A. Beelen

The Herschel ATLAS

The Herschel ATLAS is the largest open-time key project that will be carried out on the Herschel Space Observatory. It will survey 570 deg2 of the extragalactic sky, 4 times larger than all the other Herschel extragalactic surveys combined, in five far-infrared and submillimeter bands. We describe the survey, the complementary multiwavelength data sets that will be combined with the Herschel data, and the six major science programs we are undertaking. Using new models based on a previous submillimeter survey of galaxies, we present predictions of the properties of the ATLAS sources in other wave bands.

The detection of a population of submillimeter-bright, strongly lensed galaxies

Through a Lens Brightly Astronomical sources detected in the submillimeter range are generally thought to be distant, dusty galaxies undergoing a vigorous burst of star formation. They can be detected because the dust absorbs the light from stars and reemits it at longer wavelengths. Their properties are still difficult to ascertain, however, because the combination of interference from dust and the low spatial resolution of submillimeter telescopes prevents further study at other wavelengths. Using data from the Herschel Space Telescope, Negrello et al. (p. 800) showed that by searching for the brightest sources in a wide enough area in the sky it was possible to detect gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxies with nearly full efficiency. Gravitational lensing occurs when the light of an astronomical object is deflected by a foreground mass. This phenomenon increases the apparent brightness and angular size of the lensed objects, making it easier to study sources that would be otherwise too faint to probe. Data from the Herschel Space Observatory unveils distant, dusty galaxies invisible to optical telescopes. Gravitational lensing is a powerful astrophysical and cosmological probe and is particularly valuable at submillimeter wavelengths for the study of the statistical and individual properties of dusty star-forming galaxies. However, the identification of gravitational lenses is often time-intensive, involving the sifting of large volumes of imaging or spectroscopic data to find few candidates. We used early data from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey to demonstrate that wide-area submillimeter surveys can simply and easily detect strong gravitational lensing events, with close to 100% efficiency.

The Large APEX Bolometer Camera LABOCA

The Large APEX BOlometer CAmera, LABOCA, has been commissioned for operation as a new facility instrument at the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment 12 m submillimeter telescope. This new 295-bolometer total power camera, operating in the 870 

Dust emission from the most distant quasars

{\mu}

Four Quasars above Redshift 6 Discovered by the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey

m atmospheric window, combined with the high efficiency of APEX and the excellent atmospheric transmission at the site, offers unprecedented capability in mapping submillimeter continuum emission for a wide range of astronomical purposes.

High-excitation CO in a quasar host galaxy at z = 6.42

We report observations of three SDSS z>6 QSOs at 250 GHz (1.2mm) using the 117-channel Max-Planck Millimeter Bolometer (MAMBO-2) array at the IRAM 30-meter telescope. J1148+5251 (z=6.41) and J1048+4637 (z=6.23) were detected with 250 GHz flux densities of 5.0 +- 0.6 mJy and 3.0 +- 0.4 mJy, respectively. J1630+4012 (z=6.05) was not detected with a 3 sigma upper limit of 1.8 mJy. Upper flux density limits from VLA observations at 43 GHz for J1148+5251 and J1048+4637 imply steeply rising spectra, indicative of thermal infrared emission from warm dust. The far-infrared luminosities are estimated to be \\~10^13 L_sun, and the dust masses ~10^8 M_sun, assuming Galactic dust properties. The presence of large amounts of dust in the highest redshift QSOs indicates that dust formation must be rapid during the early evolution of QSO host galaxies. Dust absorption may hinder the escape of ionizing photons which reionize the intergalactic medium at this early epoch.

GAS AND DUST IN A SUBMILLIMETER GALAXY AT z = 4.24 FROM THE HERSCHEL ATLAS

The Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS) is an optical survey designed to locate quasars during the epoch of reionization. In this paper we present the discovery of the first four CFHQS quasars at redshifts greater than 6, including the most distant known quasar, CFHQS J2329-0301 at z = 6.43. We describe the observational method used to identify the quasars and present optical, infrared, and millimeter photometry and optical and near-infrared spectroscopy. We investigate the dust properties of these quasars, finding an unusual dust extinction curve for one quasar and a high far-infrared luminosity due to dust emission for another. The mean millimeter continuum flux for CFHQS quasars is substantially lower than that for SDSS quasars at the same redshift, likely due to a correlation with quasar UV luminosity. For two quasars with sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra, we use the spectra to investigate the ionization state of hydrogen at z > 5. For CFHQS J1509-1749 at z = 6.12 we find significant evolution (beyond a simple extrapolation of lower redshift data) in the Gunn-Peterson optical depth at z > 5.4. The line of sight to this quasar has one of the highest known optical depths at z ≈ 5.8. An analysis of the sizes of the highly ionized near-zones in the spectra of two quasars at z = 6.12 and 6.43 suggest that the intergalactic medium surrounding these quasars was substantially ionized before these quasars turned on. Together, these observations point toward an extended reionization process, but we caution that cosmic variance is still a major limitation in z > 6 quasar observations.

Testing the evolutionary link between submillimetre galaxies and quasars: CO observations of QSOs at z∼ 2

We report the detection of high excitation CO emission from the most distant quasar currently known, SDSS J114816.64+525150.3 (hereafter J1148+5251), at a redshift z= 6:419. The CO (J= 6! 5) and (J= 7! 6) lines were detected using the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer, showing a width of280 km s 1 . An upper flux limit for the CO ( J= 1! 0) line was obtained from observations with the Eelsberg 100-meter telescope. Assuming no gravitational magnification, we estimate a molecular gas mass of2 10 10 M.U sing the CO (3! 2) observations by Walter et al. (2003), a comparison of the line flux ratios with predictions from a large velocity gradient model suggests that the gas is likely of high excitation, at densities10 4:5 cm 3 and a temperature100 K. Since in this case the CO lines appear to have moderate optical depths, the gas must be extended over a few kpc. The gas mass detected in J1148+5251 can fuel star formation at the rate implied by the far-infrared luminosity for less than 10 million years, a time comparable to the dynamical time scale of the region. The gas must therefore be replenished quickly, and metal and dust enrichment must occur fast. The strong dust emission and the massive, dense gas reservoir at z 6:4 provide further evidence that vigorous star formation is co-eval with the rapid growth of massive black holes at these early epochs of the Universe.

Spitzer deep and wide legacy mid- and far-infrared number counts and lower limits of cosmic infrared background

We report ground-based follow-up observations of the exceptional source, ID 141, one of the brightest sources detected so far in the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey cosmological survey. ID 141 was observed using the IRAM 30 m telescope and Plateau de Bure interferometer (PdBI), the Submillimeter Array, and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment submillimeter telescope to measure the dust continuum and emission lines of the main isotope of carbon monoxide and carbon ([C I] and [C II]). The detection of strong CO emission lines with the PdBI confirms that ID 141 is at high redshift (z = 4.243 ± 0.001). The strength of the continuum and emission lines suggests that ID 141 is gravitationally lensed. The width (ΔV FWHM ~ 800 km s–1) and asymmetric profiles of the CO and carbon lines indicate orbital motion in a disk or a merger. The properties derived for ID 141 are compatible with an ultraluminous (L FIR ~ (8.5 ± 0.3) × 1013 μ–1 L L ☉, where μL is the amplification factor), dense (n ≈ 104 cm–3), and warm (T kin ≈ 40 K) starburst galaxy, with an estimated star formation rate of (0.7-1.7) × 104 μ–1 L M ☉ yr–1. The carbon emission lines indicate a dense (n ≈ 104 cm–3) photon-dominated region, illuminated by a far-UV radiation field a few thousand times more intense than that in our Galaxy. In conclusion, the physical properties of the high-z galaxy ID 141 are remarkably similar to those of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies.

A 1.2 mm MAMBO/IRAM-30 m study of dust emission from optically luminous 2 quasars

We have used the IRAM Plateau de Bure millimeter interferometer and the UKIRT 1– 5µm Imager Spectrometer (UIST) to test the connection between the major phases of spheroid growth and nuclear accretion by mapping CO emission in nine submillimetredetected QSOs at z = 1.7–2.6 with black hole (BH) masses derived from near-infrared spectroscopy. When combined with one QSO obtained from the literature, we present sensitive CO(3–2) or CO(2–1) observations of 10 submillimetre-detected QSOs selected at the epoch of peak activity in both QSOs and submillimetre (submm) galaxies (SMGs). CO is detected in 5/6 very optically luminous (MB ∼ −28) submm-detected QSOs with BH masses MBH ≃ 10 9 –10 10 M⊙, confirming the presence of large gas reservoirs of Mgas ≃ 3.4 × 10 10 M⊙. Our BH masses and dynamical mass constraints on the host spheroids suggest, at face value, that these optically luminous QSOs at z = 2 lie about an order of magnitude above the local BH-spheroid relation, MBH/Msph, although this result is dependent on the size and inclination of the CO-emitting region. However, we find that their BH masses are ∼ 30 times too large and their surface density is ∼ 300 times too small to be related to typical SMGs in an evolutionary sequence. Conversely, we measure weaker CO emission in four fainter (MB ∼ −25) submm-detected QSOs with properties, BH masses (MBH ≃ 5 ×10 8 M⊙), and surface densities similar to SMGs. These QSOs appear to lie near the local MBH/Msph relation, making them plausible ‘transition objects’ in the proposed evolutionary sequence linking QSOs to the formation of massive young galaxies and BHs at high-redshift. We show that SMGs have a higher incidence of bimodal CO line profiles than seen in our QSO sample, which we interpret as an effect of their relative inclinations, with the QSOs seen more face-on. Finally, we find that the gas masses of the four fainter submm-detected QSOs imply that their star formation episodes could be sustained for ∼ 10Myr, and are consistent with representing a phase in the formation of massive galaxies which overlaps a preceding SMG starburst phase, before subsequently evolving into a population of present-day massive ellipticals.