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arXiv · 2604.18504

NOEMA3D: Extended CO, [C I] and dust in massive star-forming main-sequence galaxies at cosmic noon

Jianhang Chen·Linda J. Tacconi·Reinhard Genzel·Roberto Neri·Karl Schuster·Natascha M. Förster Schreiber·Jean-Baptiste Jolly·Stavros Pastras·Letizia Scaloni·Giulia Tozzi·Capucine Barféty·Alberto Bolatto·Andreas Burker·Françoise Combes·Pierre Cox·Ric Davies·Frank Eisenhauer·Juan Manuel Espejo Salcedo·Rodrigo Herrera-Camu·Santi García-Burillo·Tadayuki Kodama·Lilian Lee·Minju M. Lee·Daizhong Liu·Dieter Lutz·Giovanni Mazzolari·Thorsten Naab·Amit Nestor Shachar·Claudia Pulsoni·Alvio Renzini·Monica Rubio·Taro T. Shimizu·Amiel Sternberg·Eckhard Sturm·Hannah Übler·Antonio Usero·Stijn Wuyts
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Abstract

We present a spatially resolved study of cold molecular gas and dust in ten main-sequence galaxies at z=1.1-1.6, using observations of CO(4-3), CO(3-2), [CI](1-0), and dust continuum from the NOEMA3D survey. We find widespread spatially extended molecular gas and dust, with sizes comparable to those of the stellar disk, in contrast to those of centrally dominated starburst galaxies at similar redshifts. Among the targeted molecular gas tracers, the CO line (J=3-2 or J=4-3) remains the most effective for mapping molecular gas distribution and kinematics. The spatially resolved correlations between different molecular gas tracers exhibit about twice the scatter as their galactic-integrated correlations, indicating that interstellar medium (ISM) conditions already deviate from global averages on scales of 3-6 kpc. This likely reflects the clumpy or inhomogeneous ISM in cosmic noon star-forming galaxies. Within our sample, both the molecular gas fraction and its depletion time are nearly constant across the galactic disks out to 2xRe, supporting a global linear Kennicutt-Schmidt law. These galaxies also have relatively small bulges, with bulge-to-total ratios between 6-24%, and are actively forming stars. These results provide a resolved view of how galaxies can remain on the star-forming main sequence during their secular evolution at late cosmic noon, an evolutionary stage supported by quasi-steady gas accretion and efficient gas transport via prominent spiral arms and/or bars.

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Jianhang Chen, Linda J. Tacconi, Reinhard Genzel, Roberto Neri, Karl Schuster, Natascha M. Förster Schreiber, Jean-Baptiste Jolly, Stavros Pastras, Letizia Scaloni, Giulia Tozzi, Capucine Barféty, Alberto Bolatto, Andreas Burker, Françoise Combes, Pierre Cox, Ric Davies, Frank Eisenhauer, Juan Manuel Espejo Salcedo, Rodrigo Herrera-Camu, Santi García-Burillo, Tadayuki Kodama, Lilian Lee, Minju M. Lee, Daizhong Liu, Dieter Lutz, Giovanni Mazzolari, Thorsten Naab, Amit Nestor Shachar, Claudia Pulsoni, Alvio Renzini, Monica Rubio, Taro T. Shimizu, Amiel Sternberg, Eckhard Sturm, Hannah Übler, Antonio Usero, Stijn Wuyts. 2026-04-20. NOEMA3D: Extended CO, [C I] and dust in massive star-forming main-sequence galaxies at cosmic noon. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.18504

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