Submillimeter Observations of the Ultraluminous BAL Quasar APM 08279+5255

Abstract

With an inferred bolometric luminosity of $5\times10^{15}{\rm \lsun}$, the recently identified z=3.87, broad absorption line quasar APM 08279+5255 is apparently the most luminous object currently known. As half of its prodigious emission occurs in the infrared, APM 08279+5255 also represents the most extreme example of an Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy. Here, we present new submillimeter observations of this phenomenal object; while indicating that a vast quantity of dust is present, these data prove to be incompatible with current models of emission mechanisms and reprocessing in ultraluminous systems. The influence of gravitational lensing upon these models is considered and we find that while the emission from the central continuum emitting region may be significantly enhanced, lensing induced magnification cannot easily reconcile the models with observations. We conclude that further modeling, including the effects of any differential magnification is required to explain the observed emission from APM 08279+5255.

arXiv comment12 Pages with Two figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

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Cited by in corpus (51)

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• CO(1-0) in z>2 Quasar Host Galaxies: No Evidence for Extended Molecular Gas Reservoirs
• CO(1-0) in z >/~ 4 Quasar Host Galaxies: No Evidence for Extended Molecular Gas Reservoirs
• A Survey of Atomic Carbon at High Redshift
• Discovery of an ionized Fe-K edge in the z=3.91 Broad Absorption Line Quasar APM 08279+5255 with XMM-Newton
• The bi-variate luminosity-color distribution of IRAS galaxies, and implications for the high redshift Universe
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• 350 Micron Dust Emission from High Redshift Objects
• Imaging the Molecular Gas in a z=3.9 Quasar Host Galaxy at 0.3" Resolution: A Central, Sub-Kiloparsec Scale Star Formation Reservoir in APM 08279+5255
• The far-infrared--submm spectral energy distribution of high-redshift quasars
• A massive reservoir of low-excitation molecular gas at high redshift
• APM 08279+5255: Keck Near- and Mid-IR High-Resolution Imaging
• NICMOS and VLA Observations of the Gravitatonally Lensed Ultraluminous BAL Quasar APM~08279+5255: Detection of a Third Image
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• A Submillimeter Survey of Gravitationally Lensed Quasars
• Submillimetre observations of luminous z>4 radio-quiet quasars and the contribution of AGN to the submm source population
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• A New Probe of Dense Gas at High Redshift: Detection of HCO+(5-4) Line Emission in APM 08279+5255
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• Gravitational lensing reveals extreme dust-obscured star formation in quasar host galaxies
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• Sensitive Radio Observations of High Redshift Dusty QSOs
• The Water Vapor Spectrum of APM 08279+5255: X-Ray Heating and Infrared Pumping over Hundreds of Parsecs
• SHARC-II 350 micron Observations of Thermal Emission from Warm Dust in z>=5 Quasars
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• Ultraluminous infrared galaxies at high redshift: their position on the Madau plot and their fate
• Atomic Carbon in APM 08279+5255 at z=3.91
• Statistical lensing by galactic discs
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• Millimetre/submillimetre-wave emission line searches for high-redshift galaxies
• Submillimetre observations of a sample of broad absorption line quasars
• A Submillimetre Selected Quasar in the Field of Abell478
• The Radio-to-Submillimeter Flux Density Ratio of Galaxies as a Measure of Redshift
• SMA High Angular Resolution Imaging of the Lensed Quasar APM08279+5255
• Broad Absorption Line Quasars and the Radio-Loud/Radio-Quiet Dichotomy
• The 60-micron extragalactic background radiation intensity, dust-enshrouded AGNs and the assembly of groups and clusters of galaxies
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• Physical and kinematical properties of the X-ray absorber in the broad absorption line quasar APM 08279+5255
• The temperatures of dust-enshrouded AGNs
• Absorption Measurement of Hydrogen Molecules in the Early Universe
• Weak Gravitational Lensing of quantum perturbed Lukewarm Black Holes and cosmological constant effect
• Constraining the Active Galactic Nucleus and Starburst Properties of the IR-luminous Quasar Host Galaxy APM 08279+5255 at Redshift 4 with SOFIA