ALMA 200 pc imaging of a z\textasciitilde7 quasar reveals a compact, disk-like host galaxy. Walter, F., Neeleman, M., Decarli, R., Venemans, B., Meyer, R., Weiss, A., Banados, E., Bosman, S. E. I., Carilli, C., Fan, X., Riechers, D., Rix, H., & Thompson, T. A. arXiv:2201.06396 [astro-ph], January, 2022. arXiv: 2201.06396
ALMA 200 pc imaging of a z\textasciitilde7 quasar reveals a compact, disk-like host galaxy [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
We present 0".035 resolution (\textasciitilde200 pc) imaging of the 158 um [CII] line and the underlying dust continuum of the z=6.9 quasar J234833.34-305410.0. The 18 h ALMA observations reveal extremely compact emission (diameter \textasciitilde1 kpc) that is consistent with a simple, almost face-on, rotation-supported disk with a significant velocity dispersion of \textasciitilde160 km/s. The gas mass in just the central 200 pc is \textasciitilde4x10\textasciicircum9 M_sun, about a factor two higher than that of the central supermassive black hole. Consequently we do not resolve the black hole's sphere of influence, and find no kinematic signature of the central supermassive black hole. Kinematic modeling of the [CII] line shows that the dynamical mass at large radii is consistent with the gas mass, leaving little room for a significant mass contribution by stars and/or dark matter. The Toomre-Q parameter is less than unity throughout the disk, and thus is conducive to star formation, consistent with the high infrared luminosity of the system. The dust in the central region is optically thick, at a temperature \textgreater132 K. Using standard scaling relations of dust heating by star formation, this implies an unprecedented high star formation rate density of \textgreater10\textasciicircum4 M_sun / yr / kpc\textasciicircum2. Such a high number can still be explained with the Eddington limit for star formation under certain assumptions, but could also imply that the central supermassive black hole contributes to the heating of the dust in the central 110 pc.
@article{walter_alma_2022,
	title = {{ALMA} 200 pc imaging of a z{\textasciitilde}7 quasar reveals a compact, disk-like host galaxy},
	url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2201.06396},
	abstract = {We present 0".035 resolution ({\textasciitilde}200 pc) imaging of the 158 um [CII] line and the underlying dust continuum of the z=6.9 quasar J234833.34-305410.0. The 18 h ALMA observations reveal extremely compact emission (diameter {\textasciitilde}1 kpc) that is consistent with a simple, almost face-on, rotation-supported disk with a significant velocity dispersion of {\textasciitilde}160 km/s. The gas mass in just the central 200 pc is {\textasciitilde}4x10{\textasciicircum}9 M\_sun, about a factor two higher than that of the central supermassive black hole. Consequently we do not resolve the black hole's sphere of influence, and find no kinematic signature of the central supermassive black hole. Kinematic modeling of the [CII] line shows that the dynamical mass at large radii is consistent with the gas mass, leaving little room for a significant mass contribution by stars and/or dark matter. The Toomre-Q parameter is less than unity throughout the disk, and thus is conducive to star formation, consistent with the high infrared luminosity of the system. The dust in the central region is optically thick, at a temperature {\textgreater}132 K. Using standard scaling relations of dust heating by star formation, this implies an unprecedented high star formation rate density of {\textgreater}10{\textasciicircum}4 M\_sun / yr / kpc{\textasciicircum}2. Such a high number can still be explained with the Eddington limit for star formation under certain assumptions, but could also imply that the central supermassive black hole contributes to the heating of the dust in the central 110 pc.},
	urldate = {2022-01-21},
	journal = {arXiv:2201.06396 [astro-ph]},
	author = {Walter, Fabian and Neeleman, Marcel and Decarli, Roberto and Venemans, Bram and Meyer, Romain and Weiss, Axel and Banados, Eduardo and Bosman, Sarah E. I. and Carilli, Chris and Fan, Xiaohui and Riechers, Dominik and Rix, Hans-Walter and Thompson, Todd A.},
	month = jan,
	year = {2022},
	note = {arXiv: 2201.06396},
	keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies},
}

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