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http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/31701
Title: | Microwave background temperature at a redshift of 6.34 from H2O absorption | Authors: | Riechers, Dominik A. Weiss, Axel Walter, Fabian Carilli, Christopher L. Cox, Pierre DECARLI, ROBERTO Neri, Roberto |
Issue Date: | 2022 | Journal: | NATURE | Number: | 602 | Issue: | 7895 | First Page: | 58 | Abstract: | Distortions of the observed cosmic microwave background provide a direct measurement of the microwave background temperature at redshifts from 0 to 1 (refs. 1,2). Some additional background temperature estimates exist at redshifts from 1.8 to 3.3 based on molecular and atomic line-excitation temperatures in quasar absorption-line systems, but are model dependent3. No deviations from the expected (1 + z) scaling behaviour of the microwave background temperature have been seen4, but the measurements have not extended deeply into the matter-dominated era of the Universe at redshifts z > 3.3. Here we report observations of submillimetre line absorption from the water molecule against the cosmic microwave background at z = 6.34 in a massive starburst galaxy, corresponding to a lookback time of 12.8 billion years (ref. 5). Radiative pumping of the upper level of the ground-state ortho-H2O(110–101) line due to starburst activity in the dusty galaxy HFLS3 results in a cooling to below the redshifted microwave background temperature, after the transition is initially excited by the microwave background. This implies a microwave background temperature of 16.4–30.2 K (1σ range) at z = 6.34, which is consistent with a background temperature increase with redshift as expected from the standard ΛCDM cosmology4. | URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/31701 | URL: | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04294-5 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85123974050 |
ISSN: | 0028-0836 | DOI: | 10.1038/s41586-021-04294-5 | Fulltext: | open |
Appears in Collections: | 1.01 Articoli in rivista |
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File | Description | Size | Format | |
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2202.00693.pdf | preprint | 2.01 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Riechers_2022_Nature_short.pdf | [Administrators only] | 5.12 MB | Adobe PDF |
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