Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We present the identification of 41 narrow-line active galactic nuclei (type-2 AGN) candidates in the two deepest observations of the JADES spectroscopic survey with JWST/NIRSpec. The spectral coverage and the depth of our observations allowed us to select narrow-line AGN based on both rest-frame optical and UV emission lines up to z = 10. Due to the metallicity decrease of galaxies, at z > 3, the standard optical diagnostic diagrams (N2-BPT or S2-VO87) become unable to distinguish many AGN from other sources of photoionisation. Therefore, we also used high ionisation lines, such as He II λ 4686, He II λ 1640, [Ne IV ] λ 2422, [Ne V ] λ 3420, and N V λ 1240, also in combination with other UV transitions, to trace the presence of AGN. Out of a parent sample of 209 galaxies, we identified 42 type-2 AGN (although ten of them are tentative), making the fraction of galaxies in JADES hosting type-2 AGN about 20 ± 5%, which does not evolve significantly in the redshift range between 2 and 10. The selected type-2 AGN have estimated bolometric luminosities of 10 41.3 − 44.9 erg s −1 and host-galaxy stellar masses of 10 7.2 − 9.3 M ⊙ . The star formation rates of the selected AGN host galaxies are consistent with those of the star-forming main sequence. The AGN host galaxies at z = 4 − 6 contribute ∼18–30% to the UV luminosity function across different UV luminosity bins, increasing slightly with UV luminosity.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Authors: Jan Scholtz, Roberto Maiolino, Francesco D’Eugenio, Emma Curtis-Lake, Stefano Carniani, Stephane Charlot, Mirko Curti, Maddie S. Silcock, Santiago Arribas, William Baker, Rachana Bhatawdekar, Kristan Boyett, Andrew J. Bunker, Jacopo Chevallard, Chiara Circosta, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Kevin Hainline, Ryan Hausen, Xihan Ji, Zhiyuan Ji, Benjamin D. Johnson, Nimisha Kumari, Tobias J. Looser, Jianwei Lyu, Michael V. Maseda, Eleonora Parlanti, Michele Perna, Marcia Rieke, Brant Robertson, Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino, Fengwu Sun, Sandro Tacchella, Hannah Übler, Giacomo Venturi, Christina C. Williams, Christopher N. A. Willmer, Chris Willott, Joris Witstok
Institutions: University of Cambridge, University of Hertfordshire, Scuola Normale Superiore, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Sorbonne Université, European Southern Observatory, Centro de Astrobiología, European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre, The University of Melbourne, ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Harvard University, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins University, Space Telescope Science Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of California, Santa Cruz, NSF NOIRLab, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,865
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, American Society for Radiation Oncology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Johns Hopkins University, Dell EMC, UK Research and Innovation, European Commission, Isaac Newton Trust, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Science and Technology Facilities Council, European Research Council, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Awards: G1166668239, G1175115578, G1272335041, G1577046871, G1592084823, G1855990336, G1907632405, G2005369488, G2021250021, G2144673021, G2262748287, G2309174360, Star formation in galaxies from the Epoch of Reionisation to the present day with JWST, G2601397997, G300979063, G3228396264, G3480869486, G3518538256, G361763971, G3660973570, G3681454997, STFC Hertfordshire 2020 DTP, G4042783231, G4161023950, G425668148, G430777504, G434337789, G4501905872, G4915654406, G5080475149, G5275711260, G531848386, G5368796297, G5421974903, G5480708011, G581313191, G6200043914, G6307073466, G6464745819, Cambridge Service for Data Driven Discovery (CSD3) - A National Data Intensive Science Cloud for Converged Simulation, AI & Analytics, G7028966183, G7113369193, G7434936867, G7915199406, G7935691682, G8223759072, MRI: Acquisition of a High Performance Computer for Computational Science at UC Santa Cruz, G8931419319, G99296377
OpenAlex ID: W4408881242