Improved measurements of the age of JWST galaxies at z=6-10

TL;DR

This study refines the age estimates of high-redshift JWST galaxies using combined photometry and spectroscopy, revealing some galaxies may be older than the universe's age, indicating potential model uncertainties.

Contribution

It provides improved age measurements of z=6-10 galaxies by integrating spectroscopic and photometric data with advanced SED fitting, highlighting possible tensions with cosmological models.

Findings

Average galaxy age: 0.61 Gyr, close to universe age

Some galaxies appear older than the universe, indicating model issues

Most galaxies have minimal AGN contribution at red wavelengths

Abstract

From James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) surveys, 31 galaxies with average redshift 7.3 are selected containing large Balmer break, Lyman-$\alpha$ break (V-shaped SED versus $\lambda$). Apart from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and JWST-NIRCam (Near-infrared camera) photometry for these galaxies, there are JWST-NIRSpec (Near-infrared spectrograph) spectra for 13 galaxies and mid-infrared photometry (mostly JWST-MIRI) for 15 of them. Spectroscopical analyses included Balmer emission lines, Balmer + 4000 angstroms breaks or CaII lines. Spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting with photometry include old and young stellar populations, emission lines associated to HII regions, AGN, interstellar dust extinction and intergalactic extinction from neutral hydrogen. By adopting realistic extinction curves and taking into account the V-shaped SED and low emission at near infrared at rest, the analyses show that AGN contribution in these galaxies ('little red dots' most of them) should be small on average in the reddest wavelengths, though important for few of the 31 galaxies. Average age of the 31 galaxies: $0.61\pm 0.31$(95% CL) Gyr, while the average age of the $\Lambda $CDM universe is 0.70 Gyr. This corresponds to a formation epoch $z_{ form.}>11.2$(97.5% CL). Reddest galaxies present largest ages. One of these very red galaxies gets an age incompatible to be younger than the age of the Universe within $>4.7\sigma$. TP-AGB effect cannot explain this tension. None the less, there may be other uncertainties in the models, so this tension is a provisional result and further research is needed to confirm it.