Extreme N-emitters at high-redshift: signatures of supermassive stars and globular cluster or black hole formation in action?

Abstract

[Abridged] Using the JWST/NIRSpec observations from CEERS we found an extreme N-emitter, CEERS-1019 at z=8.6782 showing intense NIV and NIII emission. From the observed rest-UV and optical lines we conclude that it is compatible with photoionization from stars and we determine accurate abundances for C, N, O, and Ne, relative to H, finding a highly supersolar ratio log(N/O) = -0.18+/-0.11, and normal log(C/O) = -0.75+/-0.11 and log(Ne/O) = -0.63+/-0.07, for its low metallicity, 12+log(O/H)= 7.70+/-0.18. We also analyze other N-emitters from the literature. All show strongly enhanced N/O ratios and two of them normal C/O. Massive star ejecta from WR stars are needed to explain the galaxies with enhanced C/O (Lynx arc and Mrk 996). On the other hand, supermassive stars (>1000 Msun, SMS) in the ``conveyer-belt model'' put forward to explain globular clusters (GCs), predict a high N/O and small changes in C/O, compatible with CEERS-1019, the Sunburst cluster, SMACS2031, and GN-z11. Based on the chemical abundances, possible enrichment scenarios, compactness, and high ISM density, we suggest that CEERS-1019, SMACS2031, and the Sunburst cluster could contain proto-GCs. Finally, we propose that some N-emitters enriched by SMS could also have formed intermediate-mass black holes, and we suggest that this might be the case for GN-z11. Our observations and analysis reinforce the suggested link between some N-emitters and proto-GC formation, which is supported both by empirical evidence and quantitative models. Furthermore, the observations provide possible evidence for the presence of supermassive stars in the early Universe (z>8) and at z~2-3. Our analysis also suggests that the origin and nature of the N-emitters is diverse, including also objects like GN-z11 which possibly host an AGN.

Accepted for publication in A&A, 19 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables

References in corpus (54)

• The chemical make-up of the Sun: A 2020 vision
• CEERS Key Paper I: An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST
• The Hubble Space Telescope UV Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. IX. The Atlas of Multiple Stellar Populations
• JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Lyman-$\alpha$ emission and possible enhanced nitrogen abundance in a $z=10.60$ luminous galaxy
• A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z > 6 Quasars
• Modelling the nebular emission from primeval to present-day star-forming galaxies
• GA-NIFS: A massive black hole in a low-metallicity AGN at $z\sim 5.55$ revealed by JWST/NIRSpec IFS
• What is a globular cluster? An observational perspective
• Very low metallicity massive star models: Pre-SN evolution and primary nitrogen production
• On the self-enrichment scenario of galactic globular clusters: Constraints on the IMF
• CHIANTI - an atomic database for emission lines - Paper XV: Version 9, improvements for the X-ray satellite lines
• Origin of the abundance patterns in Galactic globular clusters: constraints on dynamical and chemical properties of globular clusters
• A strong case for fast stellar rotation at very low metallicities
• Keck HIRES Spectroscopy of Extragalactic HII Regions: C and O Abundances from Recombination Lines
• Paving the way for the JWST: witnessing globular cluster formation at z>3
• On the abundance discrepancy problem in HII regions
• First look with JWST spectroscopy: $z\sim 8$ galaxies resemble local analogues
• JADES Imaging of GN-z11: Revealing the Morphology and Environment of a Luminous Galaxy 430 Myr After the Big Bang
• JADES: Probing interstellar medium conditions at $z\sim 5.5-9.5$ with ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy
• The localized chemical pollution in NGC 5253 revisited: Results from deep echelle spectrophotometry
• Light nuclei in galactic globular clusters : constraints on the self-enrichment scenario from nucleosynthesis
• Nitrogen enhancements 440 Myr after the Big Bang: super-solar N/O, a tidal disruption event or a dense stellar cluster in GN-z11?
• The Chemical Evolution of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen in Metal-Poor Dwarf Galaxies
• Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies at 2<z<3.5: Direct Abundance Measurements of Lya Emitters
• Star formation at the smallest scales; A JWST study of the clump populations in SMACS0723
• Carbon and oxygen abundances from recombination lines in low-metallicity star-forming galaxies. Implications for chemical evolution
• The COS Legacy Archive Spectroscopy SurveY (CLASSY) Treasury Atlas
• New Insights into the Evolution of Massive Stars and Their Effects on Our Understanding of Early Galaxies
• N-enhancement in GN-z11: First evidence for supermassive stars nucleosynthesis in proto-globular clusters-like conditions at high redshift ?
• High star cluster formation efficiency in the strongly lensed Sunburst Lyman-continuum galaxy at z=2.37
• A homogeneous analysis of globular clusters from the APOGEE survey with the BACCHUS code. I. The Northern clusters
• Radii of Young Star Clusters in Nearby Galaxies
• CLASSY IV: Exploring UV diagnostics of the interstellar medium in local high-$z$ analogs at the dawn of the JWST era
• Helium and Multiple Populations in the Massive Globular Cluster NGC6266 (M62)
• Exploring the physical properties of lensed star-forming clumps at $2\lesssim z\lesssim 6$
• Nitrogen-enriched, highly-pressurized nebular clouds surrounding a super star cluster at cosmic noon
• Revisiting nucleosynthesis in globular clusters: the case of NGC 2808 and the role of He and K
• A Sample of Quasars with Strong Nitrogen Emission Lines from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Multiple channels for nitrogen pollution by metal enriched supermassive stars and implications for GN-z11
• The Prevalence of Galaxy Overdensities Around UV-Luminous Lyman $\alpha$ Emitters in the Epoch of Reionization
• Clues on the presence and segregation of very massive stars in the Sunburst Lyman-continuum cluster at z=2.37
• A synthetic population of Wolf-Rayet stars in the LMC based on detailed single and binary star evolution models
• On the AGN nature of two UV bright sources at z_spec~5.5 in the CANDELS fields: an update of the AGN space density at M1450~-22.5
• Maximally accreting supermassive stars: a fundamental limit imposed by hydrostatic equilibrium
• Empirical Constraints on the Nucleosynthesis of Nitrogen
• Abundances of CNO elements in z ~ 0.3-0.4 LyC leaking galaxies
• Multiply lensed star forming clumps in the A521-sys1 galaxy at redshift 1
• Spectral properties and detectability of supermassive stars in protoglobular clusters at high redshift
• General-relativistic instability in rapidly accreting supermassive stars: the impact of rotation
• Chemical enrichment and accretion of nitrogen-loud quasars
• Evidence for a low Lyman Continuum Escape fraction in three Massive, UV-bright galaxies at z > 7
• Evolution and explosions of metal enriched supermassive stars: proton rich general relativistic instability supernovae
• Evolution of rotating massive stars with new hydrodynamic wind models
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: double stellar population and AGN activity in a galaxy at $z\sim 5.5$

Cited by in corpus (27)

• JADES: The star-formation and chemical enrichment history of a luminous galaxy at z~9.43 probed by ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy
• The Sunburst Arc with JWST: I. Detection of Wolf-Rayet stars injecting nitrogen into a low-metallicity, $z=2.37$ proto-globular cluster leaking ionizing photons
• Insight into the Starburst Nature of Galaxy GN-z11 with JWST MIRI Spectroscopy
• Density modulated star formation efficiency: implications for the observed abundance of ultra-violet luminous galaxies at z>10
• Fast-rotating massive Population~III stars as possible sources of extreme N-enrichment in high-redshift galaxies
• The Dual Nature of GHZ9: Coexisting Active Galactic Nuclei and Star Formation Activity in a Remote X-ray Source at z = 10.145
• Star clusters forming in a low metallicity starburst -- rapid self-enrichment by (very) massive stars
• High N/O ratio at high redshift as a result of a strong burst of star formation and differential galactic winds
• Rapid formation of a very massive star >50000 $M_{\odot }$ and subsequently an IMBH from runaway collisions. Direct N-body and Monte Carlo simulations of dense star clusters
• UNCOVERing the High-redshift AGN Population among Extreme UV Line Emitters
• Witnessing an extreme, highly efficient galaxy formation mode with resolved Ly$\alpha$ and LyC emission
• New Ionization Models and the Shocking Nitrogen Excess at z > 5
• The earliest phases of CNO enrichment in galaxies
• Mergers all the way down: stellar collisions and kinematics of a dense hierarchically forming massive star cluster in a dwarf starburst
• Surface chemical composition of single WNh stars
• Rotating Supermassive Pop III Stars On The Main Sequence
• Very massive stars at low metallicity: evolution, synthetic spectroscopy, and impact on the integrated light of starbursts
• A weak Ly$\alpha$ halo for an extremely bright Little Red Dot: Indications of enshrouded SMBH growth
• Dating N loud AGNs at high redshift: GS3073 as a snapshot of wCen like evolution of a nuclear star cluster
• MARTA: Temperature-temperature relationships and strong-line metallicity calibrations from multiple auroral-line detections at cosmic noon
• Nitrogen enhancement of GN-z11 by metal pollution from supermassive stars
• The heart of NGC 5253 as seen with MUSE-NFM: nitrogen enrichment through stellar chemical feedback at parsec scales
• Tracing nitrogen enrichment across cosmic time with JWST
• Discovery of new N-emitters over a wide redshift range
• FROST-CLUSTERS -- III. Metallicity-dependent intermediate mass black hole formation by runaway collisions in dense star clusters
• First joint absorption and T${}_e$-based metallicity measured in a GRB host galaxy at $z=4.28$ using JWST/NIRSpec
• Direct N-body simulations of rotating and extremely massive Population III star clusters