COALAS II. Extended molecular gas reservoirs are common in a distant, forming galaxy cluster
- Author(s)
- Z. Chen, H. Dannerbauer, M. D. Lehnert, B. H.C. Emonts, Q. Gu, J. R. Allison, J. B. Champagne, N. Hatch, B. Indermüehle, R. P. Norris, J. M. Pérez-Martínez, H. J.A. Röttgering, P. Serra, N. Seymour, R. Shimakawa, A. P. Thomson, C. M. Casey, C. De Breuck, G. Drouart, T. Kodama, Y. Koyama, C. D. P. Lagos , P. Macgregor, G. Miley, J. M. Rodríguez-Espinosa, M. Sánchez-Portal, B. Ziegler
- Abstract
This paper presents the results of 475h of interferometric observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array towards the Spiderweb protocluster at z=2.16. We search for large, extended molecular gas reservoirs among 46 previously detected CO(1−0) emitters, employing a customised method we developed. Based on the CO emission images and position–velocity diagrams, as well as the ranking of sources using a binary weighting of six different criteria, we have identified 14 robust and 7 tentative candidates that exhibit large extended molecular gas reservoirs. These extended reservoirs are defined as having sizes greater than 40 kpc or supergalactic scale. This result suggests a high frequency of extended gas reservoirs, comprising at least 30 percent of our CO-selected sample. An environmental study of the candidates is carried out based on Nth nearest neighbour and we find that the large molecular gas reservoirs tend to exist in denser regions. The spatial distribution of our candidates is mainly centred on the core region of the Spiderweb protocluster. The performance and adaptability of our method are discussed. We found 13 (potentially) extended gas reservoirs located in eight galaxy (proto)clusters from the literature. We noticed that large extended molecular gas reservoirs surrounding (normal) star-forming galaxies in protoclusters are rare. This may be attributable to the lack of observations low-J CO transitions and the lack of quantitative analyses of molecular gas morphologies. The large gas reservoirs in the Spiderweb protocluster are potential sources of the intracluster medium seen in low redshift Virgo- or Coma-like galaxy clusters.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Astrophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Nanjing University, Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, University of La Laguna, Université Claude-Bernard-Lyon-I, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, First Light Fusion Ltd, University of Texas, Austin, University of Nottingham, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Western Sydney University, Tohoku University, Leiden University, INAF -Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Curtin University, Waseda University, University of Manchester, European Southern Observatory (Germany), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, University of Western Australia, ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume
- 527
- Pages
- 8950-8972
- No. of pages
- 23
- ISSN
- 0035-8711
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad3128
- Publication date
- 01-2024
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103004 Astrophysics, 103003 Astronomy
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/42d7df84-3784-4217-bdf7-004b4484cae9