We detected with the IRAM interferometer the lines of CO ( 4–3 ) and CO ( 9–8 ) from the recently-discovered broad absorption line quasar APM 08279 + 5255 .
The molecular lines are at a redshift of 3.911 , which we take to be the true cosmological redshift of the quasar ’ s host galaxy .
This means the quasar emission lines at z = 3.87 are blueshifted by a kinematic component of -2500 km s ^ { -1 } , and , along with the broad absorption lines , are probably emitted in the quasar ’ s wind or jet , moving toward us .
The CO line ratios suggest the molecular gas is at a temperature of \sim 200 K , at a density of \sim 4000 cm ^ { -3 } .
We also detected the dust emission at 94 and 214 GHz ( emitted wavelengths 650 and 290 \mu m ) .
The spectral index of the mm/submm continuum is +3.2 , indicating the dust emission is optically thin in this part of the spectrum .
The extremely high CO and dust luminosities suggest magnification by gravitational lensing .
Using the optical extent and our limit on the size of the CO region , we estimate a magnification of 7 to 30 for the CO lines and the far-IR continuum , and 14 to 60 for the optical/UV .
In this interpretation , the molecular gas and dust is in a nuclear disk of radius 90 to 270 pc around the quasar .
The quasar is 25 to 100 times stronger than , but otherwise resembles , the nucleus of Mrk 231 .