JWST NIRCam + NIRSpec: Interstellar medium and stellar populations of young galaxies with rising star formation and evolving gas reservoirs

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

Dokumenter

  • Fulltext

    Forlagets udgivne version, 4,95 MB, PDF-dokument

  • Sandro Tacchella
  • Benjamin D. Johnson
  • Brant E. Robertson
  • Stefano Carniani
  • Francesco D'Eugenio
  • Nimisha Kumari
  • Roberto Maiolino
  • Erica J. Nelson
  • Katherine A. Suess
  • Hannah Übler
  • Christina C. Williams
  • Alabi Adebusola
  • Stacey Alberts
  • Santiago Arribas
  • Rachana Bhatawdekar
  • Nina Bonaventura
  • Rebecca A.A. Bowler
  • Andrew J. Bunker
  • Alex J. Cameron
  • Mirko Curti
  • Og 20 flere
  • Eiichi Egami
  • Daniel J. Eisenstein
  • Brenda Frye
  • Kevin Hainline
  • Jakob M. Helton
  • Zhiyuan Ji
  • Tobias J. Looser
  • Jianwei Lyu
  • Michele Perna
  • Timothy Rawle
  • George Rieke
  • Marcia Rieke
  • Aayush Saxena
  • Lester Sandles
  • Irene Shivaei
  • Charlotte Simmonds
  • Fengwu Sun
  • Christopher N.A. Willmer
  • Chris J. Willott
  • Joris Witstok
We present an interstellar medium and stellar population analysis of three spectroscopically confirmed z > 7 galaxies in the Early Release Observations JWST/NIRCam and JWST/NIRSpec data of the SMACS J0723.3−7327 cluster. We use the Bayesian spectral energy distribution-fitting code PROSPECTOR with a flexible star formation history (SFH), a variable dust attenuation law, and a self-consistent model of nebular emission (continuum and emission lines). Importantly, we self-consistently fit both the emission line fluxes from JWST/NIRSpec and the broad-band photometry from JWST/NIRCam, taking into account slit-loss effects. We find that these three z=7.6–8.5 galaxies (M⋆ ≈ 108 M⊙) are young with rising SFHs and mass-weighted ages of 3–4 Myr, though we find indications for underlying older stellar populations. The inferred gas-phase metallicities broadly agree with the direct metallicity estimates from the auroral lines. The galaxy with the lowest gas-phase metallicity (Zgas= 0.06 Z⊙) has a steeply rising SFH, is very compact (<0.2 kpc), and has a high star formation rate surface density (ΣSFR ≈ 22 M⊙ yr−1 kpc−2), consistent with rapid gas accretion. The two other objects with higher gas-phase metallicities show more complex multicomponent morphologies on kpc scales, indicating that their recent increase in star formation rate is driven by mergers or internal, gravitational instabilities. We discuss effects of assuming different SFH priors or only fitting the photometric data. Our analysis highlights the strength and importance of combining JWST imaging and spectroscopy for fully assessing the nature of galaxies at the earliest epochs.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Vol/bind522
Udgave nummer4
Sider (fra-til)6236-6249
Antal sider14
ISSN0035-8711
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by JWST/NIRCam contract to the University of Arizona, NAS5-02015, by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), by the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant 695671 ‘QUENCH’, by the ERC Advanced Grant INTERSTELLAR H2020/740120, and by the ERC Advanced Grant 789056 ‘FirstGalaxies’.

Funding Information:
This work is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA JWST. The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-03127 for JWST. These observations are associated with programme #2736. The authors acknowledge the SMACS ERO team led by Klaus Pontoppidan for developing their observing program with a zeroexclusive-access period. This work was supported by JWST/NIRCam contract to the University of Arizona, NAS5-02015, by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), by the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant 695671 'QUENCH', by the ERC Advanced Grant INTERSTELLAR H2020/740120, and by the ERC Advanced Grant 789056 'FirstGalaxies'.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

ID: 370698870