The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
High molecular gas fractions in normal massive star-forming galaxies in the young Universe
Open accessAbstract
Stars form from cold molecular interstellar gas. As this is relatively rare in the local Universe, galaxies like the Milky Way form only a few new stars per year. Typical massive galaxies in the distant Universe formed stars an order of magnitude more rapidly. Unless star formation was significantly more efficient, this difference suggests that young galaxies were much more molecular-gas rich. Molecular gas observations in the distant Universe have so far largely been restricted to very luminous, rare objects, including mergers and quasars, and accordingly we do not yet have a clear idea about the gas content of more normal (albeit massive) galaxies. Here we report the results of a survey of molecular gas in samples of typical massive-star-forming galaxies at mean redshifts <z> of about 1.2 and 2.3, when the Universe was respectively 40% and 24% of its current age. Our measurements reveal that distant star forming galaxies were indeed gas rich, and that the star formation efficiency is not strongly dependent on cosmic epoch. The average fraction of cold gas relative to total galaxy baryonic mass at z = 2.3 and z = 1.2 is respectively about 44% and 34%, three to ten times higher than in today’s massive spiral galaxies. The slow decrease between z ≈ 2 and z ≈ 1 probably requires a mechanism of semi-continuous replenishment of fresh gas to the young galaxies.
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Cites
Core condensation in heavy halos: a two-stage theory for galaxy formation and clustering
White, S. D. M., & Rees, M. J. (1978) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/183.3.341 · Cited by 3,919
Cited by
Theoretical Challenges in Galaxy Formation
Naab, T., & Ostriker, J. P. (2017) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081913-040019 · Cited by 722
Self-citationTHE KMOS3DSURVEY: DESIGN, FIRST RESULTS, AND THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXY KINEMATICS FROM 0.7 ⩽z⩽ 2.7
Wisnioski, E., Förster Schreiber, N. M., Wuyts, S., Wuyts, E., Bandara, K., Wilman, D., Genzel, R., Bender, R., Davies, R., Fossati, M., et al. (2015) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/799/2/209 · Cited by 580
Self-citationHaywood, M., Di Matteo, P., Lehnert, M. D., Katz, D., & Gómez, A. (2013) · Astronomy & Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321397 · Cited by 553
Scoville, N., Sheth, K., Aussel, H., Bout, P. V., Capak, P., Bongiorno, A., Casey, C. M., Murchikova, L., Koda, J., Álvarez-Márquez, J., et al. (2016) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/0004-637x/820/2/83 · Cited by 513
THE MAJOR AND MINOR GALAXY MERGER RATES AT z < 1.5
Lotz, J. M., Jonsson, P., Cox, T. J., Croton, D., Primack, J. R., Somerville, R. S., & Stewart, K. (2011) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/742/2/103 · Cited by 450
Metadata
- Authors
- Tacconi, L. J., Genzel, R., Neri, R., Cox, P., Cooper, M. C., Shapiro, K., Bolatto, A., Bouché, N., Bournaud, F., Burkert, A., Combes, F., Comerford, J., Davis, M., Schreiber, N. M. F., Garcia-Burillo, S., Gracia-Carpio, J., Lutz, D., Naab, T., Omont, A., Shapley, A., Sternberg, A., & Weiner, B.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 463
- Issue
- 7282
- Pages
- 781-784
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2114874982
- Cited by
- 978
- References
- 1
- FWCI
- 55.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Tacconi, L. J., Genzel, R., Neri, R., Cox, P., Cooper, M. C., Shapiro, K., Bolatto, A., Bouché, N., Bournaud, F., Burkert, A., Combes, F., Comerford, J., Davis, M., Schreiber, N. M. F., Garcia-Burillo, S., Gracia-Carpio, J., Lutz, D., Naab, T., Omont, A., . . . Weiner, B. (2010). High molecular gas fractions in normal massive star-forming galaxies in the young Universe. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08773
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