First Direct Carbon Abundance Measured at z > 10 in the Lensed Galaxy MACS0647-JD
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Investigating the metal enrichment in the early Universe helps us constrain theories about the first stars and study the ages of galaxies. The lensed galaxy MACS0647−JD at z = 10.17 is the brightest galaxy known at z > 10. Previous work analyzing JWST NIRSpec and MIRI data yielded a direct metallicity 12+log(O/H)=7.79±0.09 (∼0.13 Z⊙) and electron density log(ne/cm−3)=2.9±0.5 , the most distant such measurements to date. Here we estimate the direct C/O abundance for the first time at z > 10, finding a subsolar log(C/O)=−0.44−0.07+0.06 . This is higher than other z > 6 galaxies with direct C/O measurements, likely due to higher metallicity. It is also slightly higher than galaxies in the local Universe with similar metallicity. This may suggest a very efficient and rapid burst of star formation, a low effective oxygen abundance yield, or the presence of unusual stellar populations, including supermassive stars. Alternatively, the strong C iii] λλ1907,1909 emission (14 ± 3 Å rest-frame equivalent width may originate from just one of the two component star clusters JDB (r ∼ 20 pc). Future NIRSpec integral field unit spectroscopic observations of MACS0647−JD will be promising for disentangling C/O in the two components to constrain the chemistry of individual star clusters just 460 Myr after the Big Bang.
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Acknowledgements: We appreciate Prof. Daniel Eisenstein, Prof. Dan Stark, Dr. Mirko Curti, Dr. Francesco D’Eugenio, and the anonymous referee for insightful comments. This work is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The data were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-03127 for JWST. We are grateful and indebted to the 20,000 people who worked to make JWST an incredible discovery machine. These observations are associated with JWST programs GO 4246 and 1433. T.H. and A. are funded by grants for JWST-GO-4246 provided by STScI under NASA contract NAS5-03127. T.H. appreciates the support from the Government scholarship to study abroad (Taiwan). P.D. acknowledges support from the NWO grant 016.VIDI.189.162 (“ODIN”) and warmly thanks the European Commission’s and University of Groningen’s CO-FUND Rosalind Franklin program. J.A-M. acknowledges support by grants PIB2021-127718NB-100 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation/State Agency of Research MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe.”
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1538-4357
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