The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
Early Results from GLASS-JWST. XIV. A Spectroscopically Confirmed Protocluster 650 Million Years after the Big Bang
- Takahiro Morishita,
- Guido Roberts-Borsani,
- Tommaso Treu,
- Gabriel Brammer,
- Charlotte A. Mason,
- Michele Trenti,
- Benedetta Vulcani,
- Xin Wang,
- Ana Acebron,
- Yannick Bahé,
- Pietro Bergamini,
- Kristan Boyett,
- Marusa Bradac,
- Antonello Calabrò,
- Marco Castellano,
- Wenlei Chen,
- Gabriella De Lucia,
- Alexei V. Filippenko,
- Adriano Fontana,
- Karl Glazebrook,
- Claudio Grillo,
- Alaina Henry,
- Tucker Jones,
- Patrick L. Kelly,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Nicha Leethochawalit,
- Ting-Yi Lu,
- Danilo Marchesini,
- Sara Mascia,
- Amata Mercurio,
- Emiliano Merlin,
- Benjamin Metha,
- Themiya Nanayakkara,
- Mario Nonino,
- Diego Paris,
- Laura Pentericci,
- Piero Rosati,
- Paola Santini,
- Victoria Strait,
- Eros Vanzella,
- Rogier A. Windhorst,
- Lizhi Xie
Affiliations
- Takahiro Morishita
- ORCiD
- IPAC, California Institute of Technology , MC 314-6, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA ; [email protected]
- Guido Roberts-Borsani
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Tommaso Treu
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Gabriel Brammer
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Charlotte A. Mason
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Michele Trenti
- ORCiD
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Benedetta Vulcani
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy
- Xin Wang
- ORCiD
- School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China; National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China; Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 102206, People's Republic of China
- Ana Acebron
- ORCiD
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano , Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milano, Italy; INAF—IASF Milano , via A. Corti 12, I-20133 Milano, Italy
- Yannick Bahé
- ORCiD
- Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
- Pietro Bergamini
- ORCiD
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano , Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milano, Italy; INAF—OAS , Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
- Kristan Boyett
- ORCiD
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Marusa Bradac
- ORCiD
- University of Ljubljana , Department of Mathematics and Physics, Jadranska ulica 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Davis , 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Antonello Calabrò
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Marco Castellano
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Wenlei Chen
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota , 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Gabriella De Lucia
- ORCiD
- INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Trieste , via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy
- Alexei V. Filippenko
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of California , Berkeley, CA 94720-3411, USA
- Adriano Fontana
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Karl Glazebrook
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
- Claudio Grillo
- ORCiD
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Milano , Via Celoria 16, I-20133 Milano, Italy; INAF—IASF Milano , via A. Corti 12, I-20133 Milano, Italy
- Alaina Henry
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Tucker Jones
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Davis , 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Patrick L. Kelly
- ORCiD
- Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota , 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Nicha Leethochawalit
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) , Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, 50180, Thailand
- Ting-Yi Lu
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Danilo Marchesini
- ORCiD
- Physics and Astronomy Department, Tufts University , 574 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA
- Sara Mascia
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Amata Mercurio
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte , Via Moiariello 16, I-80131 Napoli, Italy
- Emiliano Merlin
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Benjamin Metha
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; School of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Themiya Nanayakkara
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
- Mario Nonino
- ORCiD
- INAF-Trieste Astronomical Observatory , Via Bazzoni 2, I-34124, Trieste, Italy
- Diego Paris
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Laura Pentericci
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Piero Rosati
- ORCiD
- INAF—OAS , Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara , Via Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara, Italy
- Paola Santini
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Victoria Strait
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Eros Vanzella
- ORCiD
- INAF—OAS , Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
- Rogier A. Windhorst
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA
- Lizhi Xie
- ORCiD
- INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Trieste , via G.B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143, Trieste, Italy; Tianjin Normal University , Binshuixidao 393, 300387, Tianjin, People's Republic of China
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acb99e
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 947,
no. 2
p. L24
Abstract
We present the spectroscopic confirmation of a protocluster at z = 7.88 behind the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 (hereafter A2744-z7p9OD). Using JWST NIRSpec, we find seven galaxies within a projected radius of 60 kpc. Although the galaxies reside in an overdensity around ≳20× greater than a random volume, they do not show strong Ly α emission. We place 2 σ upper limits on the rest-frame equivalent width 0.45 (68% C i ). Using an empirical M _UV – M _halo relation for individual galaxies, we estimate that the total halo mass of the system is ≳4 × 10 ^11 M _⊙ . Likewise, the line-of-sight velocity dispersion is estimated to be 1100 ± 200 km s ^−1 . Using an empirical relation, we estimate the present-day halo mass of A2744-z7p9OD to be ∼2 × 10 ^15 M _⊙ , comparable to the Coma cluster. A2744-z7p9OD is the highest redshift spectroscopically confirmed protocluster to date, demonstrating the power of JWST to investigate the connection between dark-matter halo assembly and galaxy formation at very early times with medium-deep observations at <20 hr total exposure time. Follow-up spectroscopy of the remaining photometric candidates of the overdensity will further refine the features of this system and help characterize the role of such overdensities in cosmic reionization.
Keywords