CaltechAUTHORS
Published March 2023 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Deep ALMA redshift search of a z ∼ 12 GLASS-JWST galaxy candidate

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Nagoya University
  • 2. ROR icon National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
  • 3. ROR icon University of Tokyo
  • 4. ROR icon University of California, Los Angeles
  • 5. ROR icon Astronomical Observatory of Rome
  • 6. ROR icon The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI
  • 7. ROR icon The University of Texas at Austin
  • 8. ROR icon Swinburne University of Technology
  • 9. ROR icon University of California, Davis
  • 10. ROR icon University of Melbourne
  • 11. ROR icon Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics
  • 12. ROR icon National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand
  • 13. ROR icon University of Copenhagen
  • 14. ROR icon Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
  • 15. ROR icon The Open University

Abstract

The JWST has discovered a surprising abundance of bright galaxy candidates in the very early universe (≤500 Myr after the Big Bang), calling into question current galaxy formation models. Spectroscopy is needed to confirm the primeval nature of these candidates, as well as to understand how the first galaxies form stars and grow. Here we present deep spectroscopic and continuum ALMA observations towards GHZ2/GLASS-z12, one of the brightest and most robust candidates at z > 10, identified in the GLASS-JWST Early Release Science Program. We detect a 5.8σ line, offset 0".5 from the JWST position of GHZ2/GLASS-z12, that associating it with the [O iii] 88 μm transition, implies a spectroscopic redshift of z = 12.117 ± 0.001. We verify the detection using extensive statistical tests. The oxygen line luminosity places GHZ2/GLASS-z12 above the [O iii]-SFR relation for metal-poor galaxies, implying an enhancement of [O iii] emission in this system while the JWST-observed emission is likely a lower-metallicity region. The lack of dust emission seen by these observations is consistent with the blue UV slope observed by JWST, which suggest little dust attenuation in galaxies at this early epoch. Further observations will unambiguously confirm the redshift and shed light on the origins of the wide and offset line and physical properties of this early galaxy. This work illustrates the synergy between JWST and ALMA, and paves the way for future spectroscopic surveys of z > 10 galaxy candidates.

Additional Information

© 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2021.A.00020.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA), and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST, ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO, and NAOJ. This work is partly based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-03127 for JWST. These observations are associated with programme JWST-ERS-1324. We acknowledge financial support from NASA through grant JWST-ERS-1324. TB and YT acknowledge funding from NAOJ ALMA Scientific Research Grant Numbers 2018-09B and JSPS KAKENHI No. 17H06130, 22H04939. EV acknowledges financial support through grants PRIN-MIUR 2017WSCC32, 2020SKSTHZ and the INAF GO Grant 2022 'The revolution is around the corner: JWST will probe globular cluster precursors and Population III stellar clusters at cosmic dawn' (PI Vanzella). We thank Stefano Carniani and Stefano Berta for their kind and useful discussions. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous referee for their insightful comments and suggested additions. DATA AVAILABILITY. The data are publicly available through the ALMA science archive and the MAST portal managed by Space Telescope Science Institute. Other calibrated products used in this article will be shared upon request.

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
120001
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20230314-844891400.13

Funding

ALMA partnership
NASA
NAS 5-03127
NASA
JWST-ERS-1324
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
2018-09B
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
17H06130
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
22H04939
Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR)
2017WSCC32
Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR)
2020SKSTHZ
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)

Dates

Created
2023-05-17
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-05-17
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)