Unveiling the warm dense ISM in $z>6$ quasar host galaxies via water vapor emission

Abstract

Water vapor (H$_{2}$O) is one of the brightest molecular emitters after carbon monoxide (CO) in galaxies with high infrared (IR) luminosity, and allows us to investigate the warm dense phase of the interstellar medium (ISM) where star formation occurs. However, due to the complexity of its radiative spectrum, H$_{2}$O is not frequently exploited as an ISM tracer in distant galaxies. Therefore, H$_{2}$O studies of the warm and dense gas at high-$z$ remains largely unexplored. In this work we present observations conducted with the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) toward three $z>6$ IR-bright quasars J2310+1855, J1148+5251, and J0439+1634 targeted in their multiple para-/ortho-H$_{2}$O transitions ($3_{12}-3_{03}$, $1_{11}-0_{00}$, $2_{20}-2_{11}$, and $4_{22}-4_{13}$), as well as their far-IR (FIR) dust continuum. By combining our data with previous measurements from the literature we estimate dust masses and temperatures, continuum optical depths, IR luminosities, and the star-formation rates from the FIR continuum. We model the H$_{2}$O lines using the MOLPOP-CEP radiative transfer code and find that water vapor lines in our quasar host galaxies are primarily excited in warm dense (gas kinetic temperature and density of $T_{\rm kin} = 50\,{\rm K}$, $n_{\rm H_{2}}\sim 10^{4.5}-10^{5}\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$) molecular medium with water vapor column density of $N_{\rm H_{2}O}\sim 2\times10^{17}-3\times10^{18}\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$. High-$J$ H$_{2}$O lines are mainly radiatively pumped by the intense optically-thin far-IR radiation field associated with a warm dust component with temperatures of $T_{\rm dust}\sim 80-190\,{\rm K}$ that account for $<5-10\%$ of the total dust mass. Our results are in agreement with expectations based on the H$_{2}$O spectral line energy distribution of local and high-$z$ ultra-luminous IR galaxies and AGN. [abridged]