Early massive galaxy formation in the core of a galaxy protocluster 650 million years after the Big Bang
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| author | Fudamoto, Yoshinobu Nakazato, Yurina Ceverino, Daniel Colina, Luis Hashimoto, Takuya Inoue, Akio K. Tamura, Yoichi Yoshida, Naoki Zhu, Yongda Sugahara, Yuma Arribas, Santiago 'Arvarez-M'arquez, Javier Bakx, Tom Prieto, Carmen Blanco Costantin, Luca G'omez, Alejandro Crespo Hagimoto, Masato Hashigaya, Takeshi Matsuo, Hiroshi Marques-Chaves, Rui Mawatari, Ken Mitsuhashi, Ikki Osone, Wataru Pereira-Santaella, Miguel Umehata, Hideki Witten, Callum Ren, Yi W. |
| author_facet | Fudamoto, Yoshinobu Nakazato, Yurina Ceverino, Daniel Colina, Luis Hashimoto, Takuya Inoue, Akio K. Tamura, Yoichi Yoshida, Naoki Zhu, Yongda Sugahara, Yuma Arribas, Santiago 'Arvarez-M'arquez, Javier Bakx, Tom Prieto, Carmen Blanco Costantin, Luca G'omez, Alejandro Crespo Hagimoto, Masato Hashigaya, Takeshi Matsuo, Hiroshi Marques-Chaves, Rui Mawatari, Ken Mitsuhashi, Ikki Osone, Wataru Pereira-Santaella, Miguel Umehata, Hideki Witten, Callum Ren, Yi W. |
| contents | Rest-frame optical observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered a population of massive galaxies, exceeding $10^{10}$ solar masses, present less than a billion years after the Big Bang. The large stellar masses of these galaxies require an efficient conversion of baryons into stars, which may exceed theoretical expectations. However, the formation process of massive galaxies so early in the Universe's history is perplexing, as observations provide limited information to constrain their evolutionary pathways. Here, we present multi-wavelength observations of a galaxy complex consisting of at least five galaxies within a $\sim10\,{\rm kpc}$ region, referred to as the \quintet, using JWST and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. This system, located in the core of a galaxy protocluster at approximately 650 million years after the Big Bang, reveals the detailed physical processes involved in the formation of massive galaxies. These processes include a dynamic cycles of merger induced gas stripping, leading the temporal termination of star formation, and recycling of the stripped gas, with subsequent enhancement of star formation in other galaxies of the system, which is expected to evolve into massive galaxies that host more than $10^{10}$ solar masses of stars. The new observations represent the first comprehensive evidence of a massive galaxy formation through gas-rich, multiple-galaxy mergers induced by a dense protocluster environment in the $650\,{\rm Myrs}$ after the Big Bang. Our results suggest that the protocluster core is indeed one of the main drivers of efficient galaxy formation and rapid evolution in the early Universe, as predicted by theoretical studies. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_11770 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Early massive galaxy formation in the core of a galaxy protocluster 650 million years after the Big Bang Fudamoto, Yoshinobu Nakazato, Yurina Ceverino, Daniel Colina, Luis Hashimoto, Takuya Inoue, Akio K. Tamura, Yoichi Yoshida, Naoki Zhu, Yongda Sugahara, Yuma Arribas, Santiago 'Arvarez-M'arquez, Javier Bakx, Tom Prieto, Carmen Blanco Costantin, Luca G'omez, Alejandro Crespo Hagimoto, Masato Hashigaya, Takeshi Matsuo, Hiroshi Marques-Chaves, Rui Mawatari, Ken Mitsuhashi, Ikki Osone, Wataru Pereira-Santaella, Miguel Umehata, Hideki Witten, Callum Ren, Yi W. Astrophysics of Galaxies Rest-frame optical observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered a population of massive galaxies, exceeding $10^{10}$ solar masses, present less than a billion years after the Big Bang. The large stellar masses of these galaxies require an efficient conversion of baryons into stars, which may exceed theoretical expectations. However, the formation process of massive galaxies so early in the Universe's history is perplexing, as observations provide limited information to constrain their evolutionary pathways. Here, we present multi-wavelength observations of a galaxy complex consisting of at least five galaxies within a $\sim10\,{\rm kpc}$ region, referred to as the \quintet, using JWST and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. This system, located in the core of a galaxy protocluster at approximately 650 million years after the Big Bang, reveals the detailed physical processes involved in the formation of massive galaxies. These processes include a dynamic cycles of merger induced gas stripping, leading the temporal termination of star formation, and recycling of the stripped gas, with subsequent enhancement of star formation in other galaxies of the system, which is expected to evolve into massive galaxies that host more than $10^{10}$ solar masses of stars. The new observations represent the first comprehensive evidence of a massive galaxy formation through gas-rich, multiple-galaxy mergers induced by a dense protocluster environment in the $650\,{\rm Myrs}$ after the Big Bang. Our results suggest that the protocluster core is indeed one of the main drivers of efficient galaxy formation and rapid evolution in the early Universe, as predicted by theoretical studies. |
| title | Early massive galaxy formation in the core of a galaxy protocluster 650 million years after the Big Bang |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11770 |