Repository logo
 

JADES: Detecting [OIII] λ 4363 emitters and testing strong line calibrations in the high- z Universe with ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy up to z ~ 9.5

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Laseter, IH 
Maseda, MV 
Curti, M 
Maiolino, R 
D'Eugenio, F 

Abstract

jats:pWe present ten novel [OIII]jats:italicλ</jats:italic>4363 auroral line detections up to jats:italicz</jats:italic> ∼ 9.5 measured from ultra-deep JWST/NIRSpec MSA spectroscopy from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We leverage the deepest spectroscopic observations taken thus far with NIRSpec to determine electron temperatures and oxygen abundances using the direct jats:italicT</jats:italic>jats:sube</jats:sub> method. We directly compare these results against a suite of locally calibrated strong-line diagnostics and recent high-jats:italicz</jats:italic> calibrations. We find the calibrations fail to simultaneously match our JADES sample, thus warranting a self-consistent revision of these calibrations for the high-jats:italicz</jats:italic> Universe. We find a weak dependence between R2 and O3O2 with metallicity, thus suggesting these line ratios are inefficient in the high-jats:italicz</jats:italic> Universe as metallicity diagnostics and degeneracy breakers. We find R3 and R23 are still correlated with metallicity, but we find a tentative flattening of these diagnostics, thus suggesting future difficulties when applying these strong line ratios as metallicity indicators in the high-jats:italicz</jats:italic> Universe. We also propose and test an alternative diagnostic based on a different combination of R3 and R2 with a higher dynamic range. We find a reasonably good agreement (median offset of 0.002 dex, median absolute offset of 0.13 dex) with the JWST sample at low metallicity, but future investigations are required on larger samples to probe past the turnover point. At a given metallicity, our sample demonstrates higher ionization and excitation ratios than local galaxies with rest-frame EWs(Hjats:italicβ</jats:italic>) ≈200 − 300 Å. However, we find the median rest-frame EWs(Hjats:italicβ</jats:italic>) of our sample to be ∼2× less than the galaxies used for the local calibrations. This EW discrepancy combined with the high ionization of our galaxies does not offer a clear description of [OIII]jats:italicλ</jats:italic>4363 production in the high-jats:italicz</jats:italic> Universe, thus warranting a much deeper examination into the factors influencing these processes.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

5101 Astronomical Sciences, 51 Physical Sciences

Journal Title

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0004-6361
1432-0746

Volume Title

681

Publisher

EDP Sciences
Sponsorship
European Research Council (695671)
Relationships
Is derived from: