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ALMA Detections of CO Emission in the Most Luminous, Heavily Dust-obscured Quasars at z > 3

L. Fan 范,K. Knudsen,J. Fogasy,G. Drouart

2017 · DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aab496
57 Citations

Abstract

We report the results of a pilot study of CO(4 − 3) emission line of three Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)-selected hyper-luminous, dust-obscured quasars (QSOs) with sensitive ALMA Band 3 observations. These obscured QSOs with Lbol > 1014 L⊙ are among the most luminous objects in the universe. All three QSO hosts are clearly detected both in continuum and in CO(4 − 3) emission line. Based on CO(4 − 3) emission line detection, we derive the molecular gas masses (∼1010−11 M⊙), suggesting that these QSOs are gas-rich systems. We find that the obscured QSOs in our sample follow the similar relation as unobscured QSOs at high redshifts. We also find the complex velocity structures of CO(4 − 3) emission line, which provide the possible evidence for a gas-rich merger in W0149+2350 and possible molecular outflow in W0220+0137 and W0410−0913. Massive molecular outflow can blow away the obscured interstellar medium and make obscured QSOs evolve toward the UV/optical bright, unobscured phase. Our result is consistent with the popular active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback scenario involving the co-evolution between the supermassive black holes and host galaxy.