2026ApJ...999...95E -
Astrophys. J., 999, 95 (2026/March-1)
REBELS-MOSFIRE: Weak C III] Emission Is Typical among Extremely UV-bright, Massive Galaxies at z ∼ 7.
ENDSLEY R., SHAPLEY A.E., TOPPING M.W., STARK D.P., BOUWENS R.J., ROWLAND L.E., SOMMOVIGO L., ALGERA H.S.B., ARAVENA M., BOWLER R.A.A., DA CUNHA E., DE LOOZE I., FERRARA A., FISHER R., GONZALEZ V., INAMI H., NANAYAKKARA T., SCHOUWS S. and TANG M.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present Keck/MOSFIRE H-band spectroscopic measurements covering the [C III]λ1907, C III]λ1909 doublet for a sample of eight z ∼ 7 spectroscopically confirmed star-forming galaxies drawn from the Reionization Era Bright Emission Line Survey (REBELS). This REBELS-MOSFIRE sample is notable for its bright median UV luminosity (${M}_{{\rm{UV}}}^{}=$-22.5 AB) and large median stellar mass (${\mathrm{log}}\left({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot }\right)=9.2$). Although three sources show tentative evidence of a C III] detection, we obtain no confident detections for any of the eight REBELS-MOSFIRE sources. The median [C III]λ1907+C III]λ1909 3σ upper limit in equivalent width (EW) for the REBELS-MOSFIRE sample is 6.5 Å, and a stack of their H-band MOSFIRE spectra yields a nondetection with an associated 3σ upper limit of 2.6 Å. These upper limits fall significantly below the C III] EW measured in a composite spectrum of representative z ∼ 7 star-forming galaxies, as well as those measured for notable early star-forming galaxies such as GN-z11, GHZ2, GS-z12, and RXCJ2248-ID. The lack of strong C III] emission can be understood within the context of the stellar populations of the REBELS galaxies, as well as the ionization conditions and gas-phase metallicity implied by rest-frame optical spectroscopic properties ([O III]+Hβ EWs, and [O III]λ5007/[O II]λ3727 and [Ne III]λ3869/[O II]λ3727 line ratios). The REBELS-MOSFIRE sample represents the higher-mass, higher-metallicity, lower-excitation tail of the z ∼ 7 galaxy population, whose ionizing properties must be fully characterized to constrain the role of star-forming galaxies during cosmic reionization.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2026. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Journal keyword(s):
High-redshift galaxies - Interstellar medium - Emission line galaxies - Galaxy formation
Simbad objects:
14
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