_version_ 1866909120652640256
author Looser, Tobias J.
D'Eugenio, Francesco
Maiolino, Roberto
Witstok, Joris
Sandles, Lester
Curtis-Lake, Emma
Chevallard, Jacopo
Tacchella, Sandro
Johnson, Benjamin D.
Baker, William M.
Suess, Katherine A.
Carniani, Stefano
Ferruit, Pierre
Arribas, Santiago
Bonaventura, Nina
Bunker, Andrew J.
Cameron, Alex J.
Charlot, Stephane
Curti, Mirko
de Graaff, Anna
Maseda, Michael V.
Rawle, Tim
Rix, Hans-Walter
Del Pino, Bruno Rodriguez
Smit, Renske
Übler, Hannah
Willott, Chris
Alberts, Stacey
Egami, Eiichi
Eisenstein, Daniel J.
Endsley, Ryan
Hausen, Ryan
Rieke, Marcia
Robertson, Brant
Shivaei, Irene
Williams, Christina C.
Boyett, Kristan
Chen, Zuyi
Ji, Zhiyuan
Jones, Gareth C.
Kumari, Nimisha
Nelson, Erica
Perna, Michele
Saxena, Aayush
Scholtz, Jan
author_facet Looser, Tobias J.
D'Eugenio, Francesco
Maiolino, Roberto
Witstok, Joris
Sandles, Lester
Curtis-Lake, Emma
Chevallard, Jacopo
Tacchella, Sandro
Johnson, Benjamin D.
Baker, William M.
Suess, Katherine A.
Carniani, Stefano
Ferruit, Pierre
Arribas, Santiago
Bonaventura, Nina
Bunker, Andrew J.
Cameron, Alex J.
Charlot, Stephane
Curti, Mirko
de Graaff, Anna
Maseda, Michael V.
Rawle, Tim
Rix, Hans-Walter
Del Pino, Bruno Rodriguez
Smit, Renske
Übler, Hannah
Willott, Chris
Alberts, Stacey
Egami, Eiichi
Eisenstein, Daniel J.
Endsley, Ryan
Hausen, Ryan
Rieke, Marcia
Robertson, Brant
Shivaei, Irene
Williams, Christina C.
Boyett, Kristan
Chen, Zuyi
Ji, Zhiyuan
Jones, Gareth C.
Kumari, Nimisha
Nelson, Erica
Perna, Michele
Saxena, Aayush
Scholtz, Jan
contents Local and low-redshift ($z$<$3$) galaxies are known to broadly follow a bimodal distribution: actively star forming galaxies with relatively stable star-formation rates, and passive systems. These two populations are connected by galaxies in relatively slow transition. In contrast, theory predicts that star formation was stochastic at early cosmic times and in low-mass systems: these galaxies transitioned rapidly between starburst episodes and phases of suppressed star formation, potentially even causing temporary quiescence -- so-called mini-quenching events. However, the regime of star-formation burstiness is observationally highly unconstrained. Directly observing mini-quenched galaxies in the primordial Universe is therefore of utmost importance to constrain models of galaxy formation and transformation. Early quenched galaxies have been identified out to redshift $z<5$, and these are all found to be massive ($M_{*}>10^{10}~M_{\odot}$) and relatively old. Here we report a (mini-)quenched galaxy at z$=$7.3, when the Universe was only 700~Myr old. The JWST/NIRSpec spectrum is very blue ($U$-$V$$=$0.16$\pm0.03$~mag), but exhibits a Balmer break and no nebular emission lines. The galaxy experienced a short starburst followed by rapid quenching; its stellar mass (4-6$\times 10^8~M_\odot$) falls in a range that is sensitive to various feedback mechanisms, which can result in perhaps only temporary quenching.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2302_14155
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang
Looser, Tobias J.
D'Eugenio, Francesco
Maiolino, Roberto
Witstok, Joris
Sandles, Lester
Curtis-Lake, Emma
Chevallard, Jacopo
Tacchella, Sandro
Johnson, Benjamin D.
Baker, William M.
Suess, Katherine A.
Carniani, Stefano
Ferruit, Pierre
Arribas, Santiago
Bonaventura, Nina
Bunker, Andrew J.
Cameron, Alex J.
Charlot, Stephane
Curti, Mirko
de Graaff, Anna
Maseda, Michael V.
Rawle, Tim
Rix, Hans-Walter
Del Pino, Bruno Rodriguez
Smit, Renske
Übler, Hannah
Willott, Chris
Alberts, Stacey
Egami, Eiichi
Eisenstein, Daniel J.
Endsley, Ryan
Hausen, Ryan
Rieke, Marcia
Robertson, Brant
Shivaei, Irene
Williams, Christina C.
Boyett, Kristan
Chen, Zuyi
Ji, Zhiyuan
Jones, Gareth C.
Kumari, Nimisha
Nelson, Erica
Perna, Michele
Saxena, Aayush
Scholtz, Jan
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Local and low-redshift ($z$<$3$) galaxies are known to broadly follow a bimodal distribution: actively star forming galaxies with relatively stable star-formation rates, and passive systems. These two populations are connected by galaxies in relatively slow transition. In contrast, theory predicts that star formation was stochastic at early cosmic times and in low-mass systems: these galaxies transitioned rapidly between starburst episodes and phases of suppressed star formation, potentially even causing temporary quiescence -- so-called mini-quenching events. However, the regime of star-formation burstiness is observationally highly unconstrained. Directly observing mini-quenched galaxies in the primordial Universe is therefore of utmost importance to constrain models of galaxy formation and transformation. Early quenched galaxies have been identified out to redshift $z<5$, and these are all found to be massive ($M_{*}>10^{10}~M_{\odot}$) and relatively old. Here we report a (mini-)quenched galaxy at z$=$7.3, when the Universe was only 700~Myr old. The JWST/NIRSpec spectrum is very blue ($U$-$V$$=$0.16$\pm0.03$~mag), but exhibits a Balmer break and no nebular emission lines. The galaxy experienced a short starburst followed by rapid quenching; its stellar mass (4-6$\times 10^8~M_\odot$) falls in a range that is sensitive to various feedback mechanisms, which can result in perhaps only temporary quenching.
title A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.14155