Feeding the spider with carbon -- [CII] emission from the circum galactic medium and active galactic nucleus

TL;DR

This study reports the detection of [CII] emission from the Spiderweb galaxy at z=2.1612, revealing insights into the active galactic nucleus and circum galactic medium, and demonstrating the potential of ALMA Band 9 for high-redshift galaxy observations.

Contribution

First detection of [CII] emission from the Spiderweb galaxy, analyzing its components and extending ALMA Band 9 capabilities for high-redshift studies.

Findings

[CII] emission is dominated by the CGM component.

[CI] emission is the main tracer of molecular mass.

ALMA Band 9 can be effectively used beyond its original specifications.

Abstract

We present the detection of [CII] 158um emission from the Spiderweb galaxy at z=2.1612 using the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment. The line profile splits into an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and circum galacic medium (CGM) component previously identified in CO and [CI]. We find that these individual [CII] components are consistent in terms of CO and far-IR luminosity ratios with the populations of other z>~1 AGN and dusty star-forming galaxies. The CGM component dominates the [CII] emission in the 10" APEX beam. Although we do not have spatially resolved data, the close correspondence of the velocity profile with the CO(1-0) detected only on scales of tens of kiloparsecs in CO(1-0) suggests that the [CII] emission is similarly extended, reminiscent of [CII] halos recently found around z>5 galaxies. Comparing the first four ionization states of carbon, we find that the atomic [CI] emission is dominant, which increases its reliability as a molecular mass tracer. Our [CII] detection at 601.8 GHz also demonstrates the feasibility to extend the frequency range of ALMA Band 9 beyond the original specifications.