2025ApJ...981..167S -
Astrophys. J., 981, 167 (2025/March-2)
The AURORA Survey: An Extraordinarily Mature, Star-forming Galaxy at z ∼ 7.
SHAPLEY A.E., SANDERS R.L., TOPPING M.W., REDDY N.A., PAHL A.J., OESCH P.A., BERG D.A., BOUWENS R.J., BRAMMER G., CARNALL A.C., CULLEN F., DAVE R., DUNLOP J.S., ELLIS R.S., FORSTER SCHREIBER N.M., FURLANETTO S.R., GLAZEBROOK K., ILLINGWORTH G.D., JONES T., KRIEK M., McLEOD D.J., McLURE R.J., NARAYANAN D., PETTINI M., SCHAERER D., STARK D.P., STEIDEL C.C., TANG M., CLARKE L., DONNAN C.T. and KEHOE E.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present the properties of a massive, large, dusty, metal-rich, star-forming galaxy at zspec = 6.73. GOODSN-100182 was observed with JWST/NIRSpec as part of the Assembly of Ultradeep Rest-optical Observations Revealing Astrophysics (AURORA) survey, and is also covered by public multiwavelength Hubble Space Telescope and JWST imaging. While the large stellar mass of GOODSN-100182 (∼1010M⊙) was indicated prior to JWST, NIRCam rest-frame optical imaging now reveals the presence of an extended disk (reff ∼ 1.5 kpc). In addition, the NIRSpec R ∼ 1000 spectrum of GOODSN-100182 includes the detection of a large suite of rest-frame optical nebular emission lines ranging in wavelength from [O II]λ3727 up to [N II] λ6583. The ratios of Balmer lines suggest significant dust attenuation ($E{(B-V)}_{{\rm{gas}}}=0.4{0}_{-0.09}^{+0.10}$), consistent with the red rest-frame UV slope inferred for GOODSN-100182 (β = -0.50 ± 0.09). The star formation rate based on dust-corrected Hα emission is $\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{SFR(H}\alpha )/{M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1})=2.0{2}_{-0.14}^{+0.13}$, well above the z ∼ 7 star-forming main sequence in terms of specific star formation rate. Strikingly, the ratio of [N II]λ6583/Hα emission suggests almost solar metallicity, as does the ratio ([O III]λ5007/Hβ)/([N II]λ6583/Hα) and the detection of the faint [Fe II]λ4360 emission feature. Overall, the excitation and ionization properties of GOODSN-100182 more closely resemble those of typical star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2-3 rather than z ∼ 7. Based on public spectroscopy of the GOODS-N field, we find that GOODSN-100182 resides within a significant galaxy overdensity, and is accompanied by a spectroscopically confirmed neighbor galaxy. GOODSN-100182 demonstrates the existence of mature, chemically enriched galaxies within the first billion years of cosmic time, whose properties must be explained by galaxy formation models.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Journal keyword(s):
Galaxy formation - Galaxy evolution - High-redshift galaxies - Emission line galaxies
Simbad objects:
6
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