JADES: Carbon enrichment 350 Myr after the Big Bang in a gas-rich galaxy

Abstract

Finding the emergence of the first generation of metals in the early Universe, and identifying their origin, are some of the most important goals of modern astrophysics. We present deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy of GS-z12, a galaxy at z=12.5, in which we report the detection of C III]$\lambda \lambda$1907,1909 nebular emission. This is the most distant detection of a metal transition and the most distant redshift determination via emission lines. In addition, we report tentative detections of [O II]$\lambda \lambda$3726,3729 and [Ne III]$\lambda$3869, and possibly O III]$\lambda \lambda$1661,1666. By using the accurate redshift from C III], we can model the Ly$\alpha$ drop to reliably measure an absorbing column density of hydrogen of $N_{HI}\approx 10^{22}$ cm${}^{-2}$ - too high for an IGM origin and implying abundant ISM in GS-z12 or CGM around it. We infer a lower limit for the neutral gas mass of about $10^7$ MSun which, compared with a stellar mass of $\approx 4\times 10^7$ MSun inferred from the continuum fitting, implies a gas fraction higher than about 0.1-0.5. We derive a solar or even super-solar carbon-to-oxygen ratio, tentatively [C/O]>0.15. This is higher than the C/O measured in galaxies discovered by JWST at z=6-9, and higher than the C/O arising from Type-II supernovae enrichment, while AGB stars cannot contribute to carbon enrichment at these early epochs and low metallicities. Such a high C/O in a galaxy observed 350 Myr after the Big Bang may be explained by the yields of extremely metal poor stars, and may even be the heritage of the first generation of supernovae from Population III progenitors.

13 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics

References in corpus (38)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope I. Overview of the instrument and its capabilities
• The Evolution of the Star-forming Interstellar Medium across Cosmic Time
• JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Lyman-$\alpha$ emission and possible enhanced nitrogen abundance in a $z=10.60$ luminous galaxy
• Modelling the nebular emission from primeval to present-day star-forming galaxies
• The chemical enrichment in the early Universe as probed by JWST via direct metallicity measurements at z~8
• Identification and properties of intense star-forming galaxies at redshifts z>10
• Galaxy Formation and Reionization: Key Unknowns and Expected Breakthroughs by the James Webb Space Telescope
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope II. Multi-object spectroscopy (MOS)
• Ultraviolet Emission Lines in Young Low Mass Galaxies at z~2: Physical Properties and Implications for Studies at z>7
• Spectroscopic Confirmation of CEERS NIRCam-selected Galaxies at $\mathbf{z}\simeq 8-10$
• Ultraviolet spectra of extreme nearby star-forming regions --- approaching a local reference sample for JWST
• First look with JWST spectroscopy: $z\sim 8$ galaxies resemble local analogues
• C, N, O Abundances in the Most Metal-Poor Damped Lyman alpha Systems
• 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
• 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
• Carbon and oxygen abundances in stellar populations
• Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies at 2<z<3.5: Direct Abundance Measurements of Lya Emitters
• A First Look at the Abundance Pattern -- O/H, C/O, and Ne/O -- in $z>7$ Galaxies with JWST/NIRSpec
• Diagnostics for PopIII galaxies and Direct Collapse Black Holes in the early universe
• The gas-to-extinction ratio and the gas distribution in the Galaxy
• N-enhancement in GN-z11: First evidence for supermassive stars nucleosynthesis in proto-globular clusters-like conditions at high redshift ?
• Carbonaceous dust grains seen in the first billion years of cosmic time
• UNCOVER: Illuminating the Early Universe -- JWST/NIRSpec Confirmation of $z>12$ Galaxies
• JADES: The incidence rate and properties of galactic outflows in low-mass galaxies across 3 < z < 9
• The X-SHOOTER Lyman-$\alpha$ survey at z=2 (XLS-z2) I: What makes a galaxy a Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter?
• A JWST/NIRSpec Exploration of the Connection between Ionization Parameter, Electron Density, and Star-Formation-Rate Surface Density in z=2.7-6.3 Galaxies
• Early Results from GLASS-JWST. XXI: Rapid assembly of a galaxy at z=6.23 revealed by its C/O abundance
• On the radial abundance gradients of nitrogen and oxygen in the inner Galactic disc
• Dust depletion of metals from local to distant galaxies I: Peculiar nucleosynthesis effects and grain growth in the ISM
• Detailed AGB evolutionary models and near infrared colours of intermediate-age stellar populations: Tests on star clusters
• Dust depletion of of metals from local to distant galaxies II: Cosmic dust-to-metal ratio and dust composition
• Evidence of First Stars-enriched Gas in High-redshift Absorbers
• Carbon Abundances in Starburst Galaxies of the Local Universe
• Scrutiny of a very young, metal-poor star-forming Lyα-emitter at z ~ 3.7
• Extremely strong CIV 1550 nebular emission in the extremely low-metallicity star-forming galaxy J2229+2725

Cited by in corpus (25)

• The JWST-PRIMAL Legacy Survey. A JWST/NIRSpec reference sample for the physical properties and Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption and emission of $\sim 500$ galaxies at $z=5.5-13.4$
• JWST-JADES. Possible Population III signatures at z=10.6 in the halo of GN-z11
• A luminous and young galaxy at z=12.33 revealed by a JWST/MIRI detection of Hα and [OIII]
• Witnessing the onset of reionisation via Lyman-$\alpha$ emission at redshift 13
• The eventful life of a luminous galaxy at z = 14: metal enrichment, feedback, and low gas fraction?
• Seven wonders of Cosmic Dawn: JWST confirms a high abundance of galaxies and AGNs at z $\simeq$ 9-11 in the GLASS field
• JADES: The star-formation and chemical enrichment history of a luminous galaxy at z~9.43 probed by ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy
• JADES: Primaeval Lyman-$\alpha$ emitting galaxies reveal early sites of reionisation out to redshift $z\sim 9$
• Constraints on the $z\sim 6-13$ intergalactic medium from JWST spectroscopy of Lyman-alpha damping wings in galaxies
• Predicting metallicities and carbon abundances from Gaia XP spectra for (carbon-enhanced) metal-poor stars
• Uncovering the physical origin of the prominent Lyman-$\alpha$ emission and absorption in GS9422 at $z=5.943$
• Signatures of Rapidly Rotating Stars with Chemically Homogeneous Evolution in the First Galaxies
• PRIMER & JADES reveal an abundance of massive quiescent galaxies at 2 < z < 5
• The earliest phases of CNO enrichment in galaxies
• Exploring Spatially-Resolved Metallicities, Dynamics and Outflows in Low-Mass Galaxies at $z\sim 7.6$
• Detection of the 2175Å UV Bump at z>7: Evidence for Rapid Dust Evolution in a Merging Reionisation-Era Galaxy
• JADES Data Release 4 Paper I: Sample Selection, Observing Strategy and Redshifts of the complete spectroscopic sample
• Investigating cosmic strings using large-volume hydrodynamical simulations in the context of JWST's massive UV-bright galaxies
• MARTA: Temperature-temperature relationships and strong-line metallicity calibrations from multiple auroral-line detections at cosmic noon
• Radiation-driven dusty outflows from early galaxies
• Carbon from massive binary-stripped stars over cosmic time: effect of metallicity
• Dark Secrets of Baryons: Illuminating Dark Matter-Baryon Interactions with JWST
• The early Universe with JWST and ALMA
• Out of oxygen: Extremely metal-poor galaxy candidates identified at $2.5<z<6.5$ with deep JADES medium-band imaging
• Galaxy Proximate Damped Lyman-Alpha Systems and HI Reionization Topology in TECHNICOLOR DAWN