2025A&A...699A.256P -
Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 699A256 (2025/7-1)
The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Extended [CII] emission in an interacting galaxy system at z ∼ 5.5.
POSSES A., ARAVENA M., GONZALEZ-LOPEZ J., FORSTER SCHREIBER N.M., LIU D., LEE L., SOLIMANO M., DIAZ-SANTOS T., ASSEF R.J., BARCOS-MUNOZ L., BOVINO S., BOWLER R.A.A., CALISTRO RIVERA G., DA CUNHA E., DAVIES R.L., KILLI M., DE LOOZE I., FERRARA A., FISHER D.B., HERRERA-CAMUS R., IKEDA R., LAMBERT T., LI J., LUTZ D., MITSUHASHI I., PALLA M., RELANO M., SPILKER J., NAAB T., TADAKI K., TELIKOVA K., UBLER H., VAN DER GIESSEN S. and VILLANUEVA V.
Abstract (from CDS):
The ALMA [C II] Resolved Ism in STar-forming gALaxies (CRISTAL) survey is a Cycle 8 ALMA Large Program that studies the cold- gas component of high-redshift galaxies. Its subarcsecond-resolution observations are key to distinguishing physical mechanisms that shaped galaxies during cosmic dawn. In this paper, we explore the morphology and kinematics of the cold gas, star-forming, and stellar components in the star-forming main-sequence galaxy CRISTAL-05/HZ3, at z = 5.54. Our analysis includes ALMA observations at a spatial resolution of 0.3″ (∼2 kpc) of the [C II] line. While CRISTAL-05 was previously classified as a single source, our observations reveal that the system is a close interacting pair that is surrounded by an extended component of carbon-enriched gas. This is imprinted in the disturbed elongated [C II] morphology and in the separation of the two components in the position-velocity diagram (∼100 km s–1 ). The central region is composed of two components, named C05-NW and C05-SE, and the former is the dominant component. A significant fraction of [C II] arises beyond the close pair up to 10 kpc, while the regions forming new massive stars and the stellar component seem compact (r_[C II] _∼4 × rUV), as traced by rest-frame UV and optical imaging obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. Our kinematic model, constructed using the DYSMALpy software, yields a minor contribution of dark matter of C05-NW within a radius of ∼2 × Reff. Finally, we explore the resolved [C II] /far-IR ratios as a proxy for shock-heating produced by this merger. We argue that the extended [C II] emission is mainly caused by the merger of the galaxies, which could not be discerned with lower-resolution observations. Our work emphasizes the need for high-resolution observations to fully characterize the dynamic stages of infant galaxies and the physical mechanisms that drive the metal enrichment of the circumgalactic medium.
Abstract Copyright:
© The Authors 2025
Journal keyword(s):
galaxies: evolution - galaxies: high-redshift - galaxies: interactions - galaxies: ISM - galaxies: kinematics and dynamics - galaxies: structure
Simbad objects:
5
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