ALMA resolves extended star formation in high-z AGN host galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution ALMA imaging to show that high-redshift AGN host galaxies have extended star formation regions similar in size and density to non-AGN star-forming galaxies, revealing insights into galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first high-resolution ALMA measurements of star formation sizes in high-z AGN hosts, demonstrating their similarity to non-AGN star-forming galaxies.

Findings

Star formation regions are extended over 1-3 kpc scales.

Star formation surface densities are comparable to non-AGN SMGs.

AGN presence does not significantly alter star formation distribution.

Abstract

We present high resolution (0.3") Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 870um imaging of five z~1.5-4.5 X-ray detected AGN with luminosities of L(2-8keV)>10^42 erg/s. These data provide a >~20x improvement in spatial resolution over single-dish rest-frame FIR measurements. The sub-millimetre emission is extended on scales of FWHM~0.2"-0.5", corresponding to physical sizes of 1-3 kpc (median value of 1.8 kpc). These sizes are comparable to the majority of z=1-5 sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) with equivalent ALMA measurements. In combination with spectral energy distribution analyses, we attribute this rest-frame far-infrared (FIR) emission to dust heated by star formation. The implied star-formation rate surface densities are ~20-200 Mo/yr/kpc^2, which are consistent with SMGs of comparable FIR luminosities (i.e., L(IR)~[1-5]x10^(12)Lo). Although limited by a small sample of AGN, which all have high FIR luminosities, our study suggests that the kpc-scale spatial distribution and surface density of star formation in high-redshift star-forming galaxies is the same irrespective of the presence of X-ray detected AGN.