Open AccessHigh spatial resolution observations of CUDSS14A: a SCUBA‐selected ultraluminous galaxy at high redshift
Author(s) -
Gear W. K.,
Lilly S. J.,
Stevens J. A.,
Clements D. L.,
Webb T. M.,
Eales S. A.,
Dunne L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03822.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , redshift , galaxy , star formation , luminosity , luminous infrared galaxy , astronomy , spectral energy distribution , infrared
We present a high‐resolution millimetre interferometric image of the brightest SCUBA‐selected galaxy from the Canada–UK Deep SCUBA survey (CUDSS). We make a very clear detection at 1.3 mm, but fail to resolve any structure in the source. The interferometric position is within 1.5 arcsec of the SCUBA 850‐μm centroid, and also within 1.5 arcsec of a 44‐μJy radio source and a very faint, extremely red galaxy which we had previously identified as the submillimetre source. We also present new optical and infrared imaging, and infrared spectroscopy of this source. We model the overall spectral energy distribution and conclude that it lies within the redshift range 2< z <4.5. The submillimetre/far‐infrared luminosity of CUDSS14A is very weakly dependent on redshift within the constrained range, and is roughly 4×10 12 L ⊙ (for H 0 =75 km s −1 Mpc −1 and an assumed Arp 220‐like spectrum), which implies a star formation rate ∼1000 M ⊙ yr −1 . We derive an approximate gas mass of ∼10 10 M ⊙ which would imply that the current star‐forming activity cannot be sustained for longer than about 10 7 yr. With the present data, however, we are unable to rule out a significant AGN contribution to the total luminosity.