BRIGHT [C II] 158 mu m EMISSION IN A QUASAR HOST GALAXY AT z=6.54

作者：Banados E; Decarli R; Walter F; Venemans B P; Farina E P; Fan X

来源：Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2015, 805(1): L8.

DOI：10.1088/2041-8205/805/1/L8

• cosmology: observations
• quasars: emission lines
• quasars: general

The [C II] 158 mu m fine-structure line is known to trace regions of active star formation and is the main coolant of the cold, neutral atomic medium. In this Letter, we report a strong detection of the [C II] line in the host galaxy of the brightest quasar known at z > 6.5, the Pan-STARRS1 selected quasar PSO J036.5078+03.0498 (hereafter P036+03), using the IRAM NOEMA millimeter interferometer. Its [C II] and total far-infrared luminosities are (5.8 +/- 0.7) x 10(9) L-circle dot and (7.6 +/- 1.5) x 10(12) L-circle dot, respectively. This results in an L-[C II]/L-TIR ratio of similar to 0.8 x 10(-3), which is at the high end of those found for active galaxies, though it is lower than the average found in typical main-sequence galaxies at z similar to 0. We also report a tentative additional line that we identify as a blended emission from the 3(22) - 3(13) and 5(23) - 4(32) H2O transitions. If confirmed, this would be the most distant detection of water emission to date. P036+03 rivals the current prototypical luminous J1148+5251 quasar at z = 6.42, in both rest-frame UV and [C II] luminosities. Given its brightness and because it is visible from both hemispheres (unlike J1148+5251), P036+03 has the potential of becoming an important laboratory for the study of star formation and of the interstellar medium only similar to 800 Myr after the Big Bang.

• 出版日期2015-5-20