Uncovering the absorbed atomic Universe with the [OI]63um line
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866913030615334912 |
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| author | De Breuck, Carlos Harrington, Kevin C. Hermans, Wout Maud, Luke Bhagwat, Aniket De Looze, Ilse Peng, Bo Vishwas, Amit Casavecchia, Benedetta Lundgren, Andreas |
| author_facet | De Breuck, Carlos Harrington, Kevin C. Hermans, Wout Maud, Luke Bhagwat, Aniket De Looze, Ilse Peng, Bo Vishwas, Amit Casavecchia, Benedetta Lundgren, Andreas |
| contents | We report the discovery of strongly absorbed [OI]63um in a sample of 12 DSFGs at 4.2<z<5.8 selected from the SPT survey. This is the first systematic survey of the [OI]63um fine-structure line at z>4. Using ALMA Bands 9 and 10, we obtain spatially and spectrally resolved observations that probe the interstellar medium on sub-kpc scales. Despite reaching sensitivities 10-100x deeper than most previous studies, we detect [OI]63um in emission in only 2 sources at low significance, with the remaining galaxies yielding stringent non-detections over the full velocity range covered by robust detections of other far-infrared lines, including [CII] and [NII]205um. We identify several compact (0.05-0.2") regions having [OI]63um absorption against the far-infrared dust continuum, some of which are possibly reaching below rest-frame CMB radiation level. We also detect narrow, spatially localised [OI]63um emission "escape channels" preferentially detected in regions with weak or absent dust continuum emission. We predict that similar absorption effects may appear in the [CII] line, particularly when concentrating on the regions with the densest foreground material along the line of sight. The [OI]63um line appears to be originate from a mix of compact, high optical depth [OI]63um emitting regions and sub-thermally excited, oxygen-rich molecular clouds dispersed throughout high-redshift starbursts that are capable of absorbing the ground-state line emission. Combined with a comparison to cosmological radiation hydrodynamical simulations, this supports the interpretation that regions with higher gas and dust column densities may lead to weakening an intrinsically strong [OI]63um line emission. We argue that the high [OI]63um optical depth is the dominant effect causing the strong absorption, limiting the diagnostic power of this line to trace regions of massive star formation in high-redshift DSFGs. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_22161 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Uncovering the absorbed atomic Universe with the [OI]63um line De Breuck, Carlos Harrington, Kevin C. Hermans, Wout Maud, Luke Bhagwat, Aniket De Looze, Ilse Peng, Bo Vishwas, Amit Casavecchia, Benedetta Lundgren, Andreas Astrophysics of Galaxies Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics We report the discovery of strongly absorbed [OI]63um in a sample of 12 DSFGs at 4.2<z<5.8 selected from the SPT survey. This is the first systematic survey of the [OI]63um fine-structure line at z>4. Using ALMA Bands 9 and 10, we obtain spatially and spectrally resolved observations that probe the interstellar medium on sub-kpc scales. Despite reaching sensitivities 10-100x deeper than most previous studies, we detect [OI]63um in emission in only 2 sources at low significance, with the remaining galaxies yielding stringent non-detections over the full velocity range covered by robust detections of other far-infrared lines, including [CII] and [NII]205um. We identify several compact (0.05-0.2") regions having [OI]63um absorption against the far-infrared dust continuum, some of which are possibly reaching below rest-frame CMB radiation level. We also detect narrow, spatially localised [OI]63um emission "escape channels" preferentially detected in regions with weak or absent dust continuum emission. We predict that similar absorption effects may appear in the [CII] line, particularly when concentrating on the regions with the densest foreground material along the line of sight. The [OI]63um line appears to be originate from a mix of compact, high optical depth [OI]63um emitting regions and sub-thermally excited, oxygen-rich molecular clouds dispersed throughout high-redshift starbursts that are capable of absorbing the ground-state line emission. Combined with a comparison to cosmological radiation hydrodynamical simulations, this supports the interpretation that regions with higher gas and dust column densities may lead to weakening an intrinsically strong [OI]63um line emission. We argue that the high [OI]63um optical depth is the dominant effect causing the strong absorption, limiting the diagnostic power of this line to trace regions of massive star formation in high-redshift DSFGs. |
| title | Uncovering the absorbed atomic Universe with the [OI]63um line |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.22161 |