Molecular gas in type 2 quasars at z~0.2-0.3

TL;DR

This study reports CO(1-0) observations of 10 type 2 quasars at z~0.2-0.3, revealing molecular gas content and increasing the sample size of such measurements at low redshift.

Contribution

It provides new CO(1-0) detections in type 2 quasars, expanding the known sample and offering insights into their molecular gas properties.

Findings

50% detection rate of CO in the sample

Detected CO luminosities are several billion K km s-1 pc^2

Increased the total number of QSO2 with CO measurements at z<1

Abstract

We present results of CO(1-0) spectroscopic observations of 10 SDSS type 2 quasars (QSO2) at z~0.2-0.3 observed with the 30m IRAM radiotelescope and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. We report 5 new confirmed CO(1-0) detections and 1 tentative detection. They have L'(CO)~several x 1e9 K km s-1 pc^2, while upper limits for the non detections are L'(CO)<~ several x 1e9 K km s-1 pc^2. This study increases the total number of QSO2 with CO measurements at z<~1 to 20, with a 50% detection rate.