A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Looser, Tobias J.; D'Eugenio, Francesco; Maiolino, Roberto; Witstok, Joris; Sandles, Lester; Curtis-Lake, Emma; Chevallard, Jacopo; Tacchella, Sandro; Johnson, Benjamin D.; Baker, William M.; Suess, Katherine A.; Carniani, Stefano; Ferruit, Pierre; Arribas, Santiago; Bonaventura, Nina; Bunker, Andrew J.; Cameron, Alex J.; Charlot, Stephane; Curti, Mirko; de Graaff, Anna; Maseda, Michael V.; Rawle, Tim; Rix, Hans-Walter; Del Pino, Bruno Rodriguez; Smit, Renske; Ubler, Hannah; Willott, Chris; Alberts, Stacey; Egami, Eiichi; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Endsley, Ryan; Hausen, Ryan; Rieke, Marcia; Robertson, Brant; Shivaei, Irene; Williams, Christina C.; Boyett, Kristan; Chen, Zuyi; Ji, Zhiyuan; Jones, Gareth C.; Kumari, Nimisha; Nelson, Erica; Perna, Michele; Saxena, Aayush; Scholtz, Jan
• 署名单位: University of Cambridge; University of Cambridge; University of London; University College London; University of Hertfordshire; University of Oxford; Harvard University; Smithsonian Institution; University of California System; University of California Santa Cruz; Stanford University; Stanford University; Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa; European Space Agency; European Space Astronomy Center; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC); CSIC - Centro de Astrobiologia (INTA); University of Copenhagen; Niels Bohr Institute; Sorbonne Universite; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CNRS - National Institute for Earth Sciences & Astronomy (INSU); European Southern Observatory; Max Planck Society; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Space Telescope Science Institute; Liverpool John Moores University; National Research Council Canada; University of Arizona; University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; Johns Hopkins University; University of Melbourne; Space Telescope Science Institute; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-3959
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07227-0
• 发表日期: 2024-05-02
• 关键词: star-formation histories; massive quiescent galaxies; stellar populations; EVOLUTION; RESOLUTION; nirspec; dust; absorption; release; dawn

摘要

Local and low-redshift (z < 3) galaxies are known to broadly follow a bimodal distribution: actively star-forming galaxies with relatively stable star-formation rates and passive systems. These two populations are connected by galaxies in relatively slow transition. By contrast, theory predicts that star formation was stochastic at early cosmic times and in low-mass systems(1,2,3,4). These galaxies transitioned rapidly between starburst episodes and phases of suppressed star formation, potentially even causing temporary quiescence-so-called mini-quenching events(5,6). However, the regime of star-formation burstiness is observationally highly unconstrained. Directly observing mini-quenched galaxies in the primordial Universe is therefore of utmost importance to constrain models of galaxy formation and transformation(7,8). Early quenched galaxies have been identified out to redshift z < 5 (refs. (9,10,11,12)) and these are all found to be massive (M-star > 10(10) M-circle dot) and relatively old. Here we report a (mini-)quenched galaxy at z = 7.3, when the Universe was only 700 Myr old. The JWST/NIRSpec spectrum is very blue (U-V = 0.16 +/- 0.03 mag) but exhibits a Balmer break and no nebular emission lines. The galaxy experienced a short starburst followed by rapid quenching; its stellar mass (4-6 x 10(8) M-circle dot) falls in a range that is sensitive to various feedback mechanisms, which can result in perhaps only temporary quenching.