A 158 Micron [CII] Line Survey of Galaxies at z ~ 1 to 2: An Indicator of Star Formation in the Early Universe

TL;DR

This study detects the 158 micron [CII] line in 12 galaxies at redshifts 1-2, demonstrating its effectiveness as a star formation tracer during the universe's peak star formation epoch and revealing similarities to local starbursts.

Contribution

First survey of [CII] emission at z~1-2, expanding understanding of star formation indicators in early universe galaxies and comparing high-redshift galaxies to local starbursts.

Findings

[CII] line is very luminous and correlates with star formation activity.

The [CII]/FIR ratio distinguishes star-formation-dominated from AGN-dominated systems.

High-redshift star-forming galaxies resemble scaled-up local starbursts.

Abstract

We have detected the 158 {\mu}m [CII] line from 12 galaxies at z~1-2. This is the first survey of this important starformation tracer at redshifts covering the epoch of maximum star-formation in the Universe and quadruples the number of reported high z [CII] detections. The line is very luminous, between <0.024-0.65% of the far-infrared continuum luminosity of our sources, and arises from PDRs on molecular cloud surfaces. An exception is PKS 0215+015, where half of the [CII] emission could arise from XDRs near the central AGN. The L[CII] /LFIR ratio in our star-formation-dominated systems is ~8 times larger than that of our AGN-dominated systems. Therefore this ratio selects for star-formation-dominated systems. Furthermore, the L[CII]/LFIR and L[CII]/L(CO(1-0)) ratios in our starforming galaxies and nearby starburst galaxies are the same, so that luminous starforming galaxies at earlier epochs (z~1-2) appear to be scaled up versions of local starbursts entailing kilo-parsec-scale starbursts. Most of the FIR and [CII] radiation from our AGN-dominated sample (excepting PKS 0215+015) also arises from kpc scale starformation, but with far-UV radiation fields ~8 times more intense than in our star-formation-dominated sample. We speculate that the onset of AGN activity stimulates large-scale star-formation activity within AGN-dominated systems. This idea is supported by the relatively strong [OIII] line emission, indicating very young stars, that was recently observed in high z composite AGN/starburst systems. Our results confirm the utility of the [CII] line, and in particular, the L[CII]/L(FIR) and L[CII]/LCO(1-0) ratios as a tracers of star-formation in galaxies at high redshifts.