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American Astronomical Society, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 1(739), p. L33, 2011

DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/739/1/l33

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EXPANDED VERY LARGE ARRAY OBSERVATIONS OF a PROTO-CLUSTER OF MOLECULAR GAS-RICH GALAXIES AT Z = 4.05

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Preprint: archiving forbidden
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Postprint: archiving forbidden
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Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

We present observations of the molecular gas in the GN20 proto-cluster of galaxies at z = 4.05 using the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). This group of galaxies is the ideal laboratory for studying the formation of massive galaxies via luminous, gas-rich starbursts within 1.6 Gyr of the big bang. We detect three galaxies in the proto-cluster in CO 2-1 emission, with gas masses (H2) between 1010 and 1011 × (α/0.8) M ☉. The emission from the brightest source, GN20, is resolved with a size ~2'' and has a clear north-south velocity gradient, possibly indicating ordered rotation. The gas mass in GN20 is comparable to the stellar mass (1.3 × 1011 × (α/0.8) M ☉ and 2.3 × 1011 M ☉, respectively), and the sum of gas plus stellar mass is comparable to the dynamical mass of the system (~3.4 × 1011[sin (i)/sin (45°)]–2 M ☉), within a 5 kpc radius. There is also evidence for a tidal tail extending another 2'' north of the galaxy with a narrow velocity dispersion. GN20 may be a massive, gas-rich disk that is gravitationally disturbed, but not completely disrupted. There is one Lyman-break galaxy (BD29079) in the GN20 proto-cluster with an optical spectroscopic redshift within our search volume, and we set a 3σ limit to the molecular gas mass of this galaxy of 1.1 × 1010 × (α/0.8) M ☉.