The Kennicutt-Schmidt Star Formation Relation at z~2

Authors

Desika Narayanan, Haverford CollegeFollow

Document Type

Journal Article

Role

Author

Standard Number

0035-8711

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

412

Issue

1

First Page

287

Last Page

294

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

Recent observations of excited CO emission lines from z∼ 2 disc galaxies have shed light on the SFR ∝ρ^N relation at high z via observed Σ_SFR–Σ^α_COJ=2−1 and Σ_SFR–Σ^α_COJ=3−2 relations. Here, we describe a novel methodology for utilizing these observations of high-excitation CO to derive the underlying Schmidt (SFR ∝ρ^N) relationship. To do this requires an understanding of the potential effects of differential CO excitation with SFR. If the most heavily star-forming galaxies have a larger fraction of their gas in highly excited CO states than the lower SFR galaxies, then the observed molecular Kennicutt–Schmidt index, α, will be less than the underlying SFR ∝ρ^N index, N. Utilizing a combination of SPH models of galaxy evolution and molecular line radiative transfer, we present the first calculations of CO excitation in z∼ 2 disc galaxies with the aim of developing a mapping between various observed Σ_SFR–Σ^α_CO relationships and the underlying SFR ∝ρ^N relation. We find that even in relatively luminous z∼ 2 discs, differential excitation does indeed exist, resulting in α < N for highly excited CO lines. This means that an observed (e.g.) Σ_SFR–Σ^α_COJ=3−2 relation does not map linearly to a Σ_SFR–Σ^α_H2 relation. We utilize our model results to provide a mapping from α to N for the range of Schmidt indices N= 1–2. By comparing to recent observational surveys, we find that the observed and Σ_SFR–Σ^α_COJ=3−2 relations suggest that an underlying SFR ∝ρ^1.5 relation describes z∼ 2 disc galaxies.

Repository Citation

“The Kennicutt-Schmidt Star Formation Relation at z~2 Narayanan, D., Cox, T.J., Hayward, C., Hernquist, L., MNRAS 2011, 412, 287