Hitting the slopes: A spectroscopic view of UV continuum slopes of galaxies reveals a reddening at z > 9.5

TL;DR

This study measures the UV continuum slopes of 295 galaxies at redshifts 5.5 to 14.3 using JWST spectra, revealing a reddening trend at z > 9.5 likely due to dust or nebular emission effects.

Contribution

First spectroscopic analysis of UV slopes at z > 9.5, linking spectral properties to dust, metallicity, and nebular emission, with implications for early galaxy evolution.

Findings

Median β = -2.3 across sample

Reddening trend at z > 9.5 deviates from lower redshift trend

Six galaxies with β < -3.0 show LyC leakage signs

Abstract

The UV continuum slope of galaxies, $\beta$, is a powerful diagnostic. Understanding the redshift evolution of $\beta$ and its dependence on key galaxy properties can shed light on the evolution of galaxy physical properties over cosmic time. In this study, we present $\beta$ measurements for 295 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at $5.5<z<14.3$ selected primarily from JADES, where $\beta$ has been measured from high quality JWST NIRSpec/PRISM spectra. We find a median $\beta=-2.3$ across our full sample, and find mild increase in blueness of $\beta$ with increasing redshift and fainter UV magnitudes. Interestingly, we find evidence for the average $\beta$ at $z > 9.5$ to begin to redden, deviating from the trend observed at $z < 9.5$. By producing stacked spectra in bins of redshift and $\beta$, we derive trends between $\beta$ and dust attenuation, metallicity, ionization parameter, and stellar age indicators directly from spectra, finding a lack of dust attenuation to be the dominant driver of bluer $\beta$ values. We further report six galaxies with $\beta<-3.0$, which show a range of spectroscopic properties and signs of significant LyC photon leakage. Finally, we show that the redder $\beta$ values at $z > 9.5$ may require rapid build-up of dust reservoirs in the very early Universe or a significant contribution from the nebular continuum emission to the observed UV spectra, with the nebular continuum fraction depending on the gas temperatures and densities. Our modeling shows that in the absence of dust, nebular emission at $T > 15,000$ K can reproduce the range of $\beta$ that we see in our sample. Higher gas temperatures driven by hot, massive stars can boost the fraction of nebular continuum emission, potentially explaining the observed $\beta$ values as well as bright UV magnitudes seen across galaxies at $z > 10$.