ADF22-WEB: Detection of a molecular gas reservoir in a massive quiescent galaxy located in a $z\approx3$ proto-cluster core

TL;DR

This study reports the first direct detection of molecular gas in a quiescent galaxy at z~3, revealing insights into its gas content, dust, and quenching mechanisms in the early universe.

Contribution

It provides the first direct measurement of molecular gas in a quiescent galaxy at high redshift, highlighting the role of residual gas and morphological quenching in galaxy evolution.

Findings

Detected molecular gas in one galaxy with a gas mass of ~10^10.26 M_sun.

Estimated gas fraction of ~14% in the detected galaxy.

Non-detections in two galaxies set upper limits on their gas content.

Abstract

We present a study of the molecular gas reservoirs and dust contents in three quiescent galaxies (QGs) located in the core of the $z=3.09$ SSA22 proto-cluster. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), we detect CO(3--2) emission in one galaxy, ADF22-QG1, marking the first direct detection of molecular gas in a quiescent galaxy from the early universe. The detected galaxy, ADF22-QG1, has a molecular gas mass of log$M_{\rm H_2}$/M$_\odot = 10.26 \pm 0.07$ assuming a CO-to-H$2$ conversion factor $\alpha_{\rm CO} = 4.4$ (log$M_{\rm H_2}$/M$_\odot = 9.52 \pm 0.07$ for $\alpha_{\rm CO} = 0.8$), corresponding to a gas mass fraction of $f_{\rm gas} \approx 14\%$ (2.5\%). The gas-to-dust ratio $\delta _{\rm gdr}\gtrsim170$ ($\delta_{\rm gdr}\gtrsim30$) for $\alpha_{\rm CO} = 4.4$ ($\alpha_{\rm CO} =0.8$) is also derived for the first time for a QG at the epoch. For the other two galaxies, ADF22-QG2 and ADF22-QG3, non detections of CO(3--2) emission provide upper limits, $f_{\rm gas} \approx 17\%$ (3.1\%) and $f_{\rm gas} \approx 13\%$ (2.4\%), respectively. The inferred gas-consumption history of ADF22-QG1, based on its star-formation history, suggests that (i) dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at $z = 4$--$6$ are plausible progenitors, and (ii) the cessation of gas accretion from cosmic web filaments plays an important role in their evolution to quenched systems. Furthermore, the presence of a detectable molecular gas reservoir in ADF22-QG1 indicates that additional mechanisms, such as morphological quenching, may be required to fully explain its quiescent nature.