English

Cold Dust and Low [OIII]/[CII] Ratios: an Evolved Star-forming Population at Redshift 7

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2023-01-25 v1

Abstract

We present new ALMA Band 8 (rest-frame 90μ90\,\mum) observations of three massive (M1010MM_\star \approx 10^{10}\,M_\odot) galaxies at z7z\approx7 previously detected in [CII]158μ158\,\mum and underlying dust continuum emission in the Reionization Era Bright Emission Line Survey (REBELS). We detect the dust continuum emission of two of our targets in Band 8 (REBELS-25 and REBELS-38), while REBELS-12 remains undetected. Through modified blackbody fitting we determine cold dust temperatures (Tdust3035T_\mathrm{dust} \approx 30 - 35\,K) in both of the dual-band detected targets, given a fiducial model of optically thin emission with β=2.0\beta = 2.0. Their dust temperatures are lower than most z7z\sim7 galaxies in the literature, and consequently their dust masses are higher (Mdust108MM_\mathrm{dust} \approx 10^{8}\,M_\odot). Nevertheless, these large dust masses are still consistent with predictions from models of dust production in the early Universe. In addition, we target and detect [OIII]88μ88\,\mum emission in both REBELS-12 and REBELS-25, and find L[OIII]/L[CII]L_\mathrm{[OIII]} / L_\mathrm{[CII]} ratios of approximately unity, low compared to the L[OIII]/L[CII]210L_\mathrm{[OIII]} / L_\mathrm{[CII]} \gtrsim 2 - 10 observed in the known z6z\gtrsim6 population thus far. We argue the lower line ratios are due to a comparatively weaker ionizing radiation field resulting from the less starbursty nature of our targets. This low burstiness supports the cold dust temperatures and below average [OIII]λλ4959,5007+Hβ\mathrm{[OIII]}\lambda\lambda4959,5007 + \mathrm{H}\beta equivalent widths of REBELS-25 and REBELS-38, compared to the known high-redshift population. Overall, this provides evidence for the existence of a massive, dust-rich galaxy population at z7z\approx7 which has previously experienced vigorous star formation, but is currently forming stars in a steady, as opposed to bursty, manner.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2301.09659,
  title  = {Cold Dust and Low [OIII]/[CII] Ratios: an Evolved Star-forming Population at Redshift 7},
  author = {Hiddo Algera and Hanae Inami and Laura Sommovigo and Yoshinobu Fudamoto and Raffaella Schneider and Luca Graziani and Pratika Dayal and Rychard Bouwens and Manuel Aravena and Elisabete da Cunha and Andrea Ferrara and Alexander Hygate and Ivana van Leeuwen and Ilse De Looze and Marco Palla and Andrea Pallottini and Renske Smit and Mauro Stefanon and Michael Topping and Paul van der Werf},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.09659},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

18 pages + appendices; 8 figures in main text; Submitted to MNRAS on 27 Dec 2022