Observation of H2O in a strongly lensed Herschel-ATLAS source at z=2.3

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of water vapor emission in a high-redshift, strongly lensed galaxy, providing insights into its dense, warm interstellar medium and possible active galactic nucleus activity.

Contribution

First detection of H2O emission in a z=2.3 lensed galaxy, revealing excitation conditions similar to local starburst and AGN-hosting galaxies.

Findings

H2O line detected at z=2.3049 with flux 7.8 Jy km/s

H2O/CO ratio comparable to Mrk 231

Implication of dense, warm interstellar gas

Abstract

The Herschel survey, H-ATLAS, with its large areal coverage, has recently discovered a number of bright, strongly lensed high-z submillimeter galaxies. The strong magnification makes it possible to study molecular species other than CO, which are otherwise difficult to observe in high-z galaxies. Among the lensed galaxies already identified by H-ATLAS, the source J090302.9-014127B (SDP.17b) at z = 2.305 is remarkable due to its excitation conditions and a tentative detection of the H2O 202-111 emission line (Lupu et al. 2010). We report observations of this line in SDP.17b using the IRAM interferometer equipped with its new 277- 371GHz receivers. The H2O line is detected at a redshift of z = 2.3049+/-0.0006, with a flux of 7.8+/-0.5 Jy km s-1 and a FWHM of 250+/-60 km s-1. The new flux is 2.4 times weaker than the previous tentative detection, although both remain marginally consistent within 1.6-sigma. The intrinsic line luminosity and ratio of H2O(202-111)/CO8-7 seem comparable with those of the nearby starburst/enshrouded-AGN Mrk 231, suggesting that SDP.17b could also host a luminous AGN. The detection of a strong H2O 202-111 line in SDP.17b implies an efficient excitation mechanism of the water levels that must occur in very dense and warm interstellar gas.