The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2023)
The Physical Conditions of Emission-line Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn from JWST/NIRSpec Spectroscopy in the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations
- Jonathan R. Trump,
- Pablo Arrabal Haro,
- Raymond C. Simons,
- Bren E. Backhaus,
- Ricardo O. Amorín,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Vital Fernández,
- Casey Papovich,
- David C. Nicholls,
- Lisa J. Kewley,
- Samantha W. Brunker,
- John J. Salzer,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- Omar Almaini,
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Danielle A. Berg,
- Rachana Bhatawdekar,
- Laura Bisigello,
- Véronique Buat,
- Denis Burgarella,
- Antonello Calabrò,
- Caitlin M. Casey,
- Laure Ciesla,
- Nikko J. Cleri,
- Justin W. Cole,
- M. C. Cooper,
- Asantha R. Cooray,
- Luca Costantin,
- Darren Croton,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Jonathan P. Gardner,
- Eric Gawiser,
- Mauro Giavalisco,
- Andrea Grazian,
- Norman A. Grogin,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Michaela Hirschmann,
- Benne W. Holwerda,
- Marc Huertas-Company,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Shardha Jogee,
- Stéphanie Juneau,
- Intae Jung,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Allison Kirkpatrick,
- Dale D. Kocevski,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Jennifer M. Lotz,
- Ray A. Lucas,
- Benjamin Magnelli,
- Jasleen Matharu,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Marc Rafelski,
- Caitlin Rose,
- Lise-Marie Seillé,
- Rachel S. Somerville,
- Amber N. Straughn,
- Sandro Tacchella,
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof,
- Benjamin J. Weiner,
- Stijn Wuyts,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Jorge A. Zavala
Affiliations
- Jonathan R. Trump
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Pablo Arrabal Haro
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Raymond C. Simons
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA
- Bren E. Backhaus
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Ricardo O. Amorín
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena , Raul Bitrán 1305, La Serena 2204000, Chile; Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de La Serena , Av. Juan Cisternas 1200 Norte, La Serena 1720236, Chile
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Vital Fernández
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena , Raul Bitrán 1305, La Serena 2204000, Chile; Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de La Serena , Av. Juan Cisternas 1200 Norte, La Serena 1720236, Chile
- Casey Papovich
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA
- David C. Nicholls
- ORCiD
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
- Lisa J. Kewley
- ORCiD
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Samantha W. Brunker
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- John J. Salzer
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Indiana University , 727 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
- Stephen M. Wilkins
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex , Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK; Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy, University of Malta , Msida MSD 2080, Malta
- Omar Almaini
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham , University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
- Micaela B. Bagley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Danielle A. Berg
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Rachana Bhatawdekar
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency , ESA/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Laura Bisigello
- ORCiD
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G.Galilei,” Universitá di Padova , Via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy; INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy
- Véronique Buat
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Denis Burgarella
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Antonello Calabrò
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Caitlin M. Casey
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Laure Ciesla
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Nikko J. Cleri
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA
- Justin W. Cole
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA
- M. C. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Asantha R. Cooray
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Luca Costantin
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB/CSIC-INTA) , Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Darren Croton
- ORCiD
- ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia; Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Lyngbyvej 2, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
- Jonathan P. Gardner
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Eric Gawiser
- ORCiD
- Physics and Astronomy Department, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Mauro Giavalisco
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Andrea Grazian
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy
- Norman A. Grogin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA
- Michaela Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics , Laboratory of Galaxy Evolution, EPFL, Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Benne W. Holwerda
- ORCiD
- Physics & Astronomy Department, University of Louisville , 40292 KY, Louisville, USA
- Marc Huertas-Company
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Universidad de la Laguna , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Université Paris-Cité , LERMA—Observatoire de Paris, PSL, Paris, France
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA
- Shardha Jogee
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Stéphanie Juneau
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America , Washington, DC 20064, USA; Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, NASA/GSFC , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Allison Kirkpatrick
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas , Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
- Dale D. Kocevski
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy , Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA
- Jennifer M. Lotz
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Ray A. Lucas
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA
- Benjamin Magnelli
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité , CEA, CNRS, AIM, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Jasleen Matharu
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4242, USA
- Pablo G. Pérez-González
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB/CSIC-INTA) , Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- ESA/AURA, Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
- Marc Rafelski
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218 USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Caitlin Rose
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Lise-Marie Seillé
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Rachel S. Somerville
- ORCiD
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
- Amber N. Straughn
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Sandro Tacchella
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Benjamin J. Weiner
- ORCiD
- MMT/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Stijn Wuyts
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Bath , Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Jorge A. Zavala
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acba8a
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 945,
no. 1
p. 35
Abstract
We present rest-frame optical emission-line flux ratio measurements for five z > 5 galaxies observed by the James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations. We add several quality-control and post-processing steps to the NIRSpec pipeline reduction products in order to ensure reliable relative flux calibration of emission lines that are closely separated in wavelength, despite the uncertain absolute spectrophotometry of the current version of the reductions. Compared to z ∼ 3 galaxies in the literature, the z > 5 galaxies have similar [O iii ] λ 5008/H β ratios, similar [O iii ] λ 4364/H γ ratios, and higher (∼0.5 dex) [Ne III ] λ 3870/[O II ] λ 3728 ratios. We compare the observations to MAPPINGS V photoionization models and find that the measured [Ne III ] λ 3870/[O II ] λ 3728, [O iii ] λ 4364/H γ , and [O iii ] λ 5008/H β emission-line ratios are consistent with an interstellar medium (ISM) that has very high ionization ( $\mathrm{log}(Q)\simeq 8-9$ , units of cm s ^−1 ), low metallicity ( Z / Z _⊙ ≲ 0.2), and very high pressure ( $\mathrm{log}(P/k)\simeq 8-9$ , units of cm ^−3 ). The combination of [O iii ] λ 4364/H γ and [O iii ] λ (4960 + 5008)/H β line ratios indicate very high electron temperatures of $4.1\lt \mathrm{log}({T}_{e}/{\rm{K}})\lt 4.4$ , further implying metallicities of Z / Z _⊙ ≲ 0.2 with the application of low-redshift calibrations for “ T _e -based” metallicities. These observations represent a tantalizing new view of the physical conditions of the ISM in galaxies at cosmic dawn.
Keywords
