar structures would be consistent with the idea of tidal disturbances, with their detailed properties implying flat inner rotation curves and Toomre-unstable disks (Q < 1). The inferred one-dimensional velocity dispersions (sigma(r) less than or similar to 70-160 km s(-1)) are marginally consistent with the limits implied if the sizes of the largest structures are comparable to the Jeans length. We create maps of the star formation rate density (Sigma(SFR)) on similar to 500 pc scales and show that the SMGs are able to sustain a given (galaxy-averaged) E-SFR over much larger physical scales than local (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies. However, on 500 pc scales, they do not exceed the Eddington limit set by radiation pressure on dust. If confirmed by kinematics, the potential presence of nonaxisymmetric structures would provide a means for net angular momentum loss and efficient star formation, helping to explain the very high star formation rates measured in SMGs.
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| 2. |
- Smail, Ian, et al.
(author)
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An ALMA survey of the S2CLS UDS field: optically invisible submillimetre galaxies
- 2021
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In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 502:3, s. 3426-3435
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We analyse a robust sample of 30 near-infrared-faint (K-AB > 25.3, 5 sigma) submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) selected from a 0.96 deg(2) field to investigate their properties and the cause of their faintness in optical/near-infrared wavebands. Our analysis exploits precise identifications based on Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 870-mu m continuum imaging, combined with very deep near-infrared imaging from the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey. We estimate that SMGs with K-AB > 25.3 mag represent 15 +/- 2 per cent of the total population brighter than S-870 = 3.6 mJy, with a potential surface density of similar to 450 deg(-2) above S870 >= 1 mJy. As such, they pose a source of contamination in surveys for both high-redshift 'quiescent' galaxies and very high redshift Lyman-break galaxies. We show that these K-faint SMGs represent the tail of the broader submillimetre population, with comparable dust and stellar masses to K-AB <= 25.3 mag SMGs, but lying at significantly higher redshifts (z = 3.44 +/- 0.06 versus z = 2.36 +/- 0.11) and having higher dust attenuation (A(V) = 5.2 +/- 0.3 versus A(V) = 2.9 +/- 0.1). We investigate the origin of the strong dust attenuation and find indications that these K-faint galaxies have smaller dust continuum sizes than the K-AB <= 25.3 mag galaxies, as measured by ALMA, which suggests their high attenuation is related to their compact sizes. We identify a correlation of dust attenuation with star formation rate surface density (Sigma(SFR)), with the K-faint SMGs representing the higher Sigma(SFR) and highest A(V) galaxies. The concentrated, intense star formation activity in these systems is likely to be associated with the formation of spheroids in compact galaxies at high redshifts, but as a result of their high obscuration these galaxies are completely missed in ultraviolet, optical, and even near-infrared surveys.
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| 3. |
- Birkin, Jack E., et al.
(author)
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An ALMA/NOEMA survey of the molecular gas properties of high-redshift star-forming galaxies
- 2021
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In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 501:3, s. 3926-3950
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have used ALMA and NOEMA to study the molecular gas reservoirs in 61 ALMA-identified submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the COSMOS, UDS, and ECDFS fields. We detect 12CO (Jup = 2-5) emission lines in 50 sources, and [C I](3P1 -3P0) emission in eight, at z = 1.2-4.8 and with a median redshift of 2.9±0.2. By supplementing our data with literature sources, we construct a statistical CO spectral line energy distribution and find that the 12CO line luminosities in SMGs peak at Jup ∼ 6, consistent with similar studies. We also test the correlations of the CO, [C I], and dust as tracers of the gas mass, finding the three to correlate well, although the CO and dust mass as estimated from the 3-mm continuum are preferable. We estimate that SMGs lie mostly on or just above the star-forming main sequence, with a median gas depletion timescale, tdep = Mgas/SFR, of 210±40 Myr for our sample. Additionally, tdep declines with redshift across z ∼ 1-5, while the molecular gas fraction, μgas = Mgas/M*, increases across the same redshift range. Finally, we demonstrate that the distribution of total baryonic mass and dynamical line width, Mbaryon-σ, for our SMGs is consistent with that followed by early-type galaxies in the Coma cluster, providing strong support to the suggestion that SMGs are progenitors of massive local spheroidal galaxies. On the basis of this, we suggest that the SMG populations above and below an 870-μm flux limit of S870 ∼ 5mJy may correspond to the division between slow and fast rotators seen in local early-type galaxies.
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