Meyer, Romain A;
Walter, Fabian;
Cicone, Claudia;
Cox, Pierre;
Decarli, Roberto;
Neri, Roberto;
Novak, Mladen;
... Weiss, Axel; + view all
(2022)
Physical constraints on the extended interstellar medium of the z=6.42 quasar J1148+5251: [CII] 158um, [NII] 205um and [OI] 146um observations.
The Astrophysical Journal
, 927
(2)
10.3847/1538-4357/ac4e94.
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Abstract
We report new Northern Extended Millimeter Array observations of the [C ii]158 μm, [N ii]205 μm, and [O i]146 μm atomic fine structure lines (FSLs) and dust continuum emission of J1148+5251, a z = 6.42 quasar, which probe the physical properties of its interstellar medium (ISM). The radially averaged [C ii]158 μm and dust continuum emission have similar extensions (up to $\theta ={2.51}_{-0.25}^{+0.46}\ \mathrm{arcsec}$, corresponding to $r={9.8}_{-2.1}^{+3.3}\ \mathrm{kpc}$, accounting for beam convolution), confirming that J1148+5251 is the quasar with the largest [C ii]158 μm-emitting reservoir known at these epochs. Moreover, if the [C ii]158 μm emission is examined only along its NE–SW axis, a significant excess (>5.8σ) of [C ii]158 μm emission (with respect to the dust) is detected. The new wide-bandwidth observations enable us to accurately constrain the continuum emission, and do not statistically require the presence of broad [C ii]158 μm line wings that were reported in previous studies. We also report the first detection of the [O i]146 μm and (tentatively) [N ii]205 μm emission lines in J1148+5251. Using FSL ratios of the [C ii]158 μm, [N ii]205 μm, [O i]146 μm, and previously measured [C i]369 μm emission lines, we show that J1148+5251 has similar ISM conditions compared to lower-redshift (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies. CLOUDY modeling of the FSL ratios excludes X-ray-dominated regions and favors photodissociation regions as the origin of the FSL emission. We find that a high radiation field (103.5–4.5 G0), a high gas density (n ≃ 103.5–4.5 cm−3), and an H i column density of 1023 cm−2 reproduce the observed FSL ratios well.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Physical constraints on the extended interstellar medium of the z=6.42 quasar J1148+5251: [CII] 158um, [NII] 205um and [OI] 146um observations |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4357/ac4e94 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac4e94 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10143254 |
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