VLA detects CO(1-0) emission in the z=3.65 quasar SDSS J160705+533558

Abstract

We present CO(1--0) observations of the high-redshift quasar SDSS J160705+533558 ($z=3.653$) using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). We detect CO emission associated with the quasar and at $\sim 16.8\mathrm{kpc}$ projected distance from it, separated by $\sim 800\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ in velocity. The total molecular gas mass of this system is $\sim 5\times 10^{10}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$. By comparing our CO detections with previous submillimetre (submm) observations of the source, an offset between the different emission components is revealed: the peak of the submm emission is offset from the quasar and from the CO companion detected in our VLA data. To explain our findings, we propose a scenario similar to that for the Antennae galaxies: SDSS J160705+533558 might be a merger system in which the quasar and the CO companion are the merging galaxies, whose interaction resulted in the formation of a dusty, star-forming overlap region between the galaxies that is dominant at the submm wavelengths.

5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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• The SUPERCOLD-CGM survey: \\ I. Probing the extended CO(4-3) Emission of the Circumglactic medium in a sample of 10 Enormous Ly$\alpha$ Nebulae at $z\sim 2$