Abstract
Observations of molecular hydrogen in quasar host galaxies at high redshifts provide fundamental constraints on galaxy evolution, because it is out of this molecular gas that stars form. Molecular hydrogen is traced by emission from the carbon monoxide molecule, CO; cold H2 itself is generally not observable. Carbon monoxide has been detected in about ten quasar host galaxies with redshifts z > 2; the record-holder is at z = 4.69 (refs 1–3). Here we report CO emission from the quasar SDSS J114816.64 + 525150.3 (refs 5, 6) at z = 6.42. At that redshift, the Universe was only 1/16 of its present age, and the era of cosmic reionization was just ending. The presence of about 2 × 1010 M⊙ of H2 in an object at this time demonstrates that molecular gas enriched with heavy elements can be generated rapidly in the youngest galaxies.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ohta, K. et al. Detection of molecular gas in the quasar BR1202-0725 at redshift z = 4.69. Nature 382, 426–428 (1996)
Omont, A. et al. Molecular gas and dust around a radio-quiet quasar at redshift 4.69. Nature 382, 428–431 (1996)
Carilli, C. L. et al. High-resolution imaging of molecular line emission from high redshift QSOs. Astron. J 123, 1838–1846 (2002)
Carilli, C. L. & Blain, A. W. Centimeter searches for molecular line emission from high-redshift galaxies. Astrophys. J. 569, 605–610 (2002)
Fan, X. et al. A survey of z > 5.7 quasars in the sloan digital sky survey. II. Discovery of three additional quasars at z > 6. Astron. J. 125, 1649–1659 (2003)
White, R. L., Becker, R. H., Fan, X. & Strauss, M. A. Probing the ionization state of the universe at z > 6. Astron. J. (in the press)
Willott, C. J., McLure, R. L. & Jarvis, M. J. A 3 × 109 M⊙ black hole in the quasar SDSS J1148 + 5251 at z = 6.41. Astrophys. J. 587, L15–L18 (2003)
Loeb, A. & Barkana, R. The reionization of the Universe by the first stars and quasars. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 39, 19–66 (2000)
Bertoldi, F. et al. Dust emission from the most distant quasars. Astron. Astrophys. Lett. (in the press)
Bertoldi, F. et al. Molecular gas in the host galaxy of a quasar at redshift z = 6.42. Astron. Astrophys. (in the press)
Solomon, P. M., Radford, S. J. E. & Downes, D. Molecular gas content of the primeval galaxy IRAS 10214 + 4724. Nature 356, 318–321 (1992)
Strong, A. W. et al. Diffuse continuum gamma rays from the Galaxy observed by COMPTEL. Astron. Astrophys. 292, 82–91 (1994)
Downes, D. & Solomon, P. Rotating nuclear rings and extreme starbursts in ultra-luminous galaxies. Astrophys. J. 507, 615–654 (1998)
Weiss, A., Neininger, N., Huttemeister, S. & Klein, U. The effect of violent star formation on the state of the molecular gas in M82. Astron. Astrophys. 365, 571–587 (2001)
Solomon, P. M., Downes, D., Radford, S. J. E. & Barrett, J. W. The molecular inter-stellar medium in ultraluminous infrared galaxies. Astrophys. J. 478, 144 (1997)
Ferrarese, L. & Merritt, D. A fundamental relation between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. Astrophys. J. 539, L9–L12 (2000)
Gebhardt, K. et al. A relationship between the nuclear black hole mass and galaxy velocity dispersion. Astrophys. J. 539, L13–L16 (2000)
Richards, G. T. et al. Broad emission-line shifts in quasars: an orientation measure for radio-quiet quasars? Astron. J. 124, 1–17 (2002)
Haiman, Z. & Cen, R. A constraint on the gravitational lensing magnification and the age of the redshift z = 6.28 quasar SDSS 1030 + 0524. Astrophys. J. 578, 702–707 (2001)
Elvis, M. et al. Atlas of quasar energy distributions. Astrophys. J. (Suppl.) 95, 1–68 (1995)
Telfer, R. C., Zheng, W., Kriss, G. A. & Davidsen, A. F. The rest-frame extreme-ultraviolet spectral properties of quasi-stellar objects. Astrophys. J. 565, 773–785 (2002)
Pentericci, L. et al. VLT optical and near-infrared observations of the z = 6.28 quasar SDSS J1030 + 0524. Astron. J. 123, 2151–2158 (2002)
Heger, A. & Woosley, S. E. The nucleosynthetic signature of population III. Astrophys. J. 567, 532–543 (2002)
Arnett, A. Massive star evolution and SN 1987A. Astrophys. J. 383, 295–307 (1991)
Cen, R. Implications of WMAP observations on the population III star formation processes. Astrophys. J. Lett. (submitted)
Kogut, A. et al. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) first year observations: TE polarization. Astrophys. J. (submitted)
Spergel, D. N. et al. First year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations: determination of cosmological parameters. Astrophys. J. (submitted)
Hu, E. M. et al. A redshift z = 6.56 galaxy behind the cluster Abell 370. Astrophys. J. 568, L75–L79 (2002)
Acknowledgements
The VLA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), a facility of the National Science Foundation (NSF), operated under co-operative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI). This work is based partly on observations carried out with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. IRAM is supported by INSU/CNRS (France), MPG (Germany) and IGN (Spain). F.W. is a Jansky Fellow.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Walter, F., Bertoldi, F., Carilli, C. et al. Molecular gas in the host galaxy of a quasar at redshift z = 6.42. Nature 424, 406–408 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01821
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01821
This article is cited by
-
Molecular gas in distant galaxies from ALMA studies
The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review (2018)
-
Galaxy growth in a massive halo in the first billion years of cosmic history
Nature (2018)
-
The rarity of dust in metal-poor galaxies
Nature (2014)
-
A dust-obscured massive maximum-starburst galaxy at a redshift of 6.34
Nature (2013)
-
Outflows from the first quasars
Nature (2012)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.