English

Unveiling the Cosmic Gems Arc at $z\sim10$ with JWST NIRCam

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2025-10-14 v2

Abstract

We present recent JWST NIRCam imaging observations of SPT0615-JD (also known as the Cosmic Gems Arc), lensed by the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615-5746. The 5 arcsec long arc is the most highly magnified z>10z>10 galaxy known. It straddles the lensing critical curve and reveals five star clusters with radii of 1\sim 1 pc or less. We measure the full arc to have F200W 24.5 AB mag, consisting of two mirror images, each 25.3 AB mag with a median magnification of μ608+17\mu \sim 60^{+17}_{-8} (delensed 29.7 AB mag, MUV=17.8M_{UV} = -17.8). The galaxy has an extremely strong Lyman break F115W-F200W >3.2>3.2 mag (2σ2\sigma lower limit), is undetected in all bluer filters (<2σ< 2\sigma), and has a very blue continuum slope redward of the break (β=2.7±0.1\beta = -2.7 \pm 0.1). This results in a photometric redshift zphot=10.2±0.2z_{phot} = 10.2 \pm 0.2 (95% confidence) with no significant likelihood below z<9.8z<9.8. Based on spectral energy distribution fitting to the total photometry, we estimate an intrinsic stellar mass of M2.45.6×107MM_{*} \sim 2.4 - 5.6 \times 10^{7} M_{\odot}, young mass-weighted age of 2179\sim 21 - 79 Myr, low dust content (AV<0.15A_V < 0.15), and a low metallicity of 1% Z\lesssim 1\%~Z_{\odot}. We identify a fainter third counterimage candidate within 2.2 arcsec of the predicted position, lensed to AB mag 28.4 and magnified by μ2\mu \sim 2, suggesting the fold arc may only show 60\sim 60% of the galaxy. SPT0615-JD is a unique laboratory to study star clusters observed within a galaxy just 460 Myr after the Big Bang.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2404.10770,
  title  = {Unveiling the Cosmic Gems Arc at $z\sim10$ with JWST NIRCam},
  author = {Larry D. Bradley and Angela Adamo and Eros Vanzella and Keren Sharon and Gabriel Brammer and Dan Coe and Jose M. Diego and Vasily Kokorev and Guillaume Mahler and Masamune Oguri and Abdurro'uf and Rachana Bhatawdekar and Lise Christensen and Seiji Fujimoto and Takuya Hashimoto and Tiger Y. -Y Hsiao and Akio K. Inoue and Yolanda Jiménez-Teja and Matteo Messa and Colin Norman and Massimo Ricotti and Yoichi Tamura and Rogier A. Windhorst and Xinfeng Xu and Adi Zitrin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.10770},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

22 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, accepted by ApJ