EGS-z11-R0: a red, dust-rich galaxy at Cosmic Dawn
Abstract
Context. Galaxies discovered by JWST at z > 10 are predominantly characterized by extremely blue rest-frame UV slopes. Conversely, the existence of dust-reddened systems at such early epochs has remained largely unconfirmed spectroscopically. Aims. We present the spectroscopic confirmation of EGS-z11-R0 at z = 11.45, the most distant red galaxy identified to date, discovered serendipitously through inspection of publicly available JWST/NIRSpec data. Methods. We analyze JWST/NIRSpec PRISM and G395M spectroscopy together with multiwavelength HST, NIRCam, and MIRI photometry. We identify significant detections of the C IV 1548,1551 and C III] 1908 transitions, yielding a redshift of zspec = 11.452 +/- 0.021. We measure rest-frame UV emission-line fluxes and equivalent widths and use these diagnostics to constrain the nature of the ionizing radiation field. Finally, we perform spectral energy distribution modeling with CIGALE, combining spectroscopy with photometry and including stellar, nebular, dust, and active galactic nuclei (AGN) components. Results. EGS-z11-R0 exhibits a red UV continuum slope (betaUV approximately -1.0), placing it well above the canonical MUV-betaUV relation at z~10-12 and making it the highest-z spectroscopically confirmed member of the emerging "red monster" population. Emission-line diagnostics reveal a hard ionizing spectrum consistent with extreme star formation and compatible with a composite stellar plus AGN scenario. The best-fit SED solution favors a stellar mass of log(M*/Msun) ~ 9.2-9.6, a SFR of 10-40 Msun yr^-1, and substantial dust attenuation (AV~1.2 mag). Conclusions. The confirmation of EGS-z11-R0 establishes that chemically evolved, dust-enriched galaxies were already in place at z approximately 11.5. [abridged]
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Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.15841,
title = {EGS-z11-R0: a red, dust-rich galaxy at Cosmic Dawn},
author = {Giulia Rodighiero and Andrea Ferrara and Michele Catone and Lorenzo Napolitano and Paolo Cassata and Giovanni Gandolfi and Emiliano Merlin and Andrea Grazian and Alvio Renzini and Laura Bisigello and Marco Castellano and Pablo G. Pérez-González and Borja Pérez-Díaz and Edoardo Iani and Carlotta Gruppioni and Steven L. Finkelstein and Anton M. Koekemoer and Alessandro Bianchetti and Francesco Sinigaglia},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15841},
year = {2026}
}
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submitted to A&A