46 research outputs found
Optimizing high redshift galaxy surveys for environmental information
We investigate the performance of group finding algorithms that reconstruct galaxy groups from the positional information of tracer galaxies that are observed in redshift surveys carried out with multiplexed spectrographs. We use mock light-cones produced by the L-Galaxies semi-analytic model of galaxy evolution in which the underlying reality is known. We particularly focus on the performance at high redshift, and how this is affected by choices of the mass of the tracer galaxies (largely equivalent to their co-moving number density) and the (assumed random) sampling rate of these tracers. We first however compare two different approaches to group finding as applied at low redshift, and conclude that these are broadly comparable. For simplicity we adopt just one of these, "Friends-of-Friends" (FoF) as the basis for our study at high redshift. We introduce 12 science metrics that are designed to quantify the performance of the group-finder as relevant for a wide range of science investigations with a group catalogue. These metrics examine the quality of the recovered group catalogue, the median halo masses of different richness structures, the scatter in dark matter halo mass and how successful the group-finder classifies singletons, centrals and satellites. We analyze how these metrics vary with the limiting stellar mass and random sampling rate of the tracer galaxies, allowing quantification of the various trade-offs between different possible survey designs. Finally, we look at the impact of these same design parameters on the relative "costs" in observation time of the survey using as an example the potential MOONRISE survey using the MOONS instrument.ERC
STF
First insights into the ISM at z > 8 with JWST: possible physical implications of a high [O III] λ4363/[O III] λ5007
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.We present a detailed analysis of the rest-frame optical emission line ratios for three spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at z > 7.5. The galaxies were identified in the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Early Release Observations field SMACS J0723.3 − 7327. By quantitatively comparing Balmer and oxygen line ratios of these galaxies with various low-redshift ‘analogue’ populations (e.g. Green Peas, Blueberries, etc.), we show that no single analogue population captures the diversity of line ratios of all three galaxies observed at z > 7.5. We find that S06355 at z = 7.67 and S10612 at z = 7.66 are similar to local Green Peas and Blueberries. In contrast, S04590 at z = 8.50 appears to be significantly different from the other two galaxies, most resembling extremely low-metallicity systems in the local Universe. Perhaps the most striking spectral feature in S04590 is the curiously high [O III] λ4363/[O III] λ5007 ratio (RO3) of 0.048 (or 0.055 when dust-corrected), implying either extremely high electron temperatures, >3 × 104 K, or gas densities >104 cm−3. Observed line ratios indicate that this galaxy is unlikely to host an AGN. Using photoionization modelling, we show that the inclusion of high-mass X-ray binaries or a high cosmic ray background in addition to a young, low-metallicity stellar population can provide the additional heating necessary to explain the observed high RO3 while remaining consistent with other observed line ratios. Our models represent a first step at accurately characterizing the dominant sources of photoionization and heating at very high redshifts, demonstrating that non-thermal processes may become important as we probe deeper into the Epoch of Reionization.Peer reviewe
The JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey: Discovery of an Extreme Galaxy Overdensity at z = 5.4 with JWST/NIRCam in GOODS-S
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/We report the discovery of an extreme galaxy overdensity at in the GOODS-S field using JWST/NIRCam imaging from JADES and JEMS alongside JWST/NIRCam wide field slitless spectroscopy from FRESCO. We identified potential members of the overdensity using HST+JWST photometry spanning . These data provide accurate and well-constrained photometric redshifts down to . We subsequently confirmed galaxies at using JWST slitless spectroscopy over through a targeted line search for around the best-fit photometric redshift. We verified that of these galaxies reside in the field while galaxies reside in a density around times that of a random volume. Stellar populations for these galaxies were inferred from the photometry and used to construct the star-forming main sequence, where protocluster members appeared more massive and exhibited earlier star formation (and thus older stellar populations) when compared to their field galaxy counterparts. We estimate the total halo mass of this large-scale structure to be using an empirical stellar mass to halo mass relation, which is likely an underestimate as a result of incompleteness. Our discovery demonstrates the power of JWST at constraining dark matter halo assembly and galaxy formation at very early cosmic times.Peer reviewe
The JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey: Discovery of an Extreme Galaxy Overdensity at with JWST/NIRCam in GOODS-S
We report the discovery of an extreme galaxy overdensity at in the
GOODS-S field using JWST/NIRCam imaging from JADES and JEMS alongside
JWST/NIRCam wide field slitless spectroscopy from FRESCO. We identified
potential members of the overdensity using HST+JWST photometry spanning
. These data provide accurate and
well-constrained photometric redshifts down to .
We subsequently confirmed galaxies at using JWST
slitless spectroscopy over through a
targeted line search for around the best-fit photometric
redshift. We verified that of these galaxies reside in the field while
galaxies reside in a density around times that of a random
volume. Stellar populations for these galaxies were inferred from the
photometry and used to construct the star-forming main sequence, where
protocluster members appeared more massive and exhibited earlier star formation
(and thus older stellar populations) when compared to their field galaxy
counterparts. We estimate the total halo mass of this large-scale structure to
be using an empirical stellar mass to halo mass relation, which is
likely an underestimate as a result of incompleteness. Our discovery
demonstrates the power of JWST at constraining dark matter halo assembly and
galaxy formation at very early cosmic times.Comment: Resubmitted to ApJ based on reviewer report; main text has 15 pages,
6 figures and 1 table; appendix has 1 page, 2 figure sets, and 2 table
JADES: Detecting [OIII] Emitters and Testing Strong Line Calibrations in the High- Universe with Ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec Spectroscopy up to
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/We present ten novel [OIII]λ4363 auroral line detections up to z ∼ 9.5 measured from ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec MSA spectroscopy from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We leverage the deepest spectroscopic observations taken thus far with NIRSpec to determine electron temperatures and oxygen abundances using the direct Te method. We directly compare these results against a suite of locally calibrated strong-line diagnostics and recent high-z calibrations. We find the calibrations fail to simultaneously match our JADES sample, thus warranting a self-consistent revision of these calibrations for the high-z Universe. We find a weak dependence between R2 and O3O2 with metallicity, thus suggesting these line ratios are inefficient in the high-z Universe as metallicity diagnostics and degeneracy breakers. We find R3 and R23 are still correlated with metallicity, but we find a tentative flattening of these diagnostics, thus suggesting future difficulties when applying these strong line ratios as metallicity indicators in the high-z Universe. We also propose and test an alternative diagnostic based on a different combination of R3 and R2 with a higher dynamic range. We find a reasonably good agreement (median offset of 0.002 dex, median absolute offset of 0.13 dex) with the JWST sample at low metallicity, but future investigations are required on larger samples to probe past the turnover point. At a given metallicity, our sample demonstrates higher ionization and excitation ratios than local galaxies with rest-frame EWs(Hβ) ≈200 − 300 Å. However, we find the median rest-frame EWs(Hβ) of our sample to be ∼2× less than the galaxies used for the local calibrations. This EW discrepancy combined with the high ionization of our galaxies does not offer a clear description of [OIII]λ4363 production in the high-z Universe, thus warranting a much deeper examination into the factors influencing these processes.Peer reviewe
JADES + JEMS: A Detailed Look at the Buildup of Central Stellar Cores and Suppression of Star Formation in Galaxies at Redshifts 3 < z < 4.5
We present a spatially resolved study of stellar populations in 6 galaxies
with stellar masses at using 14-filter
JWST/NIRCam imaging from the JADES and JEMS surveys. The 6 galaxies are
visually selected to have clumpy substructures with distinct colors over
rest-frame \r{A}, including a bright dominant stellar core that is
close to their stellar-light centroids. With 23-filter photometry from HST to
JWST, we measure the stellar-population properties of individual structural
components via SED fitting using Prospector. We find that the central stellar
cores are times more massive than the Toomre mass, indicating they
may not form via in-situ fragmentation. The stellar cores have stellar ages of
Gyr that are similar to the timescale of clump inward migration due
to dynamical friction, suggesting that they likely instead formed through the
coalescence of giant stellar clumps. While they have not yet quenched, the 6
galaxies are below the star-forming main sequence by dex. Within each
galaxy, we find that the specific star formation rate is lower in the central
stellar core, and the stellar-mass surface density of the core is already
similar to quenched galaxies of the same masses and redshifts. Meanwhile, the
stellar ages of the cores are either comparable to or younger than the
extended, smooth parts of the galaxies. Our findings are consistent with model
predictions of the gas-rich compaction scenario for the buildup of galaxies'
central regions at high redshifts. We are likely witnessing the coeval
formation of dense central cores, along with the onset of galaxy-wide quenching
at .Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures, submitted to ApJ. Comments are welcom
Inside the bubble: exploring the environments of reionisation-era Lyman-α emitting galaxies with JADES and FRESCO⋆
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/We present a study of the environments of 17 Lyman-α emitting galaxies (LAEs) in the reionisation-era (5.8 5%) observed in our sample of LAEs, suggesting the presence of ionised hydrogen along the line of sight towards at least eight out of 17 LAEs. We find minimum physical 'bubble'sizes of the order of R ion ∼ 0.1- 1pMpc are required in a patchy reionisation scenario where ionised bubbles containing the LAEs are embedded in a fully neutral IGM. Around half of the LAEs in our sample are found to coincide with large-scale galaxy overdensities seen in FRESCO at z ∼ 5.8- 5.9 and z ∼ 7.3, suggesting Lyman-α transmission is strongly enhanced in such overdense regions, and underlining the importance of LAEs as tracers of the first large-scale ionised bubbles. Considering only spectroscopically confirmed galaxies, we find our sample of UV-faint LAEs (M UV ≳ -20mag) and their direct neighbours are generally not able to produce the required ionised regions based on the Lyman-α transmission properties, suggesting lower-luminosity sources likely play an important role in carving out these bubbles. These observations demonstrate the combined power of JWST multi-object and slitless spectroscopy in acquiring a unique view of the early Universe during cosmic reionisation via the most distant LAEs.Peer reviewe
The Star-forming and Ionizing Properties of Dwarf z~6-9 Galaxies in JADES: Insights on Bursty Star Formation and Ionized Bubble Growth
Reionization is thought to be driven by faint star-forming galaxies, but
characterizing this population in detail has long remained very challenging.
Here we utilize deep nine-band NIRCam imaging from JADES to study the
star-forming and ionizing properties of 756 galaxies, including
hundreds of very UV-faint objects (). The faintest
() galaxies in our sample typically have stellar masses of
and young light-weighted ages (50
Myr), though some show strong Balmer breaks implying much older ages (500
Myr). We find no evidence for extremely massive galaxies (
) in our sample. We infer a strong (factor 2) decline in the
typical [OIII]H EWs towards very faint galaxies, yet a
weak UV luminosity dependence on the H EWs at . We demonstrate
that these EW trends can be explained if fainter galaxies have systematically
lower metallicities as well as more recently-declining star formation histories
relative to the most UV-luminous galaxies in our sample. Our data provide
evidence that the brightest galaxies are frequently experiencing a recent
strong upturn in SFR. We also discuss how the EW trends may be influenced by a
strong correlation between and Lyman continuum escape fraction.
This alternative explanation has dramatically different implications for the
contribution of galaxies along the luminosity function to cosmic reionization,
highlighting the need for deep spectroscopic follow-up. Finally, we quantify
the photometric overdensities around two strong Ly emitters in
the JADES footprint. One Ly emitter lies close to a strong photometric
overdensity while the other shows no significant nearby overdensity, perhaps
implying that not all strong Ly emitters reside in large ionized
bubbles.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figures. Submitted to MNRAS. Comments welcom
JWST-JADES. Possible Population III signatures at z=10.6 in the halo of GN-z11
Finding the first generation of stars formed out of pristine gas in the early
Universe, known as Population III (PopIII) stars, is one of the most important
goals of modern astrophysics. Recent models suggest that PopIII stars may form
in pockets of pristine gas in the halo of more evolved galaxies. Here we
present NIRSpec-IFU and NIRSpec-MSA observations of the region around GN-z11,
an exceptionally luminous galaxy at , which reveal a 5
detection of a feature consistent with being HeII1640 emission at the
redshift of GN-z11. The very high equivalent width of the putative HeII
emission in this clump (170 A), and the lack of metal lines, can be explained
in terms of photoionisation by PopIII stars, while photoionisation by PopII
stars is inconsistent with the data. It would also indicate that the putative
PopIII stars likely have a top-heavy initial mass function (IMF), with an upper
cutoff reaching at least 500 M. The PopIII bolometric luminosity
inferred from the HeII line would be , which
(with a top-heavy IMF) would imply a total stellar mass formed in the burst of
. We find that photoionisation by the Active
Galactic Nucleus (AGN) in GN-z11 cannot account for the HeII luminosity
observed in the clump, but can potentially be responsible for additional HeII
emission observed closer to GN-z11. We also consider the possibility of in-situ
photoionisation by an accreting Direct Collapse Black Hole (DCBH) hosted by the
HeII clump; we find that this scenario is less favoured, but it remains a
possible alternative interpretation. We also report the detection of a
Ly halo stemming out of GN-z11 and extending out to 2 kpc, as
well as resolved, funnel-shaped CIII] emission, likely tracing the ionisation
cone of the AGN.Comment: Submitted to A&A, 13 pages, 8 figures; some typos corrected and some
minor additional information added to match submitted versio
JADES: Insights into the low-mass end of the mass–metallicity–SFR relation at 3 < z < 10 from deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy⋆
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/We analysed the gas-phase metallicity properties of a sample of low-stellar-mass (log M⋆/M⊙ ≲ 9) galaxies at 3  6, with galaxies significantly less enriched than predicted given their M⋆ and SFR (with a median offset in log(O/H) of ∼0.5 dex, significant at ∼5σ). These observations are consistent with an enhanced stochasticity in the gas accretion and star-formation history of high-redshift systems, prompting us to reconsider the nature of the relationship between M⋆, O/H, and SFR in the early Universe.Peer reviewe