A puzzling non-detection of [O III] and [C II] from a $z\approx 7.7$ galaxy observed with ALMA

Abstract

Characterizing the galaxy population in the early Universe holds the key to understanding the evolution of these objects and the role they played in cosmic reionization. However, the number of observations at the very highest redshifts are to date, few. In order to shed light on the properties of galaxies in the high-redshift Universe and their interstellar media, we observe the Lyman-$\alpha$ emitting galaxy z7\_GSD\_3811 at $z=7.664$ with band 6 and 8 at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We target the far-infrared [O III] 88 $\mu m$, [C II] 158 $\mu m$ emission lines and dust continuum in the star-forming galaxy z7\_GSD\_3811 with ALMA. We combine these measurements with earlier observations in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) in order to characterize the object, and compare results to those of earlier studies observing [O III] and [C II] emission in high-redshift galaxies. The [O III] 88 $\mu m$ and [C II] 158 $\mu m$ emission lines are undetected at the position of z7\_GSD\_3811, with $3\sigma$ upper limits of $1.6\times 10^8{L}_{\odot }$ and $4.0\times 10^7{L}_{\odot }$, respectively. We do not detect any dust continuum in band 6 nor band 8. The measured rms in the band 8 and band 6 continuum is 26 and 9.9 $\mu Jybea{m}^{-1}$, respectively. Similar to several other high-redshift galaxies, z7\_GSD\_3811 exhibits low [C II] emission for its star formation rate compared to local galaxies. Furthermore, our upper limit on the [O III] line luminosity is lower than all the previously observed [O III] lines in high-redshift galaxies with similar ultraviolet luminosities. Our ALMA band 6 and 8 dust continuum observations imply that z7\_GSD\_3811 likely has a low dust content, and our non-detections of the [O III] and [C II] lines could indicate that z7\_GSD\_3811 has a low metallicity ($Z\lesssim 0.1Z_{\odot }$).

13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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• An upper limit on [OIII] 88 $\mu$m and 1.2 mm continuum emission from a JWST $z\approx 12-13$ galaxy candidate with ALMA
• Bridging Optical and Far-Infrared Emission-Line Diagrams of Galaxies from Local to the Epoch of Reionization: Characteristic High [O III] 88 $\mu \mathrm{m}$/SFR at $z>6$
• Early galaxy evolution: The complex interstellar medium distribution of the z~7 galaxy A1689-zD1