A hidden active galactic nucleus powering bright [O III] nebulae in a protocluster at $z=4.5$ revealed by JWST

Abstract

Galaxy protoclusters are sites of rapid growth, with a high density of massive galaxies driving elevated rates of star formation and accretion onto supermassive black holes. Here, we present new JWST/NIRSpec IFU observations of the J1000+0234 group at $z=4.54$, a dense region of a protocluster hosting a massive, dusty star forming galaxy (DSFG). The new data reveal two extended, high-equivalent-width (EW${}_0>1000\mathring{A}$) [O III] nebulae that appear at both sides of the DSFG along its minor axis (namely O3-N and O3-S). On one hand, the spectrum of O3-N shows a broad and blueshifted component with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 1300 km/s, suggesting an outflow origin. On the other hand, O3-S stretches over 8.6 kpc, and has a velocity gradient that spans 800 km/s, but shows no evidence of a broad component. However, both sources seem to be powered by an active galactic nucleus (AGN), so we classified them as extended emission-line regions (EELRs). The strongest evidence comes from the detection of the high-ionization [Ne V] $\lambda 3427$ line toward O3-N, which paired with the lack of hard X-rays implies an obscuring column density above the Compton-thick regime. The [Ne V] line is not detected in O3-S, but we measure a He II $\lambda 4687$/H$\beta$=0.25, which is well above the expectation for star formation. Despite the remarkable alignment of O3-N and O3-S with two radio sources, we do not find evidence of shocks from a radio jet that could be powering the EELRs. We interpret this as O3-S being externally irradiated by the AGN, akin to the famous Hanny's Voorwerp object in the local Universe. In addition, classical line ratio diagnostics (e.g., [O III]/H$\beta$ vs [N II]/H$\alpha$) put the DSFG itself in the AGN region of the diagrams, and therefore suggest it to be the most probable AGN host. These results showcase the ability of JWST to unveil obscured AGN at high redshifts.

13 pages, 10 figures, and one table. Accepted for publication in A&A on November 12th 2024

References in corpus (81)

• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• Theoretical Modeling of Starburst Galaxies
• dynesty: A Dynamic Nested Sampling Package for Estimating Bayesian Posteriors and Evidences
• The Host Galaxies and Classification of Active Galactic Nuclei
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling I: The relevance of uncertain aspects of stellar evolution and the IMF to the derived physical properties of galaxies
• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies: I. Galaxy Mergers & Quasar Activity
• Improving the full spectrum fitting method: accurate convolution with Gauss-Hermite functions
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling III: model calibration, comparison, and evaluation
• The MAPPINGS III Library of Fast Radiative Shock Models
• Relations Between Central Black Hole Mass and Total Galaxy Stellar Mass in the Local Universe
• Observational evidence for AGN feedback in early-type galaxies
• Understanding Galaxy Evolution through Emission Lines
• COSMOS2020: A panchromatic view of the Universe to $z\sim 10$ from two complementary catalogs
• The Chandra COSMOS Survey, I: Overview and Point Source Catalog
• Distant Radio Galaxies and their Environments
• The Epoch of Galaxy Formation
• Clustering of High Redshift ($z\ge 2.9$) Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• JADES. The diverse population of infant Black Holes at 4<z<11: merging, tiny, poor, but mighty
• The realm of the galaxy protoclusters
• Ubiquitous giant Ly $\alpha$ nebulae around the brightest quasars at $z\sim 3.5$ revealed with MUSE
• Galaxy Zoo : 'Hanny's Voorwerp', a quasar light echo?
• Chemical abundances in high-redshift galaxies: A powerful new emission line diagnostic
• Full spectrum fitting with photometry in pPXF: stellar population versus dynamical masses, non-parametric star formation history and metallicity for 3200 LEGA-C galaxies at redshift z~0.8
• Galaxy-Wide Shocks in Late-Merger Stage Luminous Infrared Galaxies
• CEERS Epoch 1 NIRCam Imaging: Reduction Methods and Simulations Enabling Early JWST Science Results
• Quasar Quartet Embedded in Giant Nebula Reveals Rare Massive Structure in Distant Universe
• Strongly star forming galaxies in the local Universe with nebular He II 4686 emission
• Understanding Dual AGN Activation in the Nearby Universe
• Galaxy Clusters around radio-loud AGN at 1.3 < z < 3.2 as seen by Spitzer
• A massive core for a cluster of galaxies at a redshift of 4.3
• JWST CEERS & JADES Active Galaxies at z = 4-7 Violate the Local $M_{\bullet }-M_{\star }$ Relation at $>3\sigma$: Implications for Low-Mass Black Holes and Seeding Models
• ALMA Imaging of Gas and Dust in a Galaxy Protocluster at Redshift 5.3: [CII] Emission in "Typical" Galaxies and Dusty Starbursts ~1 Billion Years after the Big Bang
• An extreme proto-cluster of luminous dusty starbursts in the early Universe
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Shocks and Outflows in a normal star-forming galaxy
• Discovery of an Enormous Ly$\alpha$ nebula in a massive galaxy overdensity at $z=2.3$
• The VLA-COSMOS 3~GHz Large Project: Cosmic evolution of radio AGN and implications for radio-mode feedback since z~5
• The Ubiquity of Coeval Starbursts in Massive Galaxy Cluster Progenitors
• Giant Lya nebulae associated with high redshift radio galaxies
• Spectroscopic Confirmation Of An Extreme Starburst At Redshift 4.547
• Galaxy Mergers Drive Shocks: an Integral Field Study of GOALS galaxies
• X-ray binaries as the origin of nebular HeII emission in low-metallicity star-forming galaxies
• The ultra-dense, interacting environment of a dual AGN at z $\sim$ 3.3 revealed by JWST/NIRSpec IFS
• The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey: Emerging from the Dark, a Massive Proto-Cluster at z~4.57
• The X-ray to [Ne V]3426 flux ratio: discovering heavily obscured AGN in the distant Universe
• The detection of [Ne v] emission in five blue compact dwarf galaxies
• Fast rotating and low-turbulence discs at $z\simeq 4.5$: Dynamical evidence of their evolution into local early-type galaxies
• The SINFONI survey of powerful radio galaxies at z~2: Jet-driven AGN feedback during the Quasar Era
• The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: AEGIS Observations of a Dual AGN at z=0.7
• Starburst to quiescent from HST/ALMA: Stars and dust unveil minor mergers in submillimeter galaxies at $z\sim 4.5$
• BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey II: X-ray Emission and High Ionization Optical Emission Lines
• Giant galaxy growing from recycled gas: ALMA maps the circumgalactic molecular medium of the Spiderweb in [CI]
• Obscured AGN at z~1 from the zCOSMOS-Bright Survey I. Selection and Optical Properties of a [Ne v]-selected sample
• Investigation of Dual Active Nuclei, Outflows, Shock-Heated Gas, and Young Star Clusters in Markarian 266
• Star formation rates in Lyman break galaxies: radio stacking of LBGs in the COSMOS field and the sub-$\mu$Jy radio source population
• $HST$ Grism Confirmation of $16$ Structures at $1.4<z<2.8$ from the Clusters Around Radio-Loud AGN (CARLA) Survey
• New AGN diagnostic diagrams based on the [OIII]$\lambda 4363$ auroral line
• Physical properties of z>4 submillimeter galaxies in the COSMOS field
• Mapping the Dynamics of a Giant Ly-alpha Halo at z=4.1 with MUSE: The Energetics of a Large Scale AGN-Driven Outflow around a Massive, High-Redshift Galaxy
• First results from the JWST Early Release Science Program Q3D: Turbulent times in the life of a $z\sim 3$ extremely red quasar revealed by NIRSpec IFU
• Revealing Hanny's Voorwerp: radio observations of IC 2497
• An Offset Seyfert 2 Nucleus in the Minor Merger System NGC 3341
• Resolving the optical emission lines of Lya blob 'B1' at z=2.38: another hidden quasar
• Using [Ne V]/[Ne III] to Understand the Nature of Extreme-Ionization Galaxies
• Ly$\alpha$ view around a z=2.84 hyperluminous QSO at a node of the cosmic web
• PyAutoFit: A Classy Probabilistic Programming Language for Model Composition and Fitting
• (Sub)millimetre interferometric imaging of a sample of COSMOS/AzTEC submillimetre galaxies III. Environments
• Overdensities of Submillimetre-Bright Sources around Candidate Protocluster Cores Selected from the South Pole Telescope Survey
• Was 49b: An Overmassive AGN in a Merging Dwarf Galaxy?
• A cosmic stream of atomic carbon gas connected to a massive radio galaxy at redshift 3.8
• Spatially Offset Active Galactic Nuclei. II: Triggering in Galaxy Mergers
• A quasar-galaxy merger at $z\sim 6.2$: rapid host growth via accretion of two massive satellite galaxies
• Chandra reveals a luminous Compton-thick QSO powering a $Ly\alpha$ blob in a $z=4$ starbursting protocluster
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey. Discovery of a 15 kpc-long gas plume in a $z=4.54$ Lyman-$\alpha$ blob
• Fast SMBH growth in the SPT2349--56 protocluster at $z=4.3$
• Revisiting the Properties of X-ray AGN in the SSA22 Protocluster: Normal SMBH and Host-Galaxy Growth for AGN in a $z=3.09$ Overdensity
• ALMA Observations of Lyman-alpha Blob 1: Multiple major-mergers and widely distributed interstellar media
• KCWI observations of the extended nebulae in Mrk 273
• Relic jet activity in "Hanny's Voorwerp" revealed by the LOFAR Two metre Sky Survey
• Testing the paradigm: First spectroscopic evidence of a quasar-galaxy Mpc-scale association at cosmic dawn
• Tomography of the environment of the COSMOS/AzTEC-3 submillimeter galaxy at z=5.3 revealed by Lyalpha and MUSE observations
• The Ly$\alpha$, CIV, and HeII nebulae around J1000+0234: a galaxy pair at the center of a galaxy overdensity at $z=4.5$

Cited by in corpus (14)

• GA-NIFS: Multi-phase analysis of a star-forming galaxy at $z\sim 5.5$
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Gas, dust, and stars in star-forming galaxies when the Universe was ~1 Gyr old I. Survey overview and case studies
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Resolved kinematic studies of main sequence star-forming galaxies at 4<z<6
• The ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST Survey: Revealing Less Massive Black Holes in High-Redshift Galaxies
• Direct high-resolution observation of feedback and chemical enrichment in the circumgalactic medium at redshift z ~ 2.8
• The ALMA-CRISTAL Survey: Complex kinematics of the galaxies at the end of the Reionization Era
• JWST's PEARLS: A z=6 quasar in a train-wreck galaxy merger system
• Extended Enriched Gas in a Multi-Galaxy Merger at Redshift 6.7
• Bright [CII]158$\mu$m Streamers as a Beacon for Giant Galaxy Formation in SPT2349$-$56 at $z=4.3$
• Through the fog: a complementary optical galaxy classification scheme for 'intermediate' redshifts
• The early Universe with JWST and ALMA
• The ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST Survey: Gas-phase abundance gradients of main sequence star-forming galaxies and their kinematics at $4<z<6$
• Oxyster: A Circumgalactic Low-ionization Oxygen Nebula next to a Starburst Galaxy at $z\sim 1$
• GA-NIFS: AGN activity in a Lyα emitter within a triple-AGN system anchored by a passive galaxy at z=3