Speaker
Description
In order to understand star-forming processes in dusty star-forming galaxies, observations of dense gas tracers, such as HCN, HCO+ and HNC, are required to link existing studies of their molecular gas, typically traced via CO or [CII], and obscured star formation, traced via the dust continuum. Previous studies suggest that high-z DSFGs could be surprisingly lacking in dense gas for sources with such significantly elevated star-forming efficiencies. To investigate this with a wider robust sample, we present a comprehensive ALMA Band 1 survey of nine strongly lensed galaxies from the SPT sample that lie between z=2.5 and z=3.5. Deep observations of the J_upp=2 transitions of HCN, HCO+ and HNC lines allow us to examine HCN/FIR and HCN/CO ratios, look for further molecular lines in a stacked spectrum and attempt to link these to star-formation models. Access to dense gas tracers through ALMA band 1 allow us to make a robust determination of dense gas content and star-forming efficiency in DSFGs, bridging molecular gas measurements and obscured star formation at high redshift.
| Talk category | NOVA Network 1 |
|---|---|
| PhD relevance | 3rd |
