We report detections of three z ~ 2.5 submillimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs; SMM J14011+0252, SMM J14009+0252, SMM J04431+0210) in the lowest rotational transition of the carbon monoxide molecule (CO J = 1-0) and one nondetection (SMM J04433+0210).
For the three galaxies we detected, we find a line-integrated brightness temperature ratio of the J = 3-2 and 1-0 lines of 0.68 ± 0.08; the 1-0 line is stronger than predicted by the frequent assumption of equal brightnesses in the two lines and by most single-component models.