CO line emission from galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization

We study the CO line luminosity (LCO), the shape of the CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED), and the value of the CO-to-H2 conversion factor in galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). For this aim, we construct a model that simultaneously takes into account the radiative transfer and the clumpy structure of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) where the CO lines are excited. We then use it to post-process state-of-the-art zoomed, high resolution (30 pc), cosmological simulation of a main-sequence (M* ≈ 1010M⊙, SFR ≈ 100M⊙ yr-1) galaxy, 'Althæa', at z ≈ 6.We find that the CO emission traces the inner molecular disc (r ≈ 0.5 kpc) of Althæa with the peak of the CO surface brightness co-located with that of the [C II] 158 μm emission. Its LCO(1-0) = 104.85 L⊙ is comparable to that observed in local galaxies with similar stellar mass. The high (Σgas ≈ 220M⊙ pc-2) gas surface density in Althæa, its large Mach number (M≈ 30) and the warm kinetic temperature (Tk ≈ 45 K) of GMCs yield a CO SLED peaked at the CO(7-6) transition, i.e. at relatively high-J and a CO-to-H2 conversion factor αCO ≈ 1.5M⊙(K km s-1 pc2)-1 lower than that of the Milky Way. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observing time required to detect (resolve) at 5σ the CO(7-6) line from galaxies similar to Althæa is ≈13 h (≈38 h).