A Glimpse of the Low-Mass End of the Direct Mass-Metallicity Relation at $z\sim6-8$
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arXiv
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2026
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| author | Hsiao, Tiger Yu-Yang Chisholm, John Berg, Danielle A. Finkelstein, Steven L. Kokorev, Vasily Atek, Hakim Naidu, Rohan P. Fujimoto, Seiji Furtak, Lukas J. Adamo, Angela Aravindan, Archana Asada, Yoshihisa Basu, Arghyadeep Blaizot, Jeremy Choustikov, Nicholas Dessauges-Zavadsky, Miroslava Fei, Qinyue Katz, Harley Korber, Damien McQuinn, Kristen. B. W. Mun, Marcie Munoz, Julian B. Natarajan, Priyamvada Stephenson, Mabel G. Schaerer, Daniel |
| author_facet | Hsiao, Tiger Yu-Yang Chisholm, John Berg, Danielle A. Finkelstein, Steven L. Kokorev, Vasily Atek, Hakim Naidu, Rohan P. Fujimoto, Seiji Furtak, Lukas J. Adamo, Angela Aravindan, Archana Asada, Yoshihisa Basu, Arghyadeep Blaizot, Jeremy Choustikov, Nicholas Dessauges-Zavadsky, Miroslava Fei, Qinyue Katz, Harley Korber, Damien McQuinn, Kristen. B. W. Mun, Marcie Munoz, Julian B. Natarajan, Priyamvada Stephenson, Mabel G. Schaerer, Daniel |
| contents | The competition between metal synthesis and feedback from massive stars establishes the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) at low-redshifts. Examining this relation at higher redshifts, particularly at the low-mass end $\lesssim10^{8}\,{\rm M_\odot}$, is essential for understanding chemical enrichment and stellar feedback. In this study, we utilize the deep ($\sim30\,$hrs) JWST/NIRSpec G395M GLIMPSE-D survey of the lensed field Abell S1063, to explore the low-mass end of the MZR at high redshift ($z\sim6-8$). We identify eight [OIII]$λ$4364 emitters, enabling the most reliable "direct" metallicity measurements in galaxies down to stellar masses of $\sim10^{6-8}\,{\rm M_\odot}$. By combining our sample and galaxies with [OIII]$λ$4364 detections from the literature, we calculate direct metallicities for 21 galaxies. We compare our direct metallicities to those derived from strong-line diagnostics, and find them to be consistent with previous calibrations. We fit the MZR at $10^{6.7-9}\,M_{\odot}$ with $\sim0.3-0.5$ dex lower metallicity than local galaxies at similar stellar mass. We find the slope to be $0.25\pm0.10$, comparable to the local MZR; and the MZR exhibits a scatter of $\sim0.2\,$dex, which is larger than the local MZR, The lower metallicities may reflect denser, more gas-rich early environments, with continuous inflow of metal-poor gas diluting the ISM metallicity. In addition, we show that in extremely high electron densities ($n_e \gtrsim 10^5\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$), metallicities can be significantly underestimated ($\sim0.5$ dex), if lower $n_e$ are assumed for galaxies with high $n_e$. In a nutshell, these observations provide the first glimpse of the low-mass MZR at $z\sim6-8$ using direct metallicity measurements. More deep spectroscopic observations in lensed fields will be critical to robustly characterize the MZR and chemical evolution in the early universe. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_06770 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A Glimpse of the Low-Mass End of the Direct Mass-Metallicity Relation at $z\sim6-8$ Hsiao, Tiger Yu-Yang Chisholm, John Berg, Danielle A. Finkelstein, Steven L. Kokorev, Vasily Atek, Hakim Naidu, Rohan P. Fujimoto, Seiji Furtak, Lukas J. Adamo, Angela Aravindan, Archana Asada, Yoshihisa Basu, Arghyadeep Blaizot, Jeremy Choustikov, Nicholas Dessauges-Zavadsky, Miroslava Fei, Qinyue Katz, Harley Korber, Damien McQuinn, Kristen. B. W. Mun, Marcie Munoz, Julian B. Natarajan, Priyamvada Stephenson, Mabel G. Schaerer, Daniel Astrophysics of Galaxies The competition between metal synthesis and feedback from massive stars establishes the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) at low-redshifts. Examining this relation at higher redshifts, particularly at the low-mass end $\lesssim10^{8}\,{\rm M_\odot}$, is essential for understanding chemical enrichment and stellar feedback. In this study, we utilize the deep ($\sim30\,$hrs) JWST/NIRSpec G395M GLIMPSE-D survey of the lensed field Abell S1063, to explore the low-mass end of the MZR at high redshift ($z\sim6-8$). We identify eight [OIII]$λ$4364 emitters, enabling the most reliable "direct" metallicity measurements in galaxies down to stellar masses of $\sim10^{6-8}\,{\rm M_\odot}$. By combining our sample and galaxies with [OIII]$λ$4364 detections from the literature, we calculate direct metallicities for 21 galaxies. We compare our direct metallicities to those derived from strong-line diagnostics, and find them to be consistent with previous calibrations. We fit the MZR at $10^{6.7-9}\,M_{\odot}$ with $\sim0.3-0.5$ dex lower metallicity than local galaxies at similar stellar mass. We find the slope to be $0.25\pm0.10$, comparable to the local MZR; and the MZR exhibits a scatter of $\sim0.2\,$dex, which is larger than the local MZR, The lower metallicities may reflect denser, more gas-rich early environments, with continuous inflow of metal-poor gas diluting the ISM metallicity. In addition, we show that in extremely high electron densities ($n_e \gtrsim 10^5\,{\rm cm^{-3}}$), metallicities can be significantly underestimated ($\sim0.5$ dex), if lower $n_e$ are assumed for galaxies with high $n_e$. In a nutshell, these observations provide the first glimpse of the low-mass MZR at $z\sim6-8$ using direct metallicity measurements. More deep spectroscopic observations in lensed fields will be critical to robustly characterize the MZR and chemical evolution in the early universe. |
| title | A Glimpse of the Low-Mass End of the Direct Mass-Metallicity Relation at $z\sim6-8$ |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06770 |