Blind detections of CO J = 1--0 in 11 H-ATLAS galaxies at z = 2.1--3.5 with the GBT/Zpectrometer

TL;DR

This study reports new CO J=1--0 detections in 11 high-redshift galaxies from H-ATLAS, confirming massive gas reservoirs and providing redshifts, dust temperatures, and lensing magnifications, advancing understanding of dusty star-forming galaxies at z=2.1--3.5.

Contribution

First large sample of CO J=1--0 detections in Herschel-selected galaxies at z=2.1--3.5, providing redshifts, dust temperatures, and lensing estimates, enhancing knowledge of galaxy evolution.

Findings

Nine new redshifts from CO detections.

Dust temperatures near 34 K for most galaxies.

Lensing magnifications estimated between 3 and 20.

Abstract

We report measurements of the carbon monoxide ground state rotational transition (12C16O J = 1--0) with the Zpectrometer ultra-wideband spectrometer on the 100-m diameter Green Bank Telescope. The sample comprises 11 galaxies with redshifts between z = 2.1 and 3.5 from a total sample of 24 targets identified by Herschel-ATLAS photometric colors from the SPIRE instrument. Nine of the CO measurements are new redshift determinations, substantially adding to the number of detections of galaxies with rest-frame peak submillimeter emission near 100um. The CO detections confirm the existence of massive gas reservoirs within these luminous dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). The CO redshift distribution of the 350um-selected galaxies is strikingly similar to the optical redshifts of 850um-selected submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in 2.1 < z < 3.5. Spectroscopic redshifts break a temperature-redshift degeneracy; optically thin dust models fit to the far-infrared photometry indicate characteristic dust temperatures near 34 K for most of the galaxies we detect in CO. Detections of two warmer galaxies and statistically significant nondetections hint at warmer or molecule-poor DSFGs with redshifts difficult determine from from Herschel-SPIRE photometric colors alone. Many of the galaxies identified by H-ATLAS photometry are expected to be amplified by foreground gravitational lenses. Analysis of CO linewidths and luminosities provides a method for finding approximate gravitational lens magnifications mu from spectroscopic data alone, yielding mu ~ 3--20. Corrected for magnification, most galaxy luminosities are consistent with an ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) classification, but three are candidate hyper-LIRGs with luminosities greater than 10^13 L_sun.