Environmental dependence of the Mass-Metallicity Star Formation Relations at z=4-10 with JWST
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2026
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| author | Li, Qiong Conselice, Christopher J. Westcott, Lewi Austin, Duncan Harvey, Tom Adams, Nathan Rusakov, Vadim Arcidiacono, James Goolsby, Caio Moreira Hegde, Chandana Fu, Shuqi |
| author_facet | Li, Qiong Conselice, Christopher J. Westcott, Lewi Austin, Duncan Harvey, Tom Adams, Nathan Rusakov, Vadim Arcidiacono, James Goolsby, Caio Moreira Hegde, Chandana Fu, Shuqi |
| contents | We study how environment affects the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) at $z=4$-$10$ using deep imaging and spectroscopy from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Combining CEERS and JADES, we compile a sample of 225 galaxies with stellar masses, star-formation rates, and gas-phase metallicities. We characterize environment using the projected fifth-nearest-neighbour surface density, $Σ_{5}$, within $Δz=\pm0.25$. At $4.5<z<7$, we find that galaxies in dense regions are more metal-rich at fixed $M_\star$ by $\sim0.1$-0.2 dex, while the slopes of the MZR remain similar across environments. Including SFR increases the separation, suggesting more efficient chemical enrichment in overdense regions. Compared to the local $T_e$-based FMR, our full sample lies $\simeq0.2$-0.3 dex below the $z\sim0$ relation, with a smaller deficit in overdense environments. We also examine how metallicity relates to galaxy size using NIRCam-based effective radii. Metallicity increases weakly with size up to $R_e\sim1$ kpc and then flattens, with only a modest residual trend at fixed $M_\star$ and little environmental dependence. Using mass-weighted stellar ages at $5<z<10$, we find a positive age-metallicity relation in both environments, steeper in the field. Finally, we find that the star-formation rate density is higher in overdense regions at $z\simeq6$-9 by a factor of $\sim2$-3. Overall, our results suggest that environment accelerates both star formation and chemical enrichment during the epoch of reionization. Future wide-area JWST spectroscopy, combined with ALMA and Euclid, will better constrain the role of environment in early galaxy evolution. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_25632 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Environmental dependence of the Mass-Metallicity Star Formation Relations at z=4-10 with JWST Li, Qiong Conselice, Christopher J. Westcott, Lewi Austin, Duncan Harvey, Tom Adams, Nathan Rusakov, Vadim Arcidiacono, James Goolsby, Caio Moreira Hegde, Chandana Fu, Shuqi Astrophysics of Galaxies We study how environment affects the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) at $z=4$-$10$ using deep imaging and spectroscopy from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Combining CEERS and JADES, we compile a sample of 225 galaxies with stellar masses, star-formation rates, and gas-phase metallicities. We characterize environment using the projected fifth-nearest-neighbour surface density, $Σ_{5}$, within $Δz=\pm0.25$. At $4.5<z<7$, we find that galaxies in dense regions are more metal-rich at fixed $M_\star$ by $\sim0.1$-0.2 dex, while the slopes of the MZR remain similar across environments. Including SFR increases the separation, suggesting more efficient chemical enrichment in overdense regions. Compared to the local $T_e$-based FMR, our full sample lies $\simeq0.2$-0.3 dex below the $z\sim0$ relation, with a smaller deficit in overdense environments. We also examine how metallicity relates to galaxy size using NIRCam-based effective radii. Metallicity increases weakly with size up to $R_e\sim1$ kpc and then flattens, with only a modest residual trend at fixed $M_\star$ and little environmental dependence. Using mass-weighted stellar ages at $5<z<10$, we find a positive age-metallicity relation in both environments, steeper in the field. Finally, we find that the star-formation rate density is higher in overdense regions at $z\simeq6$-9 by a factor of $\sim2$-3. Overall, our results suggest that environment accelerates both star formation and chemical enrichment during the epoch of reionization. Future wide-area JWST spectroscopy, combined with ALMA and Euclid, will better constrain the role of environment in early galaxy evolution. |
| title | Environmental dependence of the Mass-Metallicity Star Formation Relations at z=4-10 with JWST |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.25632 |