Water at Z = 2.286 ?
Abstract
We have used the IRAM 30m telescope to search for rotational lines of water and molecular oxygen in the very distant galaxy IRAS 10214+4724 at a redshift of 2.286. We report the tentative detection of the 2_11_ - 2_02_ para transition of H_2_O at 752.0 GHz. This would be the first time that a thermal rotational line of water is detected. The ortho transitions 1_10_ - 1_01_ and 4_14_ - 3_21_ at 556.9 and 380.2 GHz are not detected with intensities at most twice that of the detected 752 GHz line. We cannot derive the water abundance since the line is likely optically thick. Assuming that the levels are thermalized at 100 K, the surface filling factor of the H_2_O emitting cores with respect to the total galaxy size of 8 kpc is about 3 10^-3^. We have also observed three lines of molecular oxygen towards the same source, but detected none. Relative to H_2_, this implies an abundance ratio [O_2_]/[H_2_] <= 3 10^-4^.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- June 1993
- Bibcode:
- 1993A&A...273L..19E