Molecular gas in the host galaxy of a quasar at redshift z=6.42

被引:275
作者
Walter, F
Bertoldi, F
Carilli, C
Cox, P
Lo, KY
Neri, R
Fan, XH
Omont, A
Strauss, MA
Menten, KM
机构
[1] Natl Radio Astron Observ, Socorro, NM 87801 USA
[2] Max Planck Inst Radioastron, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
[3] Univ Paris 11, Inst Astrophys Spatiale, F-91405 Orsay, France
[4] Inst Radio Astron Millimetr, F-38406 St Martin Dheres, France
[5] Univ Arizona, Steward Observ, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
[6] Princeton Univ Observ, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
D O I
10.1038/nature01821
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Observations of molecular hydrogen in quasar host galaxies at high redshifts provide fundamental constraints on galaxy evolution, because it is out of this molecular gas that stars form. Molecular hydrogen is traced by emission from the carbon monoxide molecule, CO; cold H-2 itself is generally not observable. Carbon monoxide has been detected in about ten quasar host galaxies with redshifts z > 2; the record- holder is at z = 4.69 (refs 1- 3). Here we report CO emission from the quasar SDSS J114816.64 + 525150.3 (refs 5, 6) at z = 6.42. At that redshift, the Universe was only 1/16 of its present age, and the era of cosmic reionization was just ending. The presence of about 2 x 10(10) M-. of H-2 in an object at this time demonstrates that molecular gas enriched with heavy elements can be generated rapidly in the youngest galaxies.
引用
收藏
页码:406 / 408
页数:3
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