ALMA Resolves the Stellar Birth Explosions in Distant Radio-Loud Quasars

Abstract

Far-infrared photometry with the Herschel Space Observatory has found many examples of ultra-luminous dust emission at around 40 K in the host galaxies of high-redshift, radio-loud 3C Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). The dust heating could have its origin in the central black hole activity or extreme circumnuclear starbursts, or both. We have used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Cycle 3 to study the dust morphology on the kiloparsec scale in a sample of these AGN, and present the results for three well-known distant quasars: 3C298, 3C318, and 3C454. After correction for the non-thermal radiation at 1 mm, the observations imply a starburst origin for the cool thermal dust emission, and a symbiotic physical relationship with the AGN-driven radio source.