_version_ 1866910018003009536
author Pampliega, Belén Alcalde
Harrington, Kevin C.
Amvrosiadis, Aristeidis
Aravena, Manuel
Yun, Min S.
Messias, Hugo
Hernán-Caballero, Antonio
Boogaard, Leindert
Weiß, Axel
Beauchesne, Benjamin
Santamaría-Miranda, Alejandro
Rodriguez, Monica Ivette
Jiménez-Andrade, Eric
Solimano, Manuel
Lowenthal, James
Hibon, Pascale
Kamieneski, Patrick
Wang, Daniel
Vishwas, Amit
Frye, Brenda
González-Lopez, Jorge
Yang, Chentao
Song, Yiqing
Killi, Meghana
author_facet Pampliega, Belén Alcalde
Harrington, Kevin C.
Amvrosiadis, Aristeidis
Aravena, Manuel
Yun, Min S.
Messias, Hugo
Hernán-Caballero, Antonio
Boogaard, Leindert
Weiß, Axel
Beauchesne, Benjamin
Santamaría-Miranda, Alejandro
Rodriguez, Monica Ivette
Jiménez-Andrade, Eric
Solimano, Manuel
Lowenthal, James
Hibon, Pascale
Kamieneski, Patrick
Wang, Daniel
Vishwas, Amit
Frye, Brenda
González-Lopez, Jorge
Yang, Chentao
Song, Yiqing
Killi, Meghana
contents We present a detailed analysis of J154506, a strongly lensed submillimeter galaxy behind the Lupus-I molecular cloud, and characterisation of its physical properties using a combination of new and archival data, including VLT/MUSE and FORS2 optical data. We identify two high-significance (SNR>5) emission lines at 97.0 and 145.5 GHz, corresponding to CO(4-3) and CO(6-5), respectively, in the spectral scans from the Atacama Compact Array and the Large Millimetre Telescope and the [CII] 158~$μ$m fine-structure line at 400~GHz using the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. These detections yield a spectroscopic redshift of $z_{\rm{spec}}=3.7515\pm0.0005$. We also report the detection of [CI], HCN(4-3), and two H$_2\rm{O}^+$ transitions, further confirming the redshift and providing insights into J154506's physical properties. By modeling sub-arcsecond resolution (0.75) ALMA Band 6 and 7 continuum data in the uv-plane, we derive an average magnification factor of $6.0\pm0.4$ and our analysis reveals a relatively cold dust (38K) in a starburst ($\sim900~\rm{M}_{\odot}yr^{-1}$) galaxy with a high intrinsic dust mass ($\sim2.5\times10^{9}~\rm{M}_{\odot}$) and infrared (IR) luminosity ($\sim6\times10^{12}~\rm{L}_{\odot}$). The non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer modelling of the joint dust SED and CO line excitation suggests the dust continuum emission is primarily associated with relatively diffuse regions with molecular gas densities of $10^2-10^4\rm{cm}^{-3}$, rather than compact, high-pressure environments typical of extreme starbursts or AGNs. This is supported by the close-to-unity ratio between the dust and gas kinetic temperatures, which argues against highly energetic heating mechanisms. The CO excitation ladder peaks close to CO(5-4) and is dominated by slightly denser molecular gas.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_21283
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hiding behind a curtain of dust: Gas and dust properties of an ultra-luminous strongly-lensed z = 3.75 galaxy behind the Milky Way disk
Pampliega, Belén Alcalde
Harrington, Kevin C.
Amvrosiadis, Aristeidis
Aravena, Manuel
Yun, Min S.
Messias, Hugo
Hernán-Caballero, Antonio
Boogaard, Leindert
Weiß, Axel
Beauchesne, Benjamin
Santamaría-Miranda, Alejandro
Rodriguez, Monica Ivette
Jiménez-Andrade, Eric
Solimano, Manuel
Lowenthal, James
Hibon, Pascale
Kamieneski, Patrick
Wang, Daniel
Vishwas, Amit
Frye, Brenda
González-Lopez, Jorge
Yang, Chentao
Song, Yiqing
Killi, Meghana
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We present a detailed analysis of J154506, a strongly lensed submillimeter galaxy behind the Lupus-I molecular cloud, and characterisation of its physical properties using a combination of new and archival data, including VLT/MUSE and FORS2 optical data. We identify two high-significance (SNR>5) emission lines at 97.0 and 145.5 GHz, corresponding to CO(4-3) and CO(6-5), respectively, in the spectral scans from the Atacama Compact Array and the Large Millimetre Telescope and the [CII] 158~$μ$m fine-structure line at 400~GHz using the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. These detections yield a spectroscopic redshift of $z_{\rm{spec}}=3.7515\pm0.0005$. We also report the detection of [CI], HCN(4-3), and two H$_2\rm{O}^+$ transitions, further confirming the redshift and providing insights into J154506's physical properties. By modeling sub-arcsecond resolution (0.75) ALMA Band 6 and 7 continuum data in the uv-plane, we derive an average magnification factor of $6.0\pm0.4$ and our analysis reveals a relatively cold dust (38K) in a starburst ($\sim900~\rm{M}_{\odot}yr^{-1}$) galaxy with a high intrinsic dust mass ($\sim2.5\times10^{9}~\rm{M}_{\odot}$) and infrared (IR) luminosity ($\sim6\times10^{12}~\rm{L}_{\odot}$). The non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer modelling of the joint dust SED and CO line excitation suggests the dust continuum emission is primarily associated with relatively diffuse regions with molecular gas densities of $10^2-10^4\rm{cm}^{-3}$, rather than compact, high-pressure environments typical of extreme starbursts or AGNs. This is supported by the close-to-unity ratio between the dust and gas kinetic temperatures, which argues against highly energetic heating mechanisms. The CO excitation ladder peaks close to CO(5-4) and is dominated by slightly denser molecular gas.
title Hiding behind a curtain of dust: Gas and dust properties of an ultra-luminous strongly-lensed z = 3.75 galaxy behind the Milky Way disk
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.21283