科研之友
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摘要
We use a high-resolution hydrodynamic simulation that tracks the non-equilibrium abundance of molecular hydrogen within a massive high-redshift galaxy to produce mock Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) maps of the fine-structure lines of atomic carbon, C i 1-0 and C i 2-1. Inspired by recent observational and theoretical work, we assume that C i is thoroughly mixed within giant molecular clouds and demonstrate that its emission is an excellent proxy for H-2. Nearly all of the H-2 associated with the galaxy can be detected at redshifts z %26lt; 4 using a compact interferometric configuration with a large synthesized beam (that does not resolve the target galaxy) in less than 4 h of integration time. Low-resolution imaging of the C i lines (in which the target galaxy is resolved into three to four beams) will detect similar to 80 per cent of the H-2 in less than 12 h of aperture synthesis. In this case, the resulting data cube also provides the crucial information necessary for determining the dynamical state of the galaxy. We conclude that ALMA observations of the C i 1-0 and 2-1 emission are well-suited for extending the interval of cosmic look-back time over which the H-2 distributions, the dynamical masses, and the Tully-Fisher relation of galaxies can be robustly probed.
- 出版日期2014-11-21
