Abstract
DURING a survey intended to measure redshifts for 1,400 galaxies identified with faint sources detected by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, we found an emission-line galaxy at a redshift of 2.286, and with the enormous far-infrared luminosity of 3 × 1014 times that of the Sun (L⊙). The spectrum is very unusual, showing lines of high excitation but with very weak Lyman-α emission. A self-absorbed synchrotron model for the infrared energy distribution cannot be ruled out, but a thermal origin seems more plausible. A radio-quiet quasar embedded in a very dusty galaxy could account for the infrared emission, as might a starburst embedded in 1−10 × 109M⊙ of dust. The latter case demands so much dust that the object would probably be a massive galaxy in the process of formation. In either case, this is a remarkable object, and the presence of a large amount of dust in an object of such high redshift implies the generation of heavy elements at an early cosmological epoch.
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Rowan-Robinson, M., Broadhurst, T., Lawrence, A. et al. A high-redshift IRAS galaxy with huge luminosity―hidden quasar or protogalaxy?. Nature 351, 719–721 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/351719a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/351719a0
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