9 research outputs found
Non-blackbody disks can help explain inferred AGN accretion disk sizes
If the atmospheric density ρatm in the accretion disk of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) is sufficiently low, scattering in the atmosphere can produce a non-blackbody emergent spectrum. For a given bolometric luminosity, at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths such disks have lower fluxes and apparently larger sizes as compared to disks that emit as blackbodies. We show that models in which ρatm is a sufficiently low fixed fraction of the interior density ρ can match the AGN STORM observations of NGC 5548 but produce disk spectral energy distributions that peak at shorter wavelengths than observed in luminous AGN in general. Thus, scattering atmospheres can contribute to the explanation for large inferred AGN accretion disk sizes but are unlikely to be the only contributor. In the appendix section, we present unified equations for the interior ρ and T in gas pressure-dominated regions of a thin accretion disk.PostprintPeer reviewe
A First Look at Spatially Resolved Balmer Decrements at from JWST NIRISS Slitless Spectroscopy
We present the first results on the spatial distribution of dust attenuation
at traced by the Balmer Decrement, H/H, in
emission-line galaxies using deep JWST NIRISS slitless spectroscopy from the
CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). H and H
emission line maps of emission-line galaxies are extracted and stacked in bins
of stellar mass for two grism redshift bins, and
. Surface brightness profiles for the Balmer Decrement are
measured and radial profiles of the dust attenuation towards H,
, are derived. In both redshift bins, the integrated
Balmer Decrement increases with stellar mass. Lower mass
(Log(/M)) galaxies have centrally
concentrated, negative dust attenuation profiles whereas higher mass galaxies
(Log(/M)) have flat dust attenuation
profiles. The total dust obscuration is mild, with on average and
mag in the low and high redshift bins respectively. We model the
typical light profiles of star-forming galaxies at these redshifts and stellar
masses with GALFIT and apply both uniform and radially varying dust attenuation
corrections based on our integrated Balmer Decrements and radial dust
attenuation profiles. If these galaxies were observed with typical JWST NIRSpec
slit spectroscopy ( shutters), on average,
H star formation rates (SFRs) measured after slit-loss corrections
assuming uniform dust attenuation will overestimate the total SFR by and at and
respectively.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ
CDM not dead yet: massive high-z Balmer break galaxies are less common than previously reported
Early JWST observations that targeted so-called double-break sources
(attributed to Lyman and Balmer breaks at ), reported a previously unknown
population of very massive, evolved high-redshift galaxies. This surprising
discovery led to a flurry of attempts to explain these objects' unexpected
existence including invoking alternatives to the standard CDM
cosmological paradigm. To test these early results, we adopted the same
double-break candidate galaxy selection criteria to search for such objects in
the JWST images of the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS), and
found a sample of 19 sources over five independent CANUCS fields that cover a
total effective area of arcmin at . However, (1) our SED
fits do not yield exceptionally high stellar masses for our candidates, while
(2) spectroscopy of five of the candidates shows that while all five are at
high redshifts, their red colours are due to high-EW emission lines in
star-forming galaxies rather than Balmer breaks in massive, evolved systems.
Additionally, (3) field-to-field variance leads to differences of
dex in the maximum stellar masses measured in the different fields, suggesting
that the early single-field JWST observations may have suffered from cosmic
variance and/or sample bias. Finally, (4) we show that the presence of even a
single massive outlier can dominate conclusions from small samples such as
those in early JWST observations. In conclusion, we find that the double-break
sources in CANUCS are not sufficiently massive or numerous to warrant
questioning the standard CDM paradigm.Comment: V2: correction of display problem of Fig.1 in Chrome browser.
Submitted to MNRAS, 10 pages (+4 in Appendix), 5 figures (+4), 1 table (+1
The Sparkler: Evolved High-Redshift Globular Clusters Captured by JWST
Using data from JWST, we analyze the compact sources ("sparkles") located
around a remarkable galaxy (the "Sparkler") that is
strongly gravitationally lensed by the galaxy cluster SMACS
J0723.3-7327. Several of these compact sources can be cross-identified in
multiple images, making it clear that they are associated with the host galaxy.
Combining data from JWST's {\em Near-Infrared Camera} (NIRCam) with archival
data from the {\em Hubble Space Telescope} (HST), we perform 0.4-4.4m
photometry on these objects, finding several of them to be very red and
consistent with the colors of quenched, old stellar systems. Morphological fits
confirm that these red sources are spatially unresolved even in strongly
magnified JWST/NIRCam images, while JWST/NIRISS spectra show [OIII]5007
emission in the body of the Sparkler but no indication of star formation in the
red compact sparkles. The most natural interpretation of these compact red
companions to the Sparkler is that they are evolved globular clusters seen at
. Applying \textsc{Dense Basis} SED-fitting to the sample, we infer
formation redshifts of for these globular cluster
candidates, corresponding to ages of Gyr at the epoch of
observation and a formation time just 0.5~Gyr after the Big Bang. If
confirmed with additional spectroscopy, these red, compact "sparkles" represent
the first evolved globular clusters found at high redshift, could be amongst
the earliest observed objects to have quenched their star formation in the
Universe, and may open a new window into understanding globular cluster
formation. Data and code to reproduce our results will be made available at
\faGithub\href{https://niriss.github.io/sparkler.html}{http://canucs-jwst.com/sparkler.html}.Comment: Submitted to ApJL. Comments are welcome. Data and code to reproduce
our results will be made available at niriss.github.io/sparkler.htm
The first large catalogue of spectroscopic redshifts in Webb's First Deep Field, SMACS J0723.37327
We present a spectroscopic redshift catalogue of the SMACS J0723.37327
field ("Webb's First Deep Field") obtained from JWST/NIRISS grism spectroscopy
and supplemented with JWST/NIRSpec and VLT/MUSE redshifts. The catalogue
contains a total of 190 sources with secure spectroscopic redshifts, including
156 NIRISS grism redshifts, 123 of which are for sources whose redshifts were
previously unknown. These new grism redshifts are secured with two or more
spectroscopic features (64 sources), or with a single spectral feature whose
identity is secured from the object's nine-band photometric redshift (59
sources). These are complemented with 17 NIRSpec and 48 MUSE redshifts,
including six new NIRSpec redshifts identified in this work. In addition to the
cluster galaxy redshifts (for which we provide 40 new
NIRISS absorption-line redshifts), we also find three prominent galaxy
overdensities at higher redshifts - at , , and - that
were until now not seen in the JWST/NIRSpec and VLT/MUSE data. The paper
describes the characteristics of our spectroscopic redshift sample and the
methodology we have employed to obtain it. Our redshift catalogue is made
available to the community at https://niriss.github.io/smacs0723.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, 3 appendices. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Star Formation at the Epoch of Reionization with CANUCS: The Ages of Stellar Populations in MACS1149-JD1
We present measurements of stellar populations properties of a z = 9.1 gravitationally lensed galaxy MACS1149-JD1 using deep James Webb Space Telescope NIRISS slitless spectroscopy as well as NIRISS and NIRCam imaging from the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). The galaxy is split into four components. Three magnified ( μ ∼ 11) star-forming components are unresolved, giving intrinsic sizes of <25 pc. In addition, the underlying extended component contains the bulk of the stellar mass, formed the majority of its stars ∼50 Myr earlier than the other three components, and is not the site of the most active star formation currently. The NIRISS and NIRCam resolved photometry does not confirm a strong Balmer break previously seen in Spitzer. The NIRISS grism spectrum has been extracted for the entire galaxy and shows a clear continuum and Lyman break, with no Ly α detected
A First Look at Spatially Resolved Balmer Decrements at 1.0 < z < 2.4 from JWST NIRISS Slitless Spectroscopy
We present the first results on the spatial distribution of dust attenuation at 1.0 < z < 2.4 traced by the Balmer decrement, H α /H β , in emission-line galaxies using deep JWST NIRISS slitless spectroscopy from the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). H α and H β emission-line maps of emission-line galaxies are extracted and stacked in bins of stellar mass for two grism redshift bins, 1.0 < z _grism < 1.7 and 1.7 < z _grism < 2.4. Surface brightness profiles for the Balmer decrement are measured and radial profiles of the dust attenuation toward H α , A _H _α , are derived. In both redshift bins, the integrated Balmer decrement increases with stellar mass. Lower-mass (7.6 ≤ Log( M _* / M _⊙ ) < 10.0) galaxies have centrally concentrated, negative dust attenuation profiles whereas higher-mass galaxies (10.0 ≤ Log( M _* / M _⊙ ) < 11.1) have flat dust attenuation profiles. The total dust obscuration is mild, with on average 0.07 ± 0.07 and 0.14 ± 0.07 mag in the low- and high-redshift bins respectively. We model the typical light profiles of star-forming galaxies at these redshifts and stellar masses with GALFIT and apply both uniform and radially varying dust attenuation corrections based on our integrated Balmer decrements and radial dust attenuation profiles. If the H α star formation rates (SFRs) of these galaxies were measured after slit-loss corrections assuming uniform dust attenuation with typical JWST NIRSpec slit spectroscopy (0.″2 × 0.″5 shutters), the total SFR will be overestimated by 6% ± 21% and 26% ± 9% at 1.0 ≤ z < 1.7 and 1.7 ≤ z < 2.4 respectively