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arXiv · 1211.5743

PHIBSS: molecular gas content and scaling relations in z~1-3 normal star forming galaxies

L. J. Tacconi·R. Neri·R. Genzel·F. Combes·A. Bolatto·M. C. Cooper·S. Wuyts·F. Bournaud·A. Burkert·J. Comerford·P. Cox·M. Davi·N. M. Förster Schreiber·S. García-Burillo·J. Gracia-Carpio·D. Lutz·T. Naab·S. Newman·A. Omont·A. Saintonge·K. Shapiro Griffin·A. Shapley·A. Sternberg·B. Weiner
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Abstract

We present PHIBSS, the IRAM Plateau de Bure high-z blue sequence CO 3-2 survey of the molecular gas properties in normal star forming galaxies (SFGs) near the cosmic star formation peak. PHIBSS provides 52 CO detections in two redshift slices at z~1.2 and 2.2, with log(M*(M_solar))>10.4 and log(SFR(M_solar/yr))>1.5. Including a correction for the incomplete coverage of the M*-SFR plane, we infer average gas fractions of ~0.33 at z~1.2 and ~0.47 at z~2.2. Gas fractions drop with stellar mass, in agreement with cosmological simulations including strong star formation feedback. Most of the z~1-3 SFGs are rotationally supported turbulent disks. The sizes of CO and UV/optical emission are comparable. The molecular gas - star formation relation for the z=1-3 SFGs is near-linear, with a ~0.7 Gyrs gas depletion timescale; changes in depletion time are only a secondary effect. Since this timescale is much less than the Hubble time in all SFGs between z~0 and 2, fresh gas must be supplied with a fairly high duty cycle over several billion years. At given z and M*, gas fractions correlate strongly with the specific star formation rate. The variation of specific star formation rate between z~0 and 3 is mainly controlled by the fraction of baryonic mass that resides in cold gas.

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L. J. Tacconi, R. Neri, R. Genzel, F. Combes, A. Bolatto, M. C. Cooper, S. Wuyts, F. Bournaud, A. Burkert, J. Comerford, P. Cox, M. Davi, N. M. Förster Schreiber, S. García-Burillo, J. Gracia-Carpio, D. Lutz, T. Naab, S. Newman, A. Omont, A. Saintonge, K. Shapiro Griffin, A. Shapley, A. Sternberg, B. Weiner. 2012-11-25. PHIBSS: molecular gas content and scaling relations in z~1-3 normal star forming galaxies. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x%2F768%2F1%2F74

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