Accelerated Emergence of Evolved Galaxies in Early Overdensities at $z\sim5.7$

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Morishita, Takahiro, Liu, Zhaoran, Stiavelli, Massimo, Treu, Tommaso, Trenti, Michele, Chartab, Nima, Roberts-Borsani, Guido, Vulcani, Benedetta, Bergamini, Pietro, Castellano, Marco, Grillo, Claudio
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Morishita, Takahiro
Liu, Zhaoran
Stiavelli, Massimo
Treu, Tommaso
Trenti, Michele
Chartab, Nima
Roberts-Borsani, Guido
Vulcani, Benedetta
Bergamini, Pietro
Castellano, Marco
Grillo, Claudio
author_facet Morishita, Takahiro
Liu, Zhaoran
Stiavelli, Massimo
Treu, Tommaso
Trenti, Michele
Chartab, Nima
Roberts-Borsani, Guido
Vulcani, Benedetta
Bergamini, Pietro
Castellano, Marco
Grillo, Claudio
contents We report the identification of two galaxy overdensities at $z\sim5.7$ in the sightline of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. These overdensities consist of 25 and 17 member galaxies, spectroscopically confirmed with JWST NIRSpec/MSA and NIRCam/WFSS. Each overdensity has a total stellar mass of $\sim2\times10^{10} M_\odot$ and a star formation rate of $\sim200 M_\odot$/yr within a central region of radius $R=2$ Mpc (physical). The sensitive PRISM spectra allow us to identify six galaxies that show weak Ha+[NII] emissions within the overdensities ($27\pm6\%$), whereas the fraction of such galaxies is found significantly lower ($6\pm2\%$) in field samples of the equivalent redshift range. These weak emission line galaxies, dubbed as wELGs, exhibit a strong continuum break at $4000$AA rest-frame, a characteristic feature of evolved stellar populations. The high observed fraction of wELGs in the two overdensities is consistent with the idea that high-density environments are an ideal site where galaxies can accelerate their evolutionary pace compared to field analogs. Our study pinpoints an early onset of environmental effects, already important within one billion years after the Big Bang, and provides a complementary perspective on the emergence of quenched, massive galaxies at lower redshifts. Potential contributions from black hole accretion feedback to the reduction of star formation activity are discussed, but the connection to the local environments remains unclear.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_10980
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Accelerated Emergence of Evolved Galaxies in Early Overdensities at $z\sim5.7$
Morishita, Takahiro
Liu, Zhaoran
Stiavelli, Massimo
Treu, Tommaso
Trenti, Michele
Chartab, Nima
Roberts-Borsani, Guido
Vulcani, Benedetta
Bergamini, Pietro
Castellano, Marco
Grillo, Claudio
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We report the identification of two galaxy overdensities at $z\sim5.7$ in the sightline of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. These overdensities consist of 25 and 17 member galaxies, spectroscopically confirmed with JWST NIRSpec/MSA and NIRCam/WFSS. Each overdensity has a total stellar mass of $\sim2\times10^{10} M_\odot$ and a star formation rate of $\sim200 M_\odot$/yr within a central region of radius $R=2$ Mpc (physical). The sensitive PRISM spectra allow us to identify six galaxies that show weak Ha+[NII] emissions within the overdensities ($27\pm6\%$), whereas the fraction of such galaxies is found significantly lower ($6\pm2\%$) in field samples of the equivalent redshift range. These weak emission line galaxies, dubbed as wELGs, exhibit a strong continuum break at $4000$AA rest-frame, a characteristic feature of evolved stellar populations. The high observed fraction of wELGs in the two overdensities is consistent with the idea that high-density environments are an ideal site where galaxies can accelerate their evolutionary pace compared to field analogs. Our study pinpoints an early onset of environmental effects, already important within one billion years after the Big Bang, and provides a complementary perspective on the emergence of quenched, massive galaxies at lower redshifts. Potential contributions from black hole accretion feedback to the reduction of star formation activity are discussed, but the connection to the local environments remains unclear.
title Accelerated Emergence of Evolved Galaxies in Early Overdensities at $z\sim5.7$
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10980