Tentative rotation in a galaxy at <i>z</i> ~ 14 with ALMA
ABSTRACT We reanalysed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the [O iii] $\lambda 88 \, \mu$m emission line in JADES-GS-z14-0, so one of the most distant spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at z = 14.18. Our analysis shows a tentative detection of a velocity gradient of [O iii] $\lambda 88 \, \mu$m using three independent tests: (1) construction of moment maps; (2) extraction of integrated spectra from a grid of apertures; and (3) spectro-astrometry in both the image and uv planes, confirming the presence of the velocity gradient at $3\sigma$ significance. We performed kinematical fitting using the kinms code and estimated a dynamical mass of log$_{10}$($M_{\rm dyn}$/$\rm M_\odot$) = $9.4^{+0.8}_{-0.4}$, with the bulk of the uncertainties due to the degeneracy between dynamical mass and inclination. We measure an upper limit on the velocity dispersion ($\sigma _{v}$) of ${&lt;} 40$ km s−1 which results in an estimate of $V_{\rm rot}/\sigma &gt; 2.5$. This result, if confirmed with higher resolution observations, would imply that kinematically cold discs are already in place at $z\sim 14$. Comparison with mock observations from the SERRA cosmological simulations confirms that even low-resolution observations are capable of detecting a velocity gradient in $z&gt;10$ galaxies as compact as JADES-GS-z14-0. This Letter shows that deeper ALMA or JWST (James Webb Space Telescope)/Near-Infrared Spectrograph integral field spectroscopy observations with high spatial resolution will be able to estimate an accurate dynamical mass for JADES-GS-z14-0, providing an upper limit to the stellar mass of this overluminous galaxy.
Authors
- A. Pallottini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7129-5761)
- Francesco D’Eugenio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2388-8172)
- A. Lola Danhaive (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9708-9958)
- Zhiyuan Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7673-2257)
- Santiago Arribas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7997-1640)
- R. Maiolino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4985-3819)
- M. Kohandel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1041-7865)
- Stefano Carniani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6719-380X)
- Sandro Tacchella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8224-4505)
- Rachana Bhatawdekar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0883-2226)
- Gareth C. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0267-9024)
- S. Charlot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3458-2275)
- Andrea Ferrara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9400-7312)
- Pierluigi Rinaldi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5104-8245)
- Irene Shivaei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4702-7561)
- Hannah Übler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4891-0794)
- Yang Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6561-9443)
- Jan Scholtz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6010-6809)
- Andrew J. Bunker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8651-9879)
- Brant E. Robertson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4271-0364)
- Giacomo Venturi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8349-3055)
- Eleonora Parlanti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7392-7814)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Scuola Normale Superiore (IT)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (FR)
- European Space Agency (FR)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (DE)
- European Space Astronomy Centre (ES)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- Centro de Astrobiología (ES)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa (IT)
- University College London (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters
- Published
- 2025-09-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaf109
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.15