Detection of nitrogen and oxygen in a galaxy at the end of reionization

TL;DR

This study reports ALMA observations of nitrogen and oxygen emission lines in a galaxy at redshift 6, revealing early chemical enrichment and insights into galaxy formation at the end of reionization.

Contribution

First detection of [NII] and [OIII] lines in a z=6 galaxy, showing early metal enrichment and galaxy properties at the end of reionization.

Findings

Detected [NII] and [OIII] lines at >12σ significance.

G09.83808 has a compact dust disk with high infrared surface brightness.

Gas metallicity estimated at 0.5-0.7 Z⊙, indicating early chemical enrichment.

Abstract

We present observations of [NII] 205 $\mu$m, [OIII] 88 $\mu$m and dust emission in a strongly-lensed, submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at $z=6.0$, G09.83808, with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Both [NII] and [OIII] line emissions are detected at $>12\sigma$ in the 0.8$"$-resolution maps. Lens modeling indicates that the spatial distribution of the dust continuum emission is well characterized by a compact disk with an effective radius of 0.64$\pm$0.02 kpc and a high infrared surface brightness of $\Sigma_\mathrm{IR}=(1.8\pm0.3)\times10^{12}~L_\odot$ kpc$^{-2}$. This result supports that G09.83808 is the progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies at $z\sim4$, where the majority of its stars are expected to be formed through a strong and short burst of star formation. G09.83808 and other lensed SMGs show a decreasing trend of the [NII] line to infrared luminosity ratio with increasing continuum flux density ratio between 63 $\mu$m and 158 $\mu$m, as seen in local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). The decreasing trend can be reproduced by photoionization models with increasing ionization parameters. Furthermore, by combining the [NII]/[OIII] luminosity ratio with far-infrared continuum flux density ratio in G09.83808, we infer that the gas phase metallicity is already $Z\approx 0.5-0.7~Z_\odot$. G09.83808 is likely one of the earliest galaxies that has been chemically enriched at the end of reionization.