Landing page for project GM076

APM 08279+5255 is an extremely luminous quasar that is gravitationally lensed into three images with a separation of 0.38 arcsec. From measurements of the FIR and radio continuum (unresolved) the star-formation rate density is ~100 000 M/yr/kpc^2, two orders of magnitude in excess of the Eddington limit and difficult to reconcile with models of galaxy formation. High resolution (65 mas) imaging of the radio continuum at 23 GHz with the VLA reveals three compact components associated with the quasar and diffuse extended emission. We find the cold molecular gas traced by CO (1-0) is spatially offset from the quasars, and coincident with the diffuse radio structure. Here, we request EVN+e-MERLIN+VLBA imaging at 1.7 GHz to i) search for evidence of weak radio jets associated with the AGN, ii) to confirm the extreme star formation rate by ruling out significant AGN activity, and iii) confirm that the main feedback mechanism is due to radiative processes, as opposed to mechanical feedback from (weak) radio jets.

This data is part of the archive of VLBI data maintained by JIVE on behalf of the EVN, a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa. The EVN archive itself has the DOI https://doi.org/10.17616/R3Z197