Ultraluminous Star-forming Galaxies and Extremely Luminous Warm Molecular Hydrogen Emission at z = 2.16 in the PKS 1138-26 Radio Galaxy Protocluster

May 2012 • 2012ApJ...751...13O

Authors • Ogle, P. • Davies, J. E. • Appleton, P. N. • Bertincourt, B. • Seymour, N. • Helou, G.

Abstract • A deep Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph map of the PKS 1138-26 galaxy protocluster reveals ultraluminous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission from obscured star formation in three protocluster galaxies, including Hα-emitter (HAE) 229, HAE 131, and the central Spiderweb Galaxy. Star formation rates of ~500-1100 M _⊙ yr^-1 are estimated from the 7.7 μm PAH feature. At such prodigious formation rates, the galaxy stellar masses will double in 0.6-1.1 Gyr. We are viewing the peak epoch of star formation for these protocluster galaxies. However, it appears that extinction of Hα is much greater (up to a factor of 40) in the two ULIRG HAEs compared to the Spiderweb. This may be attributed to different spatial distributions of star formation-nuclear star formation in the HAEs versus extended star formation in accreting satellite galaxies in the Spiderweb. We find extremely luminous mid-IR rotational line emission from warm molecular hydrogen in the Spiderweb Galaxy, with L(H₂ 0-0 S(3)) = 1.4 × 10⁴⁴ erg s^-1 (3.7 × 10¹⁰ L _⊙), ~20 times more luminous than any previously known H₂ emission galaxy (MOHEG). Depending on the temperature, this corresponds to a very large mass of >9 × 10⁶-2 × 10⁹ M _⊙ of T > 300 K molecular gas, which may be heated by the PKS 1138-26 radio jet, acting to quench nuclear star formation. There is >8 times more warm H₂ at these temperatures in the Spiderweb than what has been seen in low-redshift (z < 0.2) radio galaxies, indicating that the Spiderweb may have a larger reservoir of molecular gas than more evolved radio galaxies. This is the highest redshift galaxy yet in which warm molecular hydrogen has been directly detected.

Links

• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.3019
• NED https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/uri/NED::InRefcode/2012ApJ...751...13O
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.1088%2F0004-637X%2F751%2F1%2F13
• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2012ApJ...751...13O
• PDF https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/751/1/13/pdf
• PDF https://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/751/13/pdf
• DATA https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/bibdata/2012/O/2012ApJ...751...13O.html