A radio-to-mm census of star-forming galaxies in protocluster 4C23.56 at z=2.5 : Gas mass and its fraction revealed with ALMA

Abstract

We investigate gas contents of star-forming galaxies associated with protocluster 4C23.56 at z = 2.49 by using the redshifted CO(3-2) and 1.1 mm dust continuum with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The observations unveil seven CO detections out of 22 targeted H\(\alpha\) emitters (HAEs) and four out of 19 in 1.1 mm dust continuum. They have high stellar mass (\(M_{\star}>4\times 10^{10}\) \(M_{\odot}\)) and exhibit a specific star-formation rate typical of main-sequence star forming galaxies at \(z\sim2.5\). Different gas mass estimators from CO(3-2) and 1.1 mm yield consistent values for simultaneous detections. The gas mass (\(M_{\rm gas}\)) and gas fraction (\(f_{\rm gas}\)) are comparable to those of field galaxies, with \(M_{\rm gas}=[0.3, 1.8]\times10^{11} \times (\alpha_{\rm CO}/(4.36\times A(Z)\))) M\(_{\odot}\), where \(\alpha_{\rm CO}\) is the CO-to-H\(_2\) conversion factor and \(A(Z)\) the additional correction factor for the metallicity dependence of \(\alpha_{\rm CO}\), and \(\langle f_{\rm gas}\rangle = 0.53 \pm 0.07\) from CO(3-2). Our measurements place a constraint on the cosmic gas density of high-\(z\) protoclusters, indicating the protocluster is characterized by a gas density higher than that of the general fields by an order of magnitude. We found \(\rho (H_2)\sim 5 \times 10^9 \,M_{\odot}\,{\rm Mpc^{-3}}\) with the CO(3-2) detections. The five ALMA CO detections occur in the region of highest galaxy surface density, where the density positively correlates with global star-forming efficiency (SFE) and stellar mass. Such correlations imply a potentially critical role of environment on early galaxy evolution at high-z protoclusters, although future observations are necessary for confirmation.