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Extreme emission line galaxies detected in JADES JWST/NIRSpec – I. Inferred galaxy properties

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Extreme emission line galaxies (EELGs) exhibit large equivalent widths (EW) in their rest-optical emission lines ([O iii]$\lambda 5007$ or H $\alpha$ rest-frame EW$\gt 750$ Å) which can be tied to a recent upturn in star formation rate (SFR), due to the sensitivity of the nebular line emission and the rest-optical continuum to young ($\lt 10$ Myr) and evolved stellar populations, respectively. By studying a sample of 85 star-forming galaxies (SFGs), spanning the redshift and magnitude interval $3 \lt z\lt 9.5$ and $-16\gt $M$\rm _{UV}\gt -21$, in the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) with NIRSpec/prism spectroscopy, we determine that SFGs initiate an EELG phase when entering a significant burst of star formation, with the highest EWs observed in EELGs with the youngest luminosity-weighted ages ($\lt 5$ Myr) and the highest burst intensity (those with the greatest excess between their current and long-term average SFR). We spectroscopically confirm that a greater proportion of SFGs are in an EELG phase at high redshift in our UV-selected sample ($61\pm 4~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ in our $z\gt 5.7$ high-redshift bin, compared to $23^{+4}_{-1}\%$ in our lowest redshift bin $3\lt z\lt 4.1$) due to the combined evolution of metallicity, ionization parameter, and star formation histories with redshift. We report that the EELGs within our sample exhibit a higher average ionization efficiency ($\log _{10}(\xi _\mathrm{ion}^\mathrm{HII}/{\rm erg^{-1}Hz}) =25.5\pm 0.2$) than the non-EELGs. High-redshift EELGs therefore comprise a population of efficient ionizing photon producers. Additionally, we report that 53 per cent (9/17) of EELGs at $z\gt 5.7$ have observed Ly $\alpha$ emission, potentially lying within large ionized regions. The high detection rate of Ly $\alpha$ emitters in our EELG selection suggests that the physical conditions associated with entering an EELG phase also promote the escape of Ly $\alpha$ photons.
Authors: Boyett, Kit, Bunker, Andrew J, Curtis-Lake, Emma, Chevallard, Jacopo, Cameron, Alex J, Jones, Gareth C, Saxena, Aayush, Charlot, Stéphane, Curti, Mirko, Wallace, Imaan EB, Arribas, Santiago, Carniani, Stefano, Willott, Chris, Alberts, Stacey, Eisenstein, Daniel J, Hainline, Kevin, Hausen, Ryan, Johnson, Benjamin D, Rieke, Marcia, Robertson, Brant, Stark, Daniel P, Tacchella, Sandro, Williams, Christina C, Chen, Zuyi, Egami, Eiichi, Endsley, Ryan, Kumari, Nimisha, Laseter, Isaac, Looser, Tobias J, Maseda, Michael V, Scholtz, Jan, Shivaei, Irene, Simmonds, Charlotte, Smit, Renske, Übler, Hannah, Witstok, Joris
Institutions: University of Oxford, ASTRO-3D, University of Hertfordshire, European Southern Observatory, Centro de Astrobiología, Scuola Normale Superiore, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, University of Arizona, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Cambridge, NSF NOIRLab, The University of Texas at Austin, Space Telescope Science Institute, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Liverpool John Moores University, University of Copenhagen
Language: English
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johns Hopkins University, Space Telescope Science Institute, UK Research and Innovation, European Commission, National Research Foundation, Danmarks Grundforskningsfond, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Isaac Newton Trust, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Goddard Space Flight Center, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Awards: G103270039, G1103442965, G1166668239, G1175115578, G1338664626, G1577046871, G1632446036, G1855990336, G2021250021, G2144673021, G2262748287, G2309174360, Star formation in galaxies from the Epoch of Reionisation to the present day with JWST, G256731684, G2601397997, Characterizing Low-Mass Galaxies with Spectroscopy Through Cosmic Time, G300979063, G3228396264, G3340416472, G3480869486, G3660973570, G3681454997, G4042783231, G425668148, G430777504, G434337789, G4501905872, G4915654406, G5080475149, G531848386, G5368796297, G5421974903, G5568641063, G6307073466, 1. SCIENCE INVESTIGATION: SUMMARY IN MY ORIGINAL PROPOSAL WRITTEN PRIOR TO THE LAUNCH OF SPITZER I PLANNED A JWST PROGRAM ON ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI (AGN) AND THEIR HOST GALAXIES BUILDING ON THEN-FUTURE SPITZER OBSERVATIONS. TOWARD THE END OF THE SPITZER COLD MISSION AS THE PI FOR THE MIPS INSTRUMENT I HAD LED SUBSTANTIAL PROGRAMS ON BOTH EXTRAGALACTIC OBSERVATIONS AND DEBRIS DISKS SO I PROPOSED TO EXPAND MY JWST EFFORT TO INCLUDE BOTH AN EXPANSION THAT WAS APPROVED BY ED WEILER ON OCTOBER 16 2009. THE FOLLOWING PROGRAM THEREFORE INCLUDES BOTH OF THESE THEMES. SINCE BOTH PROPOSALS WERE WRITTEN MAJOR NEW CAPABILITIES HAVE ANSWERED SOME OF THE PREVIOUS SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS AND POSED NEW ONES. IN THE EXTRAGALACTIC ARENA THESE INCLUDE SPITZER ITSELF HERSCHEL THE EXPANDED CAPABILITIES OF THE JVLA AND ALMA. FOR DEBRIS DISKS THE MOST IMPORTANT ARE HERSCHEL ALMA AND HIGH PERFORMANCE ADAPTIVE OPTICS. THEREFORE THE MATERIAL IN THIS PROPOSAL IS RE-THOUGHT TO PROVIDE A PROGRAM AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE CURRENT PROBLEMS IN THESE AREAS. EACH OF THE INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATIONS DESCRIBED BELOW IS DESCRIBED IN A DETAILED INTERNAL REPORT AND IS READY FOR DETAILED OBSERVATION PLANNING. THIS PROPOSAL GIVES A SUMMARY OF THE HIGH LEVEL GOALS AND REQUIRED OBSERVATIONS ONLY. IT INTENTIONALLY SOMEWHAT OVERSUBSCRIBES MY TIME ALLOTMENT TO ALLOW FOR COLLABORATIONS AND SHARED TIME AS WELL AS FURTHER OPTIMIZATION. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE A NUMBER OF INVESTIGATIONS MY RESEARCH GROUP HAS BEEN ACTIVE IN ALL OF THEM; I HAVE BOLD-FACED CITATIONS OF OUR RELEVANT WORK IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY (ATTACHED AS APPENDIX A). IN ADDITION I WAS ASSIGNED AN ADDITIONAL 60 HOURS OF GTO TIME TO BE DISTRIBUTED AMONG (MOSTLY) YOUNG SCIENTISTS IN THE UNITED STATES WHO HAD MADE MAJOR COMMITMENTS IN SUPPORT OF MIRI (ROUGHLY PARALLEL TO THE GTO TIME FOR MIRI SUPPORT BY THE EUROPEAN CONSORTIUM (EC)). APPENDIX C INCLUDES SHORT STATUS REPORTS ON THEIR PLANS., G6687328476, G7691714859, NSF-BSF: Galaxies in the Reionization Era, G7915199406, Dissecting galaxies at the cosmic dawn, G8931419319, G99296377
OpenAlex ID: W7074549226
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