A dusty star-forming galaxy at z = 6 revealed by strong gravitational lensing

Zavala, J. A.; Montaña, Alfredo; Hughes, David H.; Yun, Min S.; Ivison, R. J.; Valiante, Elisabetta; Wilner, David; Spilker, Justin; Aretxaga, Itziar; Eales, Stephen; Avila-Reese, Vladimir; Chávez, Miguel; Cooray, Asantha; Dannerbauer, H.; Dunlop, James S.; Dunne, Loretta; Gómez-Ruiz, Arturo I.; Michałowski, Michał J.; Narayanan, Gopal; Nayyeri, Hooshang; Oteo, Ivan; Rosa González, Daniel; Sánchez-Argüelles, David; Schloerb, F. Peter; Serjeant, Stephen; Smith, Matthew W. L.; Terlevich, Elena; Vega, Olga; Villalba, Alan; van der Werf, Paul; Wilson, Grant W.; Zeballos, Milagros
Bibliographical reference

Nature Astronomy, Volume 2, p. 56-62

Advertised on:
1
2018
Number of authors
32
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
78
Refereed citations
73
Description
Since their discovery, submillimetre-selected galaxies1,2 have revolutionized the field of galaxy formation and evolution. From the hundreds of square degrees mapped at submillimetre wavelengths3-5, only a handful of sources have been confirmed to lie at z > 5 (refs 6-10) and only two at z ≥ 6 (refs 11,12). All of these submillimetre galaxies are rare examples of extreme starburst galaxies with star formation rates of ≳1,000 M⊙ yr-1 and therefore are not representative of the general population of dusty star-forming galaxies. Consequently, our understanding of the nature of these sources, at the earliest epochs, is still incomplete. Here, we report the spectroscopic identification of a gravitationally amplified (μ = 9.3 ± 1.0) dusty star-forming galaxy at z = 6.027. After correcting for gravitational lensing, we derive an intrinsic less-extreme star formation rate of 380 ± 50 M⊙ yr-1 for this source and find that its gas and dust properties are similar to those measured for local ultra luminous infrared galaxies, extending the local trends to a poorly explored territory in the early Universe. The star-formation efficiency of this galaxy is similar to those measured in its local analogues13, despite a 12 Gyr difference in cosmic time.
Related projects
Galaxy proto-cluster
Molecular Gas and Dust in Galaxies Across Cosmic Time

Two of the most fundamental questions in astrophysics are the conversion of molecular gas into stars and how this physical process is a function of environments on all scales, ranging from planetary systems, stellar clusters, galaxies to galaxy clusters. The main goal of this internal project is to get insight into the formation and evolution of

Helmut
Dannerbauer