A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy
Abstract Here we present a sample of 12 massive quiescent galaxy candidates at $$z\sim 3-4$$ z ∼ 3 - 4 observed with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). These galaxies were pre-selected from the Hubble Space Telescope imaging and 10 of our sources were unable...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52585-4 |
| _version_ | 1797274934332882944 |
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| author | Themiya Nanayakkara Karl Glazebrook Colin Jacobs Lalitwadee Kawinwanichakij Corentin Schreiber Gabriel Brammer James Esdaile Glenn G. Kacprzak Ivo Labbe Claudia Lagos Danilo Marchesini Z. Cemile Marsan Pascal A. Oesch Casey Papovich Rhea-Silvia Remus Kim-Vy H. Tran |
| author_facet | Themiya Nanayakkara Karl Glazebrook Colin Jacobs Lalitwadee Kawinwanichakij Corentin Schreiber Gabriel Brammer James Esdaile Glenn G. Kacprzak Ivo Labbe Claudia Lagos Danilo Marchesini Z. Cemile Marsan Pascal A. Oesch Casey Papovich Rhea-Silvia Remus Kim-Vy H. Tran |
| author_sort | Themiya Nanayakkara |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Here we present a sample of 12 massive quiescent galaxy candidates at $$z\sim 3-4$$ z ∼ 3 - 4 observed with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). These galaxies were pre-selected from the Hubble Space Telescope imaging and 10 of our sources were unable to be spectroscopically confirmed by ground based spectroscopy. By combining spectroscopic data from NIRSpec with multi-wavelength imaging data from the JWST Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), we analyse their stellar populations and their formation histories. We find that all of our galaxies classify as quiescent based on the reconstruction of their star formation histories but show a variety of quenching timescales and ages. All our galaxies are massive ( $$\sim 0.1-1.2\times 10^{11}$$ ∼ 0.1 - 1.2 × 10 11 M $$_\odot$$ ⊙ ), with masses comparable to massive galaxies in the local Universe. We find that the oldest galaxy in our sample formed $$\sim 1.0\times 10^{11}$$ ∼ 1.0 × 10 11 M $$_\odot$$ ⊙ of mass within the first few hundred million years of the Universe and has been quenched for more than a billion years by the time of observation at $$z\sim 3.2$$ z ∼ 3.2 ( $$\sim 2$$ ∼ 2 billion years after the Big Bang). Our results point to very early formation of massive galaxies requiring a high conversion rate of baryons to stars in the early Universe. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:06:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7369f880d05f43879fd469e55ccc964d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:06:13Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-7369f880d05f43879fd469e55ccc964d2024-03-05T18:54:06ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-02-0114111410.1038/s41598-024-52585-4A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec SpectroscopyThemiya Nanayakkara0Karl Glazebrook1Colin Jacobs2Lalitwadee Kawinwanichakij3Corentin Schreiber4Gabriel Brammer5James Esdaile6Glenn G. Kacprzak7Ivo Labbe8Claudia Lagos9Danilo Marchesini10Z. Cemile Marsan11Pascal A. Oesch12Casey Papovich13Rhea-Silvia Remus14Kim-Vy H. Tran15Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of TechnologyCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of TechnologyCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of TechnologyCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of TechnologyIBEX InnovationsCosmic DAWN Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of CopenhagenCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of TechnologyCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of TechnologyCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of TechnologyCosmic DAWN Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of CopenhagenPhysics and Astronomy Department, Tufts UniversityDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, York UniversityCosmic DAWN Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, and George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A &M UniversityUniversity Observatory Munich, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitySchool of Physics, University of New South WalesAbstract Here we present a sample of 12 massive quiescent galaxy candidates at $$z\sim 3-4$$ z ∼ 3 - 4 observed with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). These galaxies were pre-selected from the Hubble Space Telescope imaging and 10 of our sources were unable to be spectroscopically confirmed by ground based spectroscopy. By combining spectroscopic data from NIRSpec with multi-wavelength imaging data from the JWST Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), we analyse their stellar populations and their formation histories. We find that all of our galaxies classify as quiescent based on the reconstruction of their star formation histories but show a variety of quenching timescales and ages. All our galaxies are massive ( $$\sim 0.1-1.2\times 10^{11}$$ ∼ 0.1 - 1.2 × 10 11 M $$_\odot$$ ⊙ ), with masses comparable to massive galaxies in the local Universe. We find that the oldest galaxy in our sample formed $$\sim 1.0\times 10^{11}$$ ∼ 1.0 × 10 11 M $$_\odot$$ ⊙ of mass within the first few hundred million years of the Universe and has been quenched for more than a billion years by the time of observation at $$z\sim 3.2$$ z ∼ 3.2 ( $$\sim 2$$ ∼ 2 billion years after the Big Bang). Our results point to very early formation of massive galaxies requiring a high conversion rate of baryons to stars in the early Universe.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52585-4 |
| spellingShingle | Themiya Nanayakkara Karl Glazebrook Colin Jacobs Lalitwadee Kawinwanichakij Corentin Schreiber Gabriel Brammer James Esdaile Glenn G. Kacprzak Ivo Labbe Claudia Lagos Danilo Marchesini Z. Cemile Marsan Pascal A. Oesch Casey Papovich Rhea-Silvia Remus Kim-Vy H. Tran A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy Scientific Reports |
| title | A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy |
| title_full | A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy |
| title_fullStr | A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy |
| title_full_unstemmed | A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy |
| title_short | A population of faint, old, and massive quiescent galaxies at $$3<z<4$$ 3 < z < 4 revealed by JWST NIRSpec Spectroscopy |
| title_sort | population of faint old and massive quiescent galaxies at 3 z 4 3 z 4 revealed by jwst nirspec spectroscopy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52585-4 |
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