Deep ALMA redshift search of a z ∼12 GLASS-JWST galaxy candidate

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • stac3723

    Final published version, 1.64 MB, PDF document

  • Tom J.L.C. Bakx
  • Jorge A. Zavala
  • Ikki Mitsuhashi
  • Tommaso Treu
  • Adriano Fontana
  • Ken Ichi Tadaki
  • Caitlin M. Casey
  • Marco Castellano
  • Karl Glazebrook
  • Masato Hagimoto
  • Ryota Ikeda
  • Tucker Jones
  • Nicha Leethochawalit
  • Takahiro Morishita
  • Themiya Nanayakkara
  • Laura Pentericci
  • Guido Roberts-Borsani
  • Paola Santini
  • Stephen Serjeant
  • Yoichi Tamura
  • Michele Trenti
  • Eros Vanzella

The JWST has discovered a surprising abundance of bright galaxy candidates in the very early universe (≤500 Myr after the Big Bang), calling into question current galaxy formation models. Spectroscopy is needed to confirm the primeval nature of these candidates, as well as to understand how the first galaxies form stars and grow. Here we present deep spectroscopic and continuum ALMA observations towards GHZ2/GLASS-z12, one of the brightest and most robust candidates at z > 10, identified in the GLASS-JWST Early Release Science Program. We detect a 5.8σ line, offset 0″.5 from the JWST position of GHZ2/GLASS-z12, that associating it with the [O iii] 88 μm transition, implies a spectroscopic redshift of z = 12.117 ± 0.001. We verify the detection using extensive statistical tests. The oxygen line luminosity places GHZ2/GLASS-z12 above the [O iii]-SFR relation for metal-poor galaxies, implying an enhancement of [O iii] emission in this system while the JWST-observed emission is likely a lower-metallicity region. The lack of dust emission seen by these observations is consistent with the blue UV slope observed by JWST, which suggest little dust attenuation in galaxies at this early epoch. Further observations will unambiguously confirm the redshift and shed light on the origins of the wide and offset line and physical properties of this early galaxy. This work illustrates the synergy between JWST and ALMA, and paves the way for future spectroscopic surveys of z > 10 galaxy candidates.

Original languageEnglish
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume519
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)5076-5085
Number of pages10
ISSN0035-8711
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s).

    Research areas

  • dust, extinction, galaxies: distances and redshifts, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation, galaxies: high-redshift, techniques: spectroscopic

ID: 370698559