ALMA Resolves the Stellar Birth Explosion in Distant Quasar 3C298

Abstract

Galaxies are believed to experience star formation and black hole driven nuclear activity symbiotically. The symbiosis may be more extreme in the distant universe, as far-infrared photometry with the Herschel Space Observatory has found many cases of ultraluminous cool dust emission in z>1 radio galaxies and quasars, which could have its origin in the central black hole activity, or in extreme starbursts. We here present strong evidence for an extreme circumnuclear starburst in the z=1.439 quasar 3C298. Our unparalleled 0.18 arcsecond resolution ALMA image at rest-frame 410µm wavelength shows that the ~40K dust in its host galaxy resides in an asymmetric circumnuclear structure. The morphology of this structure implies a starburst origin and a symbiotic physical relation with the AGN driven radio source. The symbiosis is likely to be a general property of distant massive galaxies.

A Spatially Resolved Survey of Distant Quasar Host Galaxies. II. Photoionization and Kinematics of the ISM

“…Interestingly, for 3C 298 and 3C 318, where both high spatial resolution imaging of the dust and Hα emission are present, there is a significant misalignment between the maps. In places where we see evidence for recent star formation based on nebular emission-line ratios in 3C 298 and 3C 318, Barthel et al (2018) and Barthel & Versteeg (2019) do not see any dust emission. For the case of 3C 298 in the location where we see recent star formation traced by Hα, we also detect a molecular reservoir; however, no dust emission is present there.…”

“…We therefore believe that the AGN is responsible for driving the majority of the observed outflows within our sample. Barthel et al (2017Barthel et al ( , 2018; Barthel & Versteeg (2019) explores a sample of radio-loud quasars that include several objects from our sample (4C09.17, 3C 298, 4C04.81, and 4C05.84). They find a tentative correlation between the SFR and the equivalent width of the CIV λλ 1548 Å, 1550 Å absorption lines.…”

A Spatially Resolved Survey of Distant Quasar Host Galaxies. I. Dynamics of Galactic Outflows

“…We therefore believe that the AGN is responsible for driving the majority of the observed outflows within our sample. Barthel et al (2017Barthel et al ( , 2018 and Barthel & Versteeg (2019) explore a sample of radio-loud quasars that include several objects from our sample (4C09.17, 3C298, 4C04.81, and 4C05.84). They find a tentative correlation between the SFR and the equivalent width of the CIV λλ 1548 Å, 1550 Å absorption lines.…”

Millimeter-wave Point Sources from the 2500 Square Degree SPT-SZ Survey: Catalog and Population Statistics

“…For example, from Figure 7, an Arp 220 SED with slightly more synchrotron emission would appear as a dipping source in the SPT-SZ bands. In addition, multiwavelength follow-up observations of powerful radio galaxies and steep radio-spectrum quasars have shown these sources can have spectra that dip at roughly 1 mm (Haas et al 2006), with contributions to the emission at far-IR and submillimeter wavelengths expected to be caused by dust heating from the AGN and star formation, and observations with Herschel have shown that a substantial fraction of these sources may be radio-loud ULIRGs (Podigachoski et al 2016;Barthel et al 2018). As mentioned in Section 4.10, follow-up observations at 870 μm with LABOCA of a set of 21 sources with dipping spectra in the SPT bands have indicated that while a few have fluxes at 870 μm consistent with the presence of dust, most of these sources have fluxes at 870 μm that are too low to be consistent with a DSFG spectrum.…”