Proyecto de Investigación: Finding the most distant galaxies with NIRSpec guaranteed time on the James Webb Space Telescope
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A fast-rotator post-starburst galaxy quenched by supermassive black-hole feedback at z = 3
(Springer Nature, 2024-09-16) D’Eugenio, Francesco; Pérez-González, Pablo G., E. M.; Maiolino, Roberto; Scholtz, Jan; Perna, Michele; Circosta, Chiara; Übler, Hannah; Arribas, Santiago; Böker, Torsten; Bunker, Andrew J.; Carniani, Stefano; Charlot, Stephane; Chevallard, Jacopo; Cresci, Giovanni; Curtis-Lake, Emma; Jones, Gareth C.; Kumari, Nimisha; Lamperti, Isabella; Looser, Tobias J.; Parlanti, Eleonora; Rix, Hans Walter; Robertson, Brant; Rodriguez Del Pino, Bruno; Tacchella, Sandro; Venturi, Giacomo; Willott, Chris J.; European Research Council (ERC); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN); Comunidad De Madrid; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España); Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF); Arizona State University (ASU); State University of Santa Cruz (UESC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
The most massive galaxies in the Universe stopped forming stars due to the time-integrated feedback from central supermassive black holes (SMBHs). However, the exact quenching mechanism is not yet understood, because local massive galaxies were quenched billions of years ago. Here we present JWST/NIRSpec integral-field spectroscopy observations of GS-10578, a massive, quiescent galaxy at redshift z = 3.064 ± 0.002. From its spectrum, we measure a stellar mass M⋆ = 1.6 ± 0.2 × 1011 M⊙ and a dynamical mass Mdyn = 2.0 ± 0.5 × 1011 M⊙. Half of its stellar mass formed at z = 3.7–4.6, and the system is now quiescent, with a current star-formation rate of less than 19 M⊙ yr−1. We detect ionized- and neutral-gas outflows traced by [O iii] emission and Na i absorption, with mass outflow rates 0.14–2.9 and 30–100 M⊙ yr−1, respectively. Outflow velocities reach vout ≈ 1,000 km s−1, comparable to the galaxy escape velocity. GS-10578 hosts an active galactic nucleus, evidence that these outflows are due to SMBH feedback. The neutral outflow rate is higher than the star-formation rate. Hence, this is direct evidence for ejective SMBH feedback, with a mass loading capable of interrupting star formation by rapidly removing its fuel. Stellar kinematics show ordered rotation, with spin parameter λRe=0.62±0.07, meaning GS-10578 is rotation-supported. This study presents direct evidence for ejective active galactic nucleus feedback in a massive, recently quenched galaxy, thus helping to clarify how SMBHs quench their hosts. The high value of λRe implies that quenching can occur without destroying the stellar disk.
Accelerated quenching and chemical enhancement of massive galaxies in a z ≈ 4 gas-rich halo
(Nature Astronomy, 2025-07-21) Pérez-González, Pablo G.; D'Eugenio, Francesco; Rodriguez Del Pino, Bruno; Perna, Michele; Übler, Hannah; Maiolino, Roberto; Arribas, Santiago; Cresci, Giovanni; Lamperti, Isabella; Bunker, Andrew J.; Carniani, Stefano; Willott, Chris J.; Böker, Torsten; Parlanti, Eleonora; Scholtz, Jan; Venturi, Giacomo; Barro, Guillermo; Costantin, Luca; Martin-Navarro, Ignacio; Dunlop, James S.; Magee, Daniel; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN); Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España); European Commission; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC); European Research Council (ERC); Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF); Fundación La Caixa
Stars in galaxies form when baryons radiatively cool down and fall into gravitational wells whose mass is dominated by dark matter. Eventually, star formation quenches as gas is depleted and/or perturbed by feedback processes, no longer being able to collapse and condense. We report the first spatially resolved spectroscopic observations, using the JWST/NIRSpec IFU, of a massive, completely quiescent galaxy (Jekyll) and its neighborhood at $z=3.714$, when the Universe age was 10% of today's. Jekyll resides in a massive dark matter halo (with mass M$_\mathrm{DM}>10^{12}$ M$_\odot$) and forms a galaxy pair with Hyde, which shows very intense dust-enshrouded star formation (star formation rate $\sim300$ M$_\odot$yr$^{-1}$). We find large amounts of kinematically perturbed ionized and neutral gas in the circumgalactic medium around the pair. Despite this large gas reservoir, Jekyll, which formed $10^{11}$ M$_\odot$ in stars and chemically enriched early (first billion years of the Universe) and quickly (200-300 Myr), has remained quiescent for over 500 Myr. The properties of the gas found around the two galaxies are consistent with intense, AGN-induced photoionization, or intense shocks. However, with the current data no obscured or unobscured AGN is detected in the central galaxy (Jekyll) nor in the very active and dust rich star-forming galaxy (Hyde).
The Galaxy Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS) V. Unveiling PAH survival and resilience in the circumnuclear regions of AGNs with JWST
(EDP Sciences, 2024-09-09) García-Bernete, Ismael; Rigopoulou, Dimitra; Donnan, Fergus; Alonso-Herrero, Almudena; Pereira Santaella, Miguel; Shimizu, T. Taro; Davies, Richard; Roche, P. F.; García-Burillo, Santiago; Labiano, Alvaro; Hermosa Muñoz, Laura; Zhang, Lulu; Audibert, A.; Bellocchi, Enrica; Bunker, A.; Combes, Francoise; Delaney, D.; Esparza-Arredondo, D.; Gandhi, P.; González-Martín, O.; Hönig, Sebastian; Imanishi, Masatoshi; Hicks, Erin K. S.; Fuller, L.; Leist, Mason Tanner; Levenson, N. A.; López-Rodríguez, E.; Packham, Christopher; Ramos Almeida, Cristina; Ricci, C.; Stalevski, Marko; Villar Martín, M.; Ward, M. J.; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC); Comunidad de Madrid; European Commission (EC); European Space Agency (ESA); Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI); Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
This study analyses JWST MIRI/MRS observations of the infrared (IR) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) bands in the nuclear (∼0.4″ at 11 μm; ∼75 pc) and circumnuclear regions (inner ∼kpc) of local active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the Galactic Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS). We examine the PAH properties in the circumnuclear regions of AGNs and the projected direction of AGN-outflows and compare them to those in star-forming regions and the innermost regions of AGNs. This study employs 4.9–28.1 μm sub-arcsecond angular resolution data to investigate the properties of PAHs in three nearby sources (DL ∼ 30 − 40 Mpc). Our findings are aligned with previous JWST studies, demonstrating that the central regions of AGNs display a larger fraction of neutral PAH molecules (i.e. elevated 11.3/6.2 and 11.3/7.7 μm PAH ratios) in comparison to star-forming galaxies. We find that AGNs might affect not only the PAH population in the innermost region, but also in the extended regions up to ∼kpc scales. By comparing our observations to PAH diagnostic diagrams, we find that, in general, regions located in the projected direction of the AGN-outflow occupy similar positions on the PAH diagnostic diagrams as those of the innermost regions of AGNs. Star-forming regions that are not affected by the AGNs in these galaxies share the same part of the diagram as star-forming galaxies. We also examined the potential of the PAH-H2 diagram to disentangle AGN-versus-star-forming activity. Our results suggest that in Seyfert-like AGNs, the illumination and feedback from the AGN might affect the PAH population at nuclear and kpc scales, particularly with respect to the ionisation state of the PAH grains. However, PAH molecular sizes are rather similar. The carriers of the ionised PAH bands (6.2 and 7.7 μm) are less resilient than those of neutral PAH bands (11.3 μm), which might be particularly important for strongly AGN-host coupled systems. Therefore, caution must be applied when using PAH bands as star-formation rate indicators in these systems even at kpc scales, with the effects of the AGN being more important for ionised ones.
