GREEN BANK TELESCOPE ZPECTROMETER CO(1-0) OBSERVATIONS OF THE STRONGLY LENSED SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES FROM THE HERSCHEL ATLAS

Journal Article · Mon Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/726/2/L22· OSTI ID:21560573

Frayer, D T; Maddalena, R ^[1]; Harris, A I ^[2]; Baker, A J ^[3]; Ivison, R J ^[4]; Smail, Ian ^[5]; Negrello, M ^[6]; Aretxaga, I ^[7]; Baes, M ^[8]; Birkinshaw, M ^[9]; Bonfield, D G ^[10]; Burgarella, D ^[11]; Buttiglione, S ^[12]; Cava, A ^[13]; Clements, D L ^[14]; Cooray, A ^[15]; Dannerbauer, H ^[16]

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1. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box 2, Green Bank, WV 24944 (United States)
2. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019 (United States)
4. UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
5. Institute for Computational Cosmology, Physics Department, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA (United Kingdom)
7. Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica Luis Enrique Erro, 1 Tonantzintla, Puebla 72840 (Mexico)
8. Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
9. Department of Physics, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL (United Kingdom)
10. Centre for Astrophysics Research, Science and Technology Research Institute, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB (United Kingdom)
11. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR6110 CNRS, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille (France)
12. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy)
13. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, C/VIa Lactea s Laguna (Spain)
14. Physics Department, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom)
15. Center for Cosmology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States)
16. AIM, CEA/DSM-CNRS-Universit Paris Diderot, DAPNIA/Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, Orme De Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)

The Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) has uncovered a population of strongly lensed submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). The Zpectrometer instrument on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) was used to measure the redshifts and constrain the masses of the cold molecular gas reservoirs for two candidate high-redshift lensed sources. We derive CO(1-0) redshifts of z = 3.042 {+-} 0.001 and z = 2.625 {+-} 0.001, and measure molecular gas masses of (1-3) x10{sup 10} M{sub sun}, corrected for lens amplification and assuming a conversion factor of {alpha} = 0.8 M{sub sun}( K km s{sup -1} pc{sup 2}){sup -1}. We find typical L(IR)/L'(CO) ratios of 120 {+-} 40 and 140 {+-} 50 L{sub sun}( K km s{sup -1} pc{sup 2}){sup -1}, which are consistent with those found for local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and other high-redshift SMGs. From analysis of published data, we find no evidence for enhanced L(IR)/L'(CO(1-0)) ratios for the SMG population in comparison to local ULIRGs. The GBT results highlight the power of using the CO lines to derive blind redshifts, which is challenging for the SMGs at optical wavelengths given their high obscuration.

• OSTI ID: 21560573
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 726, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/726/2/L22; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CARBON MONOXIDE
EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
MASS
RED SHIFT
TELESCOPES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS