Discovery of molecular gas fueling galaxy growth in a protocluster at
  z=1.7
  Based on ALMA Band 3 observations of the CO(2-1) line transition, we report
the discovery of three new gas-rich (M_H2 ~ 1.5-4.8 x 10^10 M_sun, SFRs in the
range ~5-100 M_sun/yr) galaxies in an overdense region at z=1.7, that already
contains eight spectroscopically confirmed members. This leads to a total of 11
confirmed overdensity members, within a projected distance of ~ 1.15 Mpc and in
a redshift range of Dz = 0.012. Under simple assumptions, we estimate that the
system has a total mass of >= 3-6 x 10^13 M_sun, and show that it will likely
evolve into a >~ 10^14 M_sun cluster at z = 0. The overdensity includes a
powerful Compton-thick Fanaroff-Riley type II (FRII) radio-galaxy, around which
we discovered a large molecular gas reservoir (M_H2 ~ 2 x 10^11 M_sun). We
fitted the FRII resolved CO emission with a 2-D Gaussian model with major
(minor) axis of ~ 27 (~ 17) kpc, that is a factor of ~3 larger than the optical
rest-frame emission. Under the assumption of a simple edge-on disk morphology,
we find that the galaxy interstellar medium produces a column density towards
the nucleus of ~ 5.5 x 10^23 cm^-2. Such a dense ISM may then contribute
significantly to the total nuclear obscuration measured in the X-rays (N_(H,X)
~ 1.5 x 10^24 cm^-2) in addition to a small, pc-scale absorber around the
central engine. The velocity map of this source unveils a rotational motion of
the gas that is perpendicular to the radio-jets. The FRII is located at the
center of the projected spatial distribution of the structure members, and its
velocity offset from the peak of the redshift distribution is well within the
structure's velocity dispersion. All this, coupled with the large amount of gas
around the FRII, its stellar mass of ~ 3 x 10^11 M_sun, SFR of ~ 200-600
M_sun/yr, and powerful radio-to-X-ray emission, suggests that this source is
the likely progenitor of the future brightest cluster galaxy.
