The interstellar medium in high-redshift submillimeter galaxies as probed by infrared spectroscopy
File(s)Wardlow_2017_ApJ_837_12.pdf (1.36 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) at $z\gtrsim 1$ are luminous in the far-infrared, and have star formation rates, SFR, of hundreds to thousands of solar masses per year. However, it is unclear whether they are true analogs of local ULIRGs or whether the mode of their star formation is more similar to that in local disk galaxies. We target these questions by using Herschel-PACS to examine the conditions in the interstellar medium (ISM) in far-infrared luminous SMGs at $z\sim 1$–4. We present 70–160 μm photometry and spectroscopy of the [O iv]26 μm, [Fe ii]26 μm, [S iii]33 μm, [Si ii]34 μm, [O iii]52 μm, [N iii]57 μm, and [O i]63 μm fine-structure lines and the S(0) and S(1) hydrogen rotational lines in 13 lensed SMGs identified by their brightness in early Herschel data. Most of the 13 targets are not individually spectroscopically detected; we instead focus on stacking these spectra with observations of an additional 32 SMGs from the Herschel archive—representing a complete compilation of PACS spectroscopy of SMGs. We detect [O i]63 μm, [Si ii]34 μm, and [N iii]57 μm at $\geqslant 3\sigma $ in the stacked spectra, determining that the average strengths of these lines relative to the far-IR continuum are $(0.36\pm 0.12)\times {10}^{-3}$, $(0.84\pm 0.17)\times {10}^{-3}$, and $(0.27\pm 0.10)\times {10}^{-3}$, respectively. Using the [O iii]52 μm/[N iii]57 μm emission line ratio, we show that SMGs have average gas-phase metallicities $\gtrsim {Z}_{\odot }$. By using PDR modeling and combining the new spectral measurements with integrated far-infrared fluxes and existing [C ii]158 μm data, we show that SMGs have average gas densities, n, of $\sim {10}^{1-3}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$ and FUV field strengths, ${G}_{0}\sim {10}^{2.2-4.5}$ (in Habing units: $1.6\times {10}^{-3}\,\mathrm{erg}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}$), consistent with both local ULIRGs and lower luminosity star-forming galaxies.
Date Issued
2017-03-01
Date Acceptance
2017-01-09
Citation
Astrophysical Journal, 2017, 837 (1)
ISSN
0004-637X
Publisher
American Astronomical Society
Journal / Book Title
Astrophysical Journal
Volume
837
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2017 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000398560000001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
galaxies: high-redshift
galaxies: ISM
galaxies: star formation
gravitational lensing: strong
submillimeter: general
STAR-FORMING GALAXIES
DEEP FIELD-SOUTH
HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY
GRAVITATIONAL LENS MODELS
FINE-STRUCTURE LINES
COLD MOLECULAR GAS
IR-BRIGHT GALAXIES
X-RAY-PROPERTIES
SIMILAR-TO 1-2
C-II LINE
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
12
Date Publish Online
2017-02-27