A Spatially Resolved [C ii] Survey of 31 z ∼ 7 Massive Galaxies Hosting Luminous Quasars

Feige Wang, Jinyi Yang, Xiaohui Fan, Bram Venemans, Roberto Decarli, Eduardo Bañados, Fabian Walter, Aaron J. Barth, Fuyan Bian, Frederick B. Davies, Anna Christina Eilers, Emanuele Paolo Farina, Joseph F. Hennawi, Jiang Tao Li, Chiara Mazzucchelli, Ran Wang, Xue Bing Wu, Minghao Yue

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The [C ii] 158 μm emission line and the underlying far-infrared (FIR) dust continuum are important tracers for studying star formation and kinematic properties of early galaxies. We present a survey of the [C ii] emission lines and FIR continua of 31 luminous quasars at z > 6.5 using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array at sub-arcsec resolution. This survey more than doubles the number of quasars with [C ii] and FIR observations at these redshifts and enables statistical studies of quasar host galaxies deep into the epoch of reionization. We detect [C ii] emission in 27 quasar hosts with a luminosity range of L [C II] = (0.3-5.5) × 109 L and detect the FIR continuum of 28 quasar hosts with a luminosity range of L FIR = (0.5-13.0) × 1012 L . Both L [C II] and L FIR are correlated (ρ ≃ 0.4) with the quasar bolometric luminosity, albeit with substantial scatter. The quasar hosts detected by ALMA are clearly resolved with a median diameter of ∼5 kpc. About 40% of the quasar host galaxies show a velocity gradient in [C ii] emission, while the rest show either dispersion-dominated or disturbed kinematics. Basic estimates of the dynamical masses of the rotation-dominated host galaxies yield M dyn = (0.1-7.5) × 1011 M . Considering our findings alongside those of literature studies, we found that the ratio between M BH and M dyn is about 10 times higher than that of local M BH-M dyn relation on average but with substantial scatter (the ratio difference ranging from ∼0.6 to 60) and large uncertainties.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number9
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume968
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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