Spectroscopic confirmation of four metal-poor galaxies at z = 10.3–13.2
Author
Curtis-Lake, EmmaCarniani, Stefano
Cameron, Alex
Charlot, Stephane
Jakobsen, Peter
Maiolino, Roberto
Bunker, Andrew
Witstok, Joris
Smit, Renske
Chevallard, Jacopo

Willott, Chris
Ferruit, Pierre
Arribas, Santiago
Bonaventura, Nina
Curti, Mirko
D’Eugenio, Francesco
Franx, Marijn
Giardino, Giovanna
Looser, Tobias J.
Lützgendorf, Nora
Maseda, Michael V.
Rawle, Tim
Rix, Hans-Walter
Rodríguez Del Pino, Bruno
Übler, Hannah
Sirianni, Marco
Dressler, Alan
Egami, Eiichi
Eisenstein, Daniel J.
Endsley, Ryan
Hainline, Kevin
Hausen, Ryan
Johnson, Benjamin D.

Rieke, Marcia
Robertson, Brant
Shivaei, Irene
Stark, Daniel P.
Tacchella, Sandro
Williams, Christina C.
Willmer, Christopher N. A.
Bhatawdekar, Rachana
Bowler, Rebecca
Boyett, Kristan
Chen, Zuyi
de Graaff, Anna
Helton, Jakob M.
Hviding, Raphael E.
Jones, Gareth C.

Kumari, Nimisha
Lyu, Jianwei

Nelson, Erica
Perna, Michele
Sandles, Lester
Saxena, Aayush
Suess, Katherine A.

Sun, Fengwu
Topping, Michael W.
Wallace, Imaan E. B.
Whitler, Lily
Affiliation
Steward Observatory, University of ArizonaIssue Date
2023-04-04
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLCCitation
Curtis-Lake, E., Carniani, S., Cameron, A. et al. Spectroscopic confirmation of four metal-poor galaxies at z = 10.3–13.2. Nat Astron 7, 622–632 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-01918-wJournal
Nature AstronomyRights
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2023.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Finding and characterizing the first galaxies that illuminated the early universe at cosmic dawn is pivotal to understand the physical conditions and the processes that led to the formation of the first stars. In the first few months of operations, imaging from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been used to identify tens of candidates of galaxies at redshift (z) greater than 10, less than 450 million years after the Big Bang. However, none of such candidates has yet been confirmed spectroscopically, leaving open the possibility that they are actually low-redshift interlopers. Here we present spectroscopic confirmation and analysis of four galaxies unambiguously detected at redshift 10.3 ≤ z ≤ 13.2, previously selected from JWST Near Infrared Camera imaging. The spectra reveal that these primeval galaxies are metal poor, have masses on the order of about 107–108 solar masses and young ages. The damping wings that shape the continuum close to the Lyman edge provide constraints on the neutral hydrogen fraction of the intergalactic medium from normal star-forming galaxies. These findings demonstrate the rapid emergence of the first generations of galaxies at cosmic dawn.Note
6 month embargo; first published 4 April 2023EISSN
2397-3366Version
Final accepted manuscriptae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1038/s41550-023-01918-w