Green Flash: Residual Emissions Enshrouded in Low-mass Balmer-break Galaxies at $z\sim5$

TL;DR

This study uses JWST data to analyze four galaxies at z~5 with Balmer breaks and residual emissions, revealing insights into early galaxy quenching and the presence of dusty star-forming regions or obscured AGN.

Contribution

It provides detailed spectral analysis of high-redshift galaxies showing residual emissions and suggests an outside-in quenching process, a novel insight into early galaxy evolution.

Findings

Galaxies are mostly quiescent since ~100 Myr prior to observation.

Higher dust attenuation in nebular regions indicates residual star formation or obscured AGN.

Evidence of outside-in quenching in at least one galaxy.

Abstract

Recent James-Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations have discovered galaxies that are already passively evolving at $z>4$, $\sim1.5$\,Gyr after the Big Bang. Remarkably, some of these galaxies exhibit strong emission lines such as \ha\ and \oiii\ while showing a strong continuum break at $\sim3650$\,\AA\ i.e., Balmer break, giving us a unique insight into the physical mechanisms responsible for early galaxy quenching. In this study, we investigate the nature of four such galaxies at $z=5.10$--$5.78$ identified in the Abell~2744 field, using JWST/NIRCam and NIRSpec data. Our spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting analysis reveals that these galaxies have been mostly quiescent since $\sim100$\,Myr prior to the observed time. We find a higher dust attenuation in the nebular component than in the continuum in all cases. This suggests the presence of dusty star-forming regions or obscured AGN, which could be a {\it residual} signature of past quenching. For one of the galaxies with sufficient medium-band coverage, we derive the \hb+\oiii\ emission line map, finding that the line-emitting region is located in the center and is more compact ($R_e=0.7$\,kpc) than the stellar component ($R_e=0.9$\,kpc). For this specific galaxy, we discuss a scenario where quenching proceeds in the manner of ``outside-in", a stark contrast to the inside-out quenching commonly seen in massive galaxies at later cosmic times.