DOI | Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L19 |
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Author | Search for: Geach, James E.; Search for: Smail, Ian; Search for: Moran, Sean M.; Search for: MacArthur, Lauren A.1; Search for: Lagos, Claudia del P.; Search for: Edge, Alastair C. |
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Affiliation | - National Research Council of Canada. NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
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Format | Text, Article |
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ISSN | 2041-8205 |
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Subject | cosmology: observations; galaxies: evolution |
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Abstract | We present IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometric detections of CO (J = 1 -> 0) emission from a 24 mu m-selected sample of star-forming galaxies at z = 0.4. The galaxies have polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon 7.7 mu m-derived star formation rates of SFR similar to 30-60 M(circle dot) yr(-1) and stellar masses M(star) similar to 10(11) M(circle dot). The CO(J = 1 -> 0) luminosities of the galaxies imply that the disks still contain a large reservoir of molecular gas, contributing similar to 20% of the baryonic mass, but have star formation "efficiencies" similar to local quiescent disks and gas-dominated disks at z similar to 1.5-2. We reveal evidence that the average molecular gas fraction has undergone strong evolution since z similar to 2, with f(gas) alpha (1 + z)(similar to 2 +/- 0.5). The evolution of f(gas) encodes fundamental information about the relative depletion/replenishment of molecular fuel in galaxies and is expected to be a strong function of halo mass. We show that the latest predictions for the evolution of the molecular gas fraction in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation within Lambda CDM universe are supported by these new observations. |
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Publication date | 2011-03-04 |
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In | |
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Language | English |
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Peer reviewed | Yes |
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NPARC number | 19775307 |
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Export citation | Export as RIS |
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Report a correction | Report a correction (opens in a new tab) |
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Record identifier | 9923606f-8c49-468e-90cd-da6cc20d478f |
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Record created | 2012-04-05 |
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Record modified | 2020-04-21 |
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