University of Sussex
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

A dust-obscured massive maximum-starburst galaxy at a redshift of 6.34

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 15:58 authored by Dominik A Riechers, C M Bradford, D L Clements, C D Dowell, I Pérez-Fournon, R J Ivison, C Bridge, A Conley, Hai Fu, J D Vieira, J Wardlow, J Calanog, A Cooray, Pete Hurley, R Neri, J Kamenetzky, J E Aguirre, B Altieri, V Arumugam, D J Benford, M Béthermin, J Bock, D Burgarella, A Cabrera-Lavers, S C Chapman, P Cox, J S Dunlop, L Earle, D Farrah, P Ferrero, A Franceschini, R Gavazzi, J Glenn, E A Gonzalez Solares, M A Gurwell, M Halpern, E Hatziminaoglou, A Hyde, E Ibar, A Kovács, M Krips, R E Lupu, P R Maloney, P Martinez-Navajas, H Matsuhara, E J Murphy, B J Naylor, H T Nguyen, Seb OliverSeb Oliver, A Omont, M J Page, G Petitpas, N Rangwala, I G Roseboom, D Scott, A J Smith, J G Staguhn, A Streblyanska, A P Thomson, I Valtchanov, M Viero, L Wang, M Zemcov, J Zmuidzinas
Massive present-day early-type (elliptical and lenticular) galaxies probably gained the bulk of their stellar mass and heavy elements through intense, dust-enshrouded starbursts--that is, increased rates of star formation--in the most massive dark-matter haloes at early epochs. However, it remains unknown how soon after the Big Bang massive starburst progenitors exist. The measured redshift (z) distribution of dusty, massive starbursts has long been suspected to be biased low in z owing to selection effects, as confirmed by recent findings of systems with redshifts as high as ~5 (refs 2-4). Here we report the identification of a massive starburst galaxy at z = 6.34 through a submillimetre colour-selection technique. We unambiguously determined the redshift from a suite of molecular and atomic fine-structure cooling lines. These measurements reveal a hundred billion solar masses of highly excited, chemically evolved interstellar medium in this galaxy, which constitutes at least 40 per cent of the baryonic mass. A `maximum starburst' converts the gas into stars at a rate more than 2,000 times that of the Milky Way, a rate among the highest observed at any epoch. Despite the overall downturn in cosmic star formation towards the highest redshifts, it seems that environments mature enough to form the most massive, intense starbursts existed at least as early as 880 million years after the Big Bang.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Issue

7445

Volume

496

Page range

329-333

Department affiliated with

  • Physics and Astronomy Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2013-10-03

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2013-10-03

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC