CO (7−6), [C i] 370 μm, and [N ii] 205 μm Line Emission of the QSO BRI 1335-0417 at Redshift 4.407

Abstract

Abstract We present the results from our Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) imaging observations of the CO(7−6), [C i] 370 μm (hereafter [C i]), and [N ii] 205 μm (hereafter [N ii]) lines and their underlying continuum emission of BRI 1335-0417, an infrared bright quasar at z = 4.407. At the achieved resolutions of ∼1.″1 to 1.″2 (or 7.5–8.2 kpc), the continuum at 205 and 372 μm (rest frame), the CO(7−6), and the [C i] emissions are at best barely resolved whereas the [N ii] emission is well resolved with a beam-deconvolved major axis of 1.″3(±0.″3) or 9(±2) kpc. As a warm dense gas tracer, the CO(7−6) emission shows a more compact spatial distribution and a significantly higher peak velocity dispersion than the other two lines that probe lower density gas, a picture favoring a merger-triggered star formation (SF) scenario over an orderly rotating SF disk. The CO(7−6) data also indicate a possible QSO-driven gas outflow that reaches a maximum line-of-sight velocity of 500–600 km s−1. The far-infrared (FIR) dust temperature (T dust ) of 41.5 K from a graybody fit to the continuum agrees well with the average T dust inferred from various line luminosity ratios. The resulting L CO(7–6)/L FIR luminosity ratio is consistent with that of local luminous infrared galaxies powered predominantly by SF. The L CO(7–6)-inferred SF rate is 5.1(±1.5) × 103 M ⊙ yr−1. The system has an effective star-forming region of kpc in diameter and a molecular gas reservoir of ∼5 × 1011 M ⊙.