Resolved Dust Emission in a Quasar at z=3.65
Abstract
We present submillimetre observations of the z=3.653 quasar SDSS160705+533558 together with data in the optical and infrared. The object is unusually bright in the far-IR and submm with an IR luminosity of ~10^14 L_sun. We ascribe this luminosity to a combination of AGN and starburst emission, with the starburst forming stars at a rate of a few thousand solar masses per year. Submillimetre Array (SMA) imaging observations with a resolution ~1" show that the submm (850 micron) emission is extended on scales of 10--35kpc and is offset from the optical position by ~10 kpc. This morphology is dissimilar to that found in submm galaxies, which are generally un- or marginally resolved on arcsecond scales, or submm-luminous AGN where the AGN lies at the peak of the submm or molecular emission. The simplest explanation is that the object is in the early stages of a merger between a gas rich galaxy, which hosts the starburst, and a gas-poor AGN-host galaxy, which is responsible for the quasar emission. It is also possible that jet induced star formation might contribute to the unusual morphology.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0905.2518,
title = {Resolved Dust Emission in a Quasar at z=3.65},
author = {D. L. Clements and Glen Petitpas and D. Farrah and E. Hatziminaoglou and T. Babbedge and M. Rowan-Robinson and I. Perez-Fournon and Antonio Hernan-Caballero and Nieves Castro-Rodriguez and C. Lonsdale and J. Surace and A. Franceschini and B. J. Wilkes and H. Smith},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0905.2518},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
ApJ Letters, in press