Published by
EDP Sciences
EDP Sciences Journals List
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 482/ 3 Article
Highlight
Free access
Issue A&A
Volume 482, Number 3, May II 2008
Page(s) L39 - L42
Section Letters
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200809727
Published online 26 March 2008



A&A 482, L39-L42 (2008)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:200809727

Letter

First detection of CO in a high-redshift damped Lyman-$\alpha$ system

R. Srianand1, P. Noterdaeme2, 3, C. Ledoux2, and P. Petitjean3

1  IUCAA, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411 007, India
    e-mail: anand@iucaa.ernet.in
2  European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Casilla 19001, Vitacura, Santiago 19, Chile
3  UPMC Paris 06, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR7095 CNRS, 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France

(Received 6 March 2008 / Accepted 20 March 2008)

Abstract
We present the first detection of carbon monoxide (CO) in a damped Lyman-$\alpha$ system (DLA) at $z_{\rm abs}$ = 2.41837 toward SDSS J143912.04+111740.5. We also detected H2 and HD molecules. The measured total column densities (in log units) of H I, H2, and CO are 20.10$\pm$0.10, 19.38$\pm$0.10, and 13.89$\pm$0.02, respectively. The molecular fraction, f = 2N(H2)/(N(H I)+2N(H2)) = $0.27^{\rm +0.10}_{-0.08}$, is the highest among all known DLAs. The abundances relative to solar of S, Zn, Si, and Fe are -0.03$\pm$0.12, +0.16$\pm$0.11, -0.86$\pm$0.11, and -1.32$\pm$0.11, respectively, indicating a high metal enrichment and a depletion pattern onto dust-grains similar to the cold ISM of our Galaxy. The measured N(CO)/N(H2) = 3$\times$10-6 is much less than the conventional CO/H2 ratio used to convert the CO emission into gaseous mass but is consistent with what is measured along translucent sightlines in the Galaxy. The CO rotational excitation temperatures are higher than those measured in our Galactic ISM for similar kinetic temperature and density. Using the C I fine structure absorption lines, we show that this is a consequence of the excitation being dominated by radiative pumping by the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). From the CO excitation temperatures, we derive $T_{\rm CMBR}$ = 9.15$\pm$0.72 K, while 9.315$\pm$0.007 K is expected from the hot big-bang theory. This is the most precise high-redshift measurement of $T_{\rm CMBR}$ and the first confirmation of the theory using molecular transitions at high redshift.


Key words: galaxies: abundances -- galaxies: quasars: absorption lines



© ESO 2008

What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.