Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 688, Issue 1, Pages 59-66Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1086/591931
Keywords
cosmology: observations; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: formation; galaxies: high-redshift; galaxies: starburst
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Funding
- Smithsonian Institution
- Academia Sinica
- W. M. Keck Foundation
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We present high-resolution submillimeter interferometric imaging of two of the brightest high-redshift submillimeter galaxies known: GN 20 and AzTEC1 at 0.8 '' and 0.3 '' resolution, respectively. Our data-the highest resolution submillimeter imaging of high-redshift sources accomplished to date-were collected in three different array configurations: compact, extended, and very extended. We derive angular sizes of 0.6 '' and 1.0 '' for GN 20 and 0.3 '' and 0.4 '' for AzTEC1 from modeling their visibility functions as a Gaussian and an elliptical disk, respectively. Because both sources are B-band dropouts, they likely lie within a relatively narrow redshift window around z similar to 4, which indicates their angular extent corresponds to physical scales of 4-8 and 1.5-3 kpc, respectively, for the star-burst region. By way of a series of simple assumptions, we find preliminary evidence that these hyperluminous starbursts-with star formation rates >1000 M-circle dot yr(-1)-are radiating at or close to their Eddington limit. Should future high-resolution observations indicate that these two objects are typical of a population of high-redshift Eddington-limited starbursts, this could have important consequences for models of star formation and feedback in extreme environments.
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