JADES and SAPPHIRES: galaxy metamorphosis amidst a huge, luminous emission-line region

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a remarkably large and luminous line-emitting nebula extending on either side of the Balmer-break galaxy JADES-GS-518794 at $z=5.89$, detected with James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRCam imaging in [O iii]$\lambda \lambda$4959, 5007 and H α and spectroscopically confirmed with NIRCam/wide-field slitless spectroscopy, thanks to the pure-parallel programme Slitless Areal Pure Parallel HIgh-Redshift Emission Survey. The end-to-end velocity offset is $\Delta v=830\pm 130~\mathrm{km\, s^{-1}}$. Nebulae with such large sizes and high luminosities (25 pkpc diameter, $L_{\mathrm{ [\text{O} \,{{\small III}}]}}=1.2\times 10^{10}~\mathrm{L_\odot }$) are routinely observed around bright quasars, unlike JADES-GS-518794. With a stellar mass of $10^{10.1}~{\rm M}_\odot $, this galaxy is at the knee of the mass function at $z=6$. Its star formation rate declined for some time (10–100 Myr prior to observation), followed by a recent (10 Myr) upturn. This system is part of a candidate large-scale galaxy overdensity, with an excess of Balmer-break galaxies compared to the field (3σ). We discuss the possible origin of this nebula as material from a merger or gas expelled by an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The symmetry of the nebula, its bubble-like morphology, kinematics, high luminosity, and the extremely high equivalent width of [O iii] together favour the AGN interpretation. Intriguingly, there may be a physical connection between the presence of such a large, luminous nebula and the possible metamorphosis of the central galaxy towards quenching.

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Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2025-07-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf1138
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
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article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.31

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article

JADES and SAPPHIRES: galaxy metamorphosis amidst a huge, luminous emission-line region

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2 citations
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
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article

JADES and SAPPHIRES: galaxy metamorphosis amidst a huge, luminous emission-line region

Francesco D’Eugenio, A. Lola Danhaive, Santiago Arribas, Michele Perna, Jakob M. Helton, Fengwu Sun, R. Maiolino, Benjamin D. Johnson, Stefano Carniani, Kevin Hainline, Ignas Juodžbalis, Sandro Tacchella, Chris J. Willott, Gareth C. Jones, Pablo G. Pérez‐González, Christina C. Williams, Yongda Zhu, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Weizhe Liu, Hannah Übler, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, James Trussler, Yang Sun, Jan Scholtz, Emma Curtis-Lake, Christopher N. A. Willmer, William Baker, Andrew J. Bunker, Brant E. Robertson, Dávid Puskás, Giacomo Venturi, Xiaojing Lin, Qiao Duan, Eiichi Egami
article en
2 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a remarkably large and luminous line-emitting nebula extending on either side of the Balmer-break galaxy JADES-GS-518794 at $z=5.89$, detected with James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRCam imaging in [O iii]$\lambda \lambda$4959, 5007 and H α and spectroscopically confirmed with NIRCam/wide-field slitless spectroscopy, thanks to the pure-parallel programme Slitless Areal Pure Parallel HIgh-Redshift Emission Survey. The end-to-end velocity offset is $\Delta v=830\pm 130~\mathrm{km\, s^{-1}}$. Nebulae with such large sizes and high luminosities (25 pkpc diameter, $L_{\mathrm{ [\text{O} \,{{\small III}}]}}=1.2\times 10^{10}~\mathrm{L_\odot }$) are routinely observed around bright quasars, unlike JADES-GS-518794. With a stellar mass of $10^{10.1}~{\rm M}_\odot $, this galaxy is at the knee of the mass function at $z=6$. Its star formation rate declined for some time (10–100 Myr prior to observation), followed by a recent (10 Myr) upturn. This system is part of a candidate large-scale galaxy overdensity, with an excess of Balmer-break galaxies compared to the field (3σ). We discuss the possible origin of this nebula as material from a merger or gas expelled by an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The symmetry of the nebula, its bubble-like morphology, kinematics, high luminosity, and the extremely high equivalent width of [O iii] together favour the AGN interpretation. Intriguingly, there may be a physical connection between the presence of such a large, luminous nebula and the possible metamorphosis of the central galaxy towards quenching.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyVol. 542(2)
Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (CA), University of Copenhagen (DK), University of Arizona (US), University of Hertfordshire (GB), Scuola Normale Superiore (IT), Chiba University (JP), University of California, Santa Cruz (US), University of Cambridge (GB), University of Oxford (GB), Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (DE), Bridge University (SS), Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US), Centro de Astrobiología (ES), NSF NOIRLab (US), University College London (GB)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, University of Arizona, Comunidad de Madrid, Space Telescope Science Institute, UK Research and Innovation, European Commission, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
2.31
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