The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy of the Triply Lensed z = 10.17 Galaxy MACS0647–JD
- Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao,
- Abdurro’uf,
- Dan Coe,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Intae Jung,
- Matilde Mingozzi,
- Pratika Dayal,
- Nimisha Kumari,
- Vasily Kokorev,
- Anton Vikaeus,
- Gabriel Brammer,
- Lukas J. Furtak,
- Angela Adamo,
- Felipe Andrade-Santos,
- Jacqueline Antwi-Danso,
- Maruša Bradač,
- Larry D. Bradley,
- Tom Broadhurst,
- Adam C. Carnall,
- Christopher J. Conselice,
- Jose M. Diego,
- Megan Donahue,
- Jan J. Eldridge,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Alaina Henry,
- Svea Hernandez,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Bethan L. James,
- Colin Norman,
- Hyunbae Park,
- Norbert Pirzkal,
- Marc Postman,
- Massimo Ricotti,
- Jane R. Rigby,
- Eros Vanzella,
- Brian Welch,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- Rogier A. Windhorst,
- Xinfeng Xu,
- Erik Zackrisson,
- Adi Zitrin
Affiliations
- Tiger Yu-Yang Hsiao
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected], [email protected]; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Abdurro’uf
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected], [email protected]; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Dan Coe
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected], [email protected]; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. for the European Space Agency (ESA) , USA
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Matilde Mingozzi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Pratika Dayal
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , P.O. Box 800, 9700AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Nimisha Kumari
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. for the European Space Agency (ESA) , USA
- Vasily Kokorev
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , Department of Astronomy, Austin, TX, USA
- Anton Vikaeus
- ORCiD
- Observational Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University , Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
- Gabriel Brammer
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Copenhagen, Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Lukas J. Furtak
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva 84105, Israel
- Angela Adamo
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University , AlbaNova University Centre, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- Felipe Andrade-Santos
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Berklee College of Music , 7 Haviland Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Clay Center Observatory , Dexter Southfield, 20 Newton Street, Brookline, MA 02445, USA
- Jacqueline Antwi-Danso
- ORCiD
- George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 78743, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , 4242 TAMU, College Station, TX 78743, USA; Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H4, Canada
- Maruša Bradač
- ORCiD
- Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana , Jadranska ulica 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Davis , 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Larry D. Bradley
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Tom Broadhurst
- ORCiD
- Department of Theoretical Physics, University of the Basque Country , UPV-EHU, E-48040 Bilbao, Spain; Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) , 20018 Donostia, The Basque Country, Spain; IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science , Alameda Urquijo 36-5, E-48008 Bilbao, Spain
- Adam C. Carnall
- ORCiD
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Royal Observatory, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
- Christopher J. Conselice
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Jose M. Diego
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-UC) , Avda. Los Castros s/n. 39005 Santander, Spain
- Megan Donahue
- ORCiD
- Michigan State University , Physics & Astronomy Department, East Lansing, MI, USA
- Jan J. Eldridge
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Auckland , Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , Department of Astronomy, Austin, TX, USA
- Alaina Henry
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected], [email protected]; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Svea Hernandez
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. for the European Space Agency (ESA) , USA
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Observational Cosmology Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Bethan L. James
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. for the European Space Agency (ESA) , USA
- Colin Norman
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218, USA ; [email protected], [email protected]; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Hyunbae Park
- ORCiD
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , CA 94720, USA
- Norbert Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Marc Postman
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Massimo Ricotti
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, 20742, USA
- Jane R. Rigby
- ORCiD
- Observational Cosmology Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Eros Vanzella
- ORCiD
- INAF—OAS, Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna , via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
- Brian Welch
- ORCiD
- Observational Cosmology Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, 20742, 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
- Rogier A. Windhorst
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-6004, USA
- Xinfeng Xu
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA; Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60201, USA
- Erik Zackrisson
- ORCiD
- Observational Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University , Box 516, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
- Adi Zitrin
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva 84105, Israel
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad5da8
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 973,
no. 1
p. 8
Abstract
We present JWST/NIRSpec prism spectroscopy of MACS0647−JD, a triply lensed z ∼ 11 candidate discovered in Hubble Space Telescope imaging and spatially resolved by JWST imaging into two components, A and B. Spectroscopy of component A yields a spectroscopic redshift z = 10.17 based on seven detected emission lines: C iii ] λ λ 1907, 1909, [O ii ] λ 3727, [Ne iii ] λ 3869, [Ne iii ] λ 3968, H δ λ 4101, H γ λ 4340, and [O iii ] λ 4363. These are the second-most distant detections of these emission lines to date, in a galaxy observed just 460 million years after the Big Bang. Based on observed and extrapolated line flux ratios we derive a gas-phase metallicity 12 + log(O/H) ∼ 7.5–8.0, or Z ∼ (0.06–0.2) Z _⊙ , ionization parameter $\mathrm{log}(U)$ = −1.9 ± 0.2, and an ionizing photon production efficiency $\mathrm{log}({\xi }_{\mathrm{ion}})=25.2\pm 0.2\,$ erg ^−1 Hz. The spectrum has a softened Ly α break, evidence for a strong Ly α damping wing. The Ly α damping wing also suppresses the F150W photometry, explaining the slightly overestimated photometric redshift z = 10.6 ± 0.3. MACS0647−JD has a stellar mass log( M / M _⊙ ) = 8.1 ± 0.3, including ∼6 × 10 ^7 M _⊙ in component A, most of which formed recently (within ∼20 Myr) with a star formation rate ∼ 2 ± 1 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , all within an effective radius 70 ± 24 pc. Spectroscopy of a fainter companion galaxy C separated by a distance of ∼ 3 kpc reveals a Lyman break consistent with z ∼ 10.17. MACS0647−JD is likely the most distant galaxy merger known.
Keywords
- Galaxies
- High-redshift galaxies
- Early universe
- Strong gravitational lensing
- Galaxy spectroscopy
- Reionization
