Herschel-PACS observations of [O I]63 μm towards submillimetre galaxies at z~1
Journal article, 2012

We present Herschel-PACS spectroscopy of the [O I]63 μm far-infrared cooling line from a sample of six unlensed and spectroscopically confirmed 870 μm selected submillimetre (submm) galaxies (SMGs) at 1.1 < z < 1.6 from the LABOCA Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS) Submm Survey (LESS). This is the first survey of [O I]63 μm, one of the main photodissociation region (PDR) cooling lines, in SMGs. New high-resolution Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) interferometric 870 μm continuum imaging confirms that these six Herschel-targeted SMG counterparts are bona fide sources of submm emission. We detect [O I]63 μm in two SMGs with an SNR ≳ 3, tentatively detect [O I]63 μm in one SMG and constrain the line flux for the non-detections. We also exploit the combination of submm continuum photometry from 250 to 870 μm and our new PACS continuum measurements to constrain the far-infrared luminosity, LFIR, in these SMGs to ≲30 per cent. We find that SMGs do not show a deficit in their [O I]63 μm-to-far-infrared (FIR) continuum luminosity ratios (with ratios ranging from ≃0.5 to 1.5 per cent), similar to what was seen previously for the [C II]158 μm-to-FIR ratios in SMGs. These observed ratios are about an order of magnitude higher than what is seen typically for local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), which adds to the growing body of evidence that SMGs are not simply 'scaled up' versions of local ULIRGs. Rather, the PDR line-to-LFIR ratios suggest that the star formation modes of SMGs are likely more akin to that of local normal (lower-luminosity) star-forming galaxies, with the bulk of the star formation occurring in extended galaxy-scale (˜kpc) regions. These observations represent the first step towards a census of the major PDR cooling lines in typical SMGs that will be attainable with ALMA, enabling detailed modelling to probe the global properties of the star formation and the evolutionary status of SMGs. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.

galaxies: ISM

galaxies: star formation

infrared: ISM

galaxies: high-redshift

galaxies: starburst

submillimetre: galaxies

Author

K. E. K. Coppin

McGill University

A. L. R. Danielson

Durham University

J.E. Geach

McGill University

J. Hodge

Max Planck Society

A.M. Swinbank

Durham University

J. L. Wardlow

University of California at Irvine (UCI)

F. Bertoldi

Max Planck Society

A. D. Biggs

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

W. N. Brandt

Pennsylvania State University

P. Caselli

University of Leeds

S.C. Chapman

University of Cambridge

H. Dannerbauer

University of Vienna

J.S. Dunlop

University of Edinburgh

T. R. Greve

University College London (UCL)

F. Hamann

University of Florida

R.J. Ivison

Royal Observatory

University of Edinburgh

A. Karim

Durham University

Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics

K.M. Menten

Max Planck Society

E. Schinnerer

Max Planck Society

I. Smail

Durham University

M. Spaans

University of Groningen

F. Walter

Max Planck Society

T.M.A. Webb

McGill University

P.P. van der Werf

Leiden University

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)

Vol. 427 1 520-532

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Roots

Basic sciences

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21977.x

More information

Latest update

2/20/2019