Title: Dissecting Molecular Gas and Star Formation in the Strongly Lensed z~2 Galaxy SDSS 
J0901+1814

Abstract:
In order to understand the evolution of high-redshift galaxies, it is important to accurately 
characterize the molecular gas that fuels their star formation. Comparisons to low-redshift 
galaxies using well-known correlations like the Schmidt-Kennicutt relation have been 
complicated by several factors, including differences in line excitation for the molecular gas 
tracer and a lack of spatially resolved mapping at high redshift. While access to the CO(1-0) line 
near the peak of the cosmic star formation rate density (z~2-3) at the Robert C. Byrd Green 
Bank Telescope and the Jansky Very Large Array has allowed for direct comparisons between 
high- and low-resdhift galaxies on the Schmidt-Kennicutt relation free from potential excitation 
biases, many of these analyses are based on galaxy-wide average CO line measurements 
which may hide spatial variation on sub-galactic scales. For gravitationally lensed galaxies, 
integrated measurements disguising true conditions are particularly a concern due to the effects 
of differential lensing. We will present high-resolution observations of the CO(1-0), CO(3-2), H-
alpha, and NII lines in the z=2.26 galaxy SDSS J0901+1814. With these observations we are 
able to place the galaxy on the true surface density version of the Schmidt-Kennicutt relation 
and evaluate its excitation bias, as well as examine the galaxy''s spatial distribution of the 
molecular gas physical conditions. Since this galaxy is strongly lensed, we will also be able to 
evaluate how characterizations of this source differ when the effects of gravitational lensing are 
not accounted for.