Multiple CO Transitions, CI, and HCN from the Cloverleaf Quasar

Abstract

New millimeter-wavelength emission lines are reported for the Cloverleaf (H1413+117), a gravitationally lensed quasar at redshift 2.56. High signal-to-noise ratio spectra of four lines in CO (J=3-2, J=4-3, J=5-4, and J=7-6) have been obtained and are modeled using an escape probability formalism. The line brightness temperatures are flat or rising between CO(3-2) and CO(4-3) and then drop to the CO(5-4) and CO(7-6) lines; this falloff suggests that the optical depths in the CO lines are modest (tau_{4-3} < 3), and that the gas is relatively warm (T ~ 100 K) and dense (n_H2 > 3 X 10^3 cm^{-3}). The neutral carbon fine structure line CI(3P1-3P0) was detected with moderate SNR on two separate occasions, and appears secure. The HCN(4-3) line is somewhat more tentative, as it was observed only once and detected with moderate SNR. However, its brightness ratio of 0.25 relative to the CO(4-3) line is very similar to the ratio seen in luminous infrared galaxies. The detectability of the Cloverleaf in molecular and neutral atomic transitions is largely due to high emissivity of the gas and magnification from gravitational lensing, rather than an extremely large mass of gas.