TY - JOUR
T1 - A dusty star-forming galaxy at z = 6 revealed by strong gravitational lensing
AU - Zavala, Jorge A.
AU - Montaña, Alfredo
AU - Hughes, David H.
AU - Yun, Min S.
AU - Ivison, R. J.
AU - Valiante, Elisabetta
AU - Wilner, David
AU - Spilker, Justin
AU - Aretxaga, Itziar
AU - Eales, Stephen
AU - Avila-Reese, Vladimir
AU - Chávez, Miguel
AU - Cooray, Asantha
AU - Dannerbauer, Helmut
AU - Dunlop, James S.
AU - Dunne, Loretta
AU - Gómez-Ruiz, Arturo I.
AU - Michałowski, Michał J.
AU - Narayanan, Gopal
AU - Nayyeri, Hooshang
AU - Oteo, Ivan
AU - Rosa González, Daniel
AU - Sánchez-Argüelles, David
AU - Schloerb, F. Peter
AU - Serjeant, Stephen
AU - Smith, Matthew W.L.
AU - Terlevich, Elena
AU - Vega, Olga
AU - Villalba, Alan
AU - Van Der Werf, Paul
AU - Wilson, Grant W.
AU - Zeballos, Milagros
PY - 2017/11/6
Y1 - 2017/11/6
N2 - Since their discovery, submillimetre-selected galaxies 1,2 have revolutionized the field of galaxy formation and evolution. From the hundreds of square degrees mapped at submillimetre wavelengths 3-5, 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 analogues 13, despite a ∼12 Gyr difference in cosmic time.
AB - Since their discovery, submillimetre-selected galaxies 1,2 have revolutionized the field of galaxy formation and evolution. From the hundreds of square degrees mapped at submillimetre wavelengths 3-5, 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 analogues 13, despite a ∼12 Gyr difference in cosmic time.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040345839&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41550-017-0297-8
DO - 10.1038/s41550-017-0297-8
M3 - Letter
AN - SCOPUS:85040345839
SN - 2397-3366
VL - 2
SP - 56
EP - 62
JO - Nature Astronomy
JF - Nature Astronomy
IS - 1
ER -