The redshift and nature of AzTEC/COSMOS 1: A starburst galaxy at z=4.6
astro-ph.CO
/ Authors
V. Smolcic, P. Capak, O. Ilbert, A. W. Blain, M. Salvato, I. Aretxaga, E. Schinnerer, D. Masters, I. Moric, D. A. Riechers
and 29 more authors
K. Sheth, M. Aravena, H. Aussel, J. Aguirre, S. Berta, C. L. Carilli, F. Civano, G. Fazio, J. Huang, D. Hughes, J. Kartaltepe, A. M. Koekemoer, J. -P. Kneib, E. LeFloc'h, D. Lutz, H. McCracken, B. Mobasher, E. Murphy, F. Pozzi, L. Riguccini, D. B. Sanders, M. Sargent, K. S. Scott, N. Z. Scoville
/ Abstract
Based on broad/narrow-band photometry and Keck DEIMOS spectroscopy we report a redshift of z=4.64-0.08+0.06 for AzTEC/COSMOS 1, the brightest sub-mm galaxy in the AzTEC/COSMOS field. In addition to the COSMOS-survey X-ray to radio data, we report observations of the source with Herschel/PACS (100, 160 micron), CSO/SHARC II (350 micron), CARMA and PdBI (3 mm). We do not detect CO(5-4) line emission in the covered redshift ranges, 4.56-4.76 (PdBI/CARMA) and 4.94-5.02 (CARMA). If the line is within this bandwidth, this sets 3sigma upper limits on the gas mass to <~8x10^9 M_Sol and <~5x10^10 M_Sol, respectively (assuming similar conditions as observed in z~2 SMGs). This could be explained by a low CO-excitation in the source. Our analysis of the UV-IR spectral energy distribution of AzTEC 1 shows that it is an extremely young (<~50 Myr), massive (M*~10^11 M_Sol), but compact (<~2 kpc) galaxy forming stars at a rate of ~1300 M_Sol/yr. Our results imply that AzTEC 1 is forming stars in a 'gravitationally bound' regime in which gravity prohibits the formation of a superwind, leading to matter accumulation within the galaxy and further generations of star formation.