Molecular Gas in High-Redshift Submillimeter Galaxies

Abstract

We present observations of the luminous population of high-redshift sub-mm galaxies taken at the OVRO Millimeter Array. Studies of sub-mm galaxies are vital to our understanding of the formation and early evolution of galaxies since this population could account for a significant fraction of the total amount of star formation and AGN activity at high redshift. We discuss the CO detections for SMM J02399-0136 at z=2.8 and SMM J14011+0252 at z=2.6. The CO data show the presence of massive molecular gas reservoirs (M(H2) few X 10^{10}-10^{11} M(sun)) and suggest that the sub-mm galaxies are similar to low-redshift, gas-rich ultraluminous infrared galaxies. These results highlight the importance that future mm/sub-mm interferometric observations will have on our understanding of the high redshift universe.