Flat Rotation Curves found in Merging Dusty Starbursts at $z=2.3$ through Tilted-Ring Modeling

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution ALMA observations to reveal flat rotation curves in merging dusty starbursts at z=2.3, providing insights into galaxy dynamics and molecular gas properties in extreme star-forming environments.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed tilted-ring modeling of high-redshift merger components, showing flat rotation curves and constraining the CO-to-H2 conversion factor in such systems.

Findings

Flat rotation curves peaking at ~500 km/s between 2-5 kpc.

Dynamical masses of ~10^11 solar masses for major components.

CO-to-H2 conversion factor upper limits of 1.4-2.0 M_sun/(K km s^{-1} pc^2).

Abstract

The brightest 500$\,\mu$m source in the XMM field, HXMM01, is a rare merger of luminous starburst galaxies at $z=2.3$ with a dust-obscured star-formation rate of 2,000$\,M_{\odot}\,{\rm yr}^{-1}$. Here we present high-resolution spectroscopic observations of HXMM01 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We detect line emission from ${\rm CO\,{\it J}=7\to6}$, [C I]$\,{{^3P_2}\to{^3P_1}}$, and p-${\rm H_{2}O}\,{2_{11}}\to{2_{02}}$ and continuum emission at $230\,$GHz. At a spatial resolution of 0.2" and a spectral resolution of 40$\,\rm km\,s^{-1}$, the source is resolved into three distinct components, which are spatially and dynamically associated within a projected radius of 20$\,$kpc and a radial velocity range of 2,000$\,\rm km\,s^{-1}$. For two major components, our Bayesian-based tilted-ring modeling of the ALMA spectral cubes shows almost flat rotation curves peaking at $\sim500\,\rm km\,s^{-1}$ at galactocentric distances between 2 and 5$\,$kpc. Each of them has a dynamical mass of $\sim10^{11}\,M_\odot$. The combination of the dynamical masses and the archival ${\rm CO\,{\it J}=1\to0}$ data places strong upper limits on the CO$\to$H$_2$ conversion factor of $\alpha_{\rm CO}\lesssim1.4-2.0\,{M_{\odot}}\,\rm (K\,km\,s^{-1}\,pc^{2})^{-1}$. These limits are significantly below the Galactic inner disk $\alpha_{\rm CO}$ value of $4.3\,{M_{\odot}}\,\rm (K\,km\,s^{-1}\,pc^{2})^{-1}$ but are consistent with those of local starbursts. Therefore, the previously estimated short gas depletion timescale of $\sim200\,$Myr remains unchanged.