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arXiv 1209.5136astro-ph.CO
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高红移射电星系和类星体中性气体的完全电离

Complete Ionisation of the Neutral Gas in High Redshift Radio Galaxies and Quasars

S. J. Curran, M. T. Whiting

摘要:

冷的中性气体为宇宙中所有恒星的形成提供了原材料,然而,从对高红移射电星系和类星体的宿主的调查中,我们发现在红移z > 3处完全缺乏原子(HI 21-cm)和分子(OH,CO,HCO+ & HCN)吸收。在对光学光度学进行全面分析后,我们发现我们所有的目标都具有logL > 23 W/Hz的电离紫外连续发光度。因此,我们将这一缺陷归因于传统的光学选择目标偏向调查对最紫外线发光的物体,强烈的辐射激发中性气体的点,它不能从事恒星形成。然而,这一假设并不能解释为什么会有一个临界光度,而不是一个连续的,随着辐射强度的增加,探测到的光会越来越少。我们表明,通过将类星体内的气体星系总是有一个有限的紫外线光度以上的所有气体电离。这表明,这些星系可能缺乏恒星形成物质,而不是丰度低于目前射电望远镜的灵敏度极限。

英文摘要:

Cool neutral gas provides the raw material for all star formation in the Universe, and yet, from a survey of the hosts of high redshift radio galaxies and quasars, we find a complete dearth of atomic (HI 21-cm) and molecular (OH, CO, HCO+ & HCN) absorption at redshifts z > 3. Upon a thorough analysis of the optical photometry, we find that all of our targets have ionising ultra-violet continuum luminosities of logL > 23 W/Hz. We therefore attribute this deficit to the traditional optical selection of targets biasing surveys towards the most ultra-violet luminous objects, where the intense radiation excites the neutral gas to the point where it cannot engage in star formation. However, this hypothesis does not explain why there is a critical luminosity, rather than a continuum where the detections gradually become fewer and fewer as the harshness of the radiation increases. We show that by placing a quasar within a galaxy of gas there is always a finite ultra-violet luminosity above which all of the gas is ionised. This demonstrates that these galaxies are probably devoid of star-forming material rather than this being at abundances below the sensitivity limits of current radio telescopes.

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