Unveiling dust, molecular gas, and high star formation efficiency in extremely UV bright star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 2.1-3.6$
Fuente:
arXiv
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2024
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866913624396660736 |
|---|---|
| author | Dessauges-Zavadsky, M. Marques-Chaves, R. Schaerer, D. Xiao, M. -Y. Colina, L. Alvarez-Marquez, J. Pérez-Fournon, I. |
| author_facet | Dessauges-Zavadsky, M. Marques-Chaves, R. Schaerer, D. Xiao, M. -Y. Colina, L. Alvarez-Marquez, J. Pérez-Fournon, I. |
| contents | We analysed ALMA FIR (1.3 mm) dust continuum and CO emission of 12 starburst galaxies at $z\sim 2.1-3.6$, selected for their extreme brightness in the rest-UV with $M_{\rm UV} = -23.4$ to $-24.7$. We also analysed VLT HAWK-I $H$- and $K_{\rm s}$-band images. The galaxies are characterised by negligible dust attenuations with blue UV spectral slopes ($-2.62$ to $-1.84$), very young stellar populations of $\sim 10$ Myr, and powerful starbursts with a high mean specific star formation rate of $\rm 112~Gyr^{-1}$, placing them $\sim 1.5$~dex above the main sequence at similar redshifts and stellar masses ($M_{\rm stars} \sim (1.5-4.6)\times 10^9~M_{\odot}$). The FIR dust continuum emission revealed in 9 galaxies yields IR luminosities of $(5.9-28.3)\times 10^{11}~L_{\odot}$ and large dust masses barely produced by SNe within the 10~Myr timescale. The CO emission detected in 8 galaxies evidence large molecular gas masses with a mean molecular gas fraction of 82%. The corresponding star formation efficiencies reach $\gtrsim 40$%, with amazingly short molecular gas depletion timescales between <13 Myr and 71 Myr. These unique properties never reported in previously studied galaxies highlight that these galaxies are likely caught at the very beginning of their stellar mass build-up and undergo a very efficient and fast conversion of gas into stars that can only result from the gas collapse within very short free-fall times. We find that the feedback-free starburst model seems to be able to explain the formation of these galaxies. To reconcile the co-spatial FIR dust emission with the UV-bright unattenuated emission, we speculate about radiation-driven outflows that can temporarily remove dust at the location of the starburst and expel dust at large distances in line with the measured large FIR effective radii ($\rm 1.7~kpc - 5~kpc$) in comparison to very compact stellar radii. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_11121 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Unveiling dust, molecular gas, and high star formation efficiency in extremely UV bright star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 2.1-3.6$ Dessauges-Zavadsky, M. Marques-Chaves, R. Schaerer, D. Xiao, M. -Y. Colina, L. Alvarez-Marquez, J. Pérez-Fournon, I. Astrophysics of Galaxies We analysed ALMA FIR (1.3 mm) dust continuum and CO emission of 12 starburst galaxies at $z\sim 2.1-3.6$, selected for their extreme brightness in the rest-UV with $M_{\rm UV} = -23.4$ to $-24.7$. We also analysed VLT HAWK-I $H$- and $K_{\rm s}$-band images. The galaxies are characterised by negligible dust attenuations with blue UV spectral slopes ($-2.62$ to $-1.84$), very young stellar populations of $\sim 10$ Myr, and powerful starbursts with a high mean specific star formation rate of $\rm 112~Gyr^{-1}$, placing them $\sim 1.5$~dex above the main sequence at similar redshifts and stellar masses ($M_{\rm stars} \sim (1.5-4.6)\times 10^9~M_{\odot}$). The FIR dust continuum emission revealed in 9 galaxies yields IR luminosities of $(5.9-28.3)\times 10^{11}~L_{\odot}$ and large dust masses barely produced by SNe within the 10~Myr timescale. The CO emission detected in 8 galaxies evidence large molecular gas masses with a mean molecular gas fraction of 82%. The corresponding star formation efficiencies reach $\gtrsim 40$%, with amazingly short molecular gas depletion timescales between <13 Myr and 71 Myr. These unique properties never reported in previously studied galaxies highlight that these galaxies are likely caught at the very beginning of their stellar mass build-up and undergo a very efficient and fast conversion of gas into stars that can only result from the gas collapse within very short free-fall times. We find that the feedback-free starburst model seems to be able to explain the formation of these galaxies. To reconcile the co-spatial FIR dust emission with the UV-bright unattenuated emission, we speculate about radiation-driven outflows that can temporarily remove dust at the location of the starburst and expel dust at large distances in line with the measured large FIR effective radii ($\rm 1.7~kpc - 5~kpc$) in comparison to very compact stellar radii. |
| title | Unveiling dust, molecular gas, and high star formation efficiency in extremely UV bright star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 2.1-3.6$ |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.11121 |