More Like this

1. Emission-line Diagnostics at z > 4: [OIII]λ4364 / Hγ versus [NeIII]λ3870 / [OII]λ3730

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae1136  

   Backhaus, Bren E; Cleri, Nikko J; Trump, Jonathan R; Kirkpatrick, Allison; Simons, Raymond C; Amorín, Ricardo O; Arrabal_Haro, Pablo; Bagley, Micaela B; Brooks, Madisyn; Calabrò, Antonello; et al (November 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   We use JWST Near-Infrared Spectrograph observations from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release survey, GLASS-JWST ERS (GLASS), and JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey to measure rest-frame optical emission-line ratios of 89 galaxies atz > 4. The stacked spectra of galaxies with and without a broad-line feature reveal a difference in the [Oiii]λ4364 and Hγratios. This motivated our investigation of the [Oiii]λ4364/Hγversus [Neiii]/[Oii] diagram. We define two active galactic nucleus (AGN)/star formation (SF) classification lines based on 21,048 Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxies atz ∼ 0. After applying a redshift correction to the AGN/SF lines, we find 69.2% of broad-line active galactic nuclei (BLAGN) continue to land in the AGN region of the diagnostic, largely due to the [Neiii]/[Oii] ratio. However, 33.0% of non-BLAGN land is in the AGN region as well. The [Oiii]λ4364/Hγversus [Neiii]/[Oii] diagram does not robustly separate BLAGN from non-broad-line galaxies atz> 4. This could be due to star-forming galaxies having harder ionization, or these galaxies contain a narrow line AGN, which are not accounted for. We further inspected galaxies without broad emission lines in each region of [Oiii]λ4364/Hγversus [Neiii]/[Oii] diagram and found that they have slightly stronger Ciii]λ1908 fluxes and equivalent width when landing in the BLAGN region. However, the cause of this higher ionization is unclear and may be revealed by observing UV lines. 

   more » « less
2. RESOLVE and ECO: Finding Low-metallicity z ∼ 0 Dwarf AGN Candidates Using Optimized Emission-line Diagnostics

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac6595  

   Polimera, Mugdha S.; Kannappan, Sheila J.; Richardson, Chris T.; Bittner, Ashley S.; Ferguson, Carlynn; Moffett, Amanda J.; Eckert, Kathleen D.; Bellovary, Jillian M.; Norris, Mark A. (May 2022, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Existing star-forming vs. active galactic nucleus (AGN) classification schemes using optical emission-line diagnostics mostly fail for low-metallicity and/or highly star-forming galaxies, missing AGN in typical z ∼ 0 dwarfs. To recover AGN in dwarfs with strong emission lines (SELs), we present a classification scheme optimizing the use of existing optical diagnostics. We use Sloan Digital Sky Survey emission-line catalogs overlapping the volume- and mass-limited REsolved Spectroscopy Of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) and Environmental COntex (ECO) surveys to determine the AGN percentage in SEL dwarfs. Our photoionization grids show that the [O iii ]/H β versus [S ii ]/H α diagram (S ii plot) and [O iii ]/H β versus [O i ]/H α diagram (O i plot) are less metallicity sensitive and more successful in identifying dwarf AGN than the popular [O iii ]/H β versus [N ii ]/H α diagnostic (N ii plot or “BPT diagram”). We identify a new category of “star-forming AGN” (SF-AGN) classified as star-forming by the N ii plot but as AGN by the S ii and/or O i plots. Including SF-AGN, we find the z ∼ 0 AGN percentage in dwarfs with SELs to be ∼3%–16%, far exceeding most previous optical estimates (∼1%). The large range in our dwarf AGN percentage reflects differences in spectral fitting methodologies between catalogs. The highly complete nature of RESOLVE and ECO allows us to normalize strong emission-line galaxy statistics to the full galaxy population, reducing the dwarf AGN percentage to ∼0.6%–3.0%. The newly identified SF-AGN are mostly gas-rich dwarfs with halo mass <10 11.5 M ⊙ , where highly efficient cosmic gas accretion is expected. Almost all SF-AGN also have low metallicities ( Z ≲ 0.4 Z ⊙ ), demonstrating the advantage of our method. 

   more » « less
3. The Physical Conditions of Emission-line Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn from JWST/NIRSpec Spectroscopy in the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acba8a  

   Trump, Jonathan R.; Haro, Pablo Arrabal; Simons, Raymond C.; Backhaus, Bren E.; Amorín, Ricardo O.; Dickinson, Mark; Fernández, Vital; Papovich, Casey; Nicholls, David C.; Kewley, Lisa J.; et al (March 2023, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We present rest-frame optical emission-line flux ratio measurements for five z > 5 galaxies observed by the James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations. We add several quality-control and post-processing steps to the NIRSpec pipeline reduction products in order to ensure reliable relative flux calibration of emission lines that are closely separated in wavelength, despite the uncertain absolute spectrophotometry of the current version of the reductions. Compared to z ∼ 3 galaxies in the literature, the z > 5 galaxies have similar [O iii ] λ 5008/H β ratios, similar [O iii ] λ 4364/H γ ratios, and higher (∼0.5 dex) [Ne III ] λ 3870/[O II ] λ 3728 ratios. We compare the observations to MAPPINGS V photoionization models and find that the measured [Ne III ] λ 3870/[O II ] λ 3728, [O iii ] λ 4364/H γ , and [O iii ] λ 5008/H β emission-line ratios are consistent with an interstellar medium (ISM) that has very high ionization ( log ( Q ) ≃ 8 − 9 , units of cm s −1 ), low metallicity ( Z / Z ⊙ ≲ 0.2), and very high pressure ( log ( P / k ) ≃ 8 − 9 , units of cm −3 ). The combination of [O iii ] λ 4364/H γ and [O iii ] λ (4960 + 5008)/H β line ratios indicate very high electron temperatures of 4.1 < log ( T e / K ) < 4.4 , further implying metallicities of Z / Z ⊙ ≲ 0.2 with the application of low-redshift calibrations for “ T e -based” metallicities. These observations represent a tantalizing new view of the physical conditions of the ISM in galaxies at cosmic dawn. 

   more » « less
4. The MOSDEF survey: a comprehensive analysis of the rest-optical emission-line properties of z ∼ 2.3 star-forming galaxies

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab119  

   Runco, Jordan N; Shapley, Alice E; Sanders, Ryan L; Topping, Michael W; Kriek, Mariska; Reddy, Naveen A; Coil, Alison L; Mobasher, Bahram; Siana, Brian; Freeman, William R; et al (February 2021, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   null (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT We analyse the rest-optical emission-line spectra of z ∼ 2.3 star-forming galaxies in the complete MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) survey. In investigating the origin of the well-known offset between the sequences of high-redshift and local galaxies in the [O iii]λ5008/Hβ versus [N ii]λ6585/Hα (‘[N ii] BPT’) diagram, we define two populations of z ∼ 2.3 MOSDEF galaxies. These include the high population that is offset towards higher [O iii]λ5008/Hβ and/or [N ii]λ6585/Hα with respect to the local SDSS sequence and the low population that overlaps the SDSS sequence. These two groups are also segregated within the [O  iii]λ5008/Hβ versus [S ii]λλ6718,6733/Hα and the [O iii]λλ4960,5008/[O ii ]λλ3727,3730 (O32) versus ([O  iii]λλ4960,5008+[O ii]λλ3727,3730)/Hβ (R23) diagrams, which suggests qualitatively that star-forming regions in the more offset galaxies are characterized by harder ionizing spectra at fixed nebular oxygen abundance. We also investigate many galaxy properties of the split sample and find that the high sample is on average smaller in size and less massive, but has higher specific star formation rate (SFR) and SFR surface density values and is slightly younger compared to the low population. From Cloudy+BPASS photoionization models, we estimate that the high population has a lower stellar metallicity (i.e. harder ionizing spectrum) but slightly higher nebular metallicity and higher ionization parameter compared to the low population. While the high population is more α-enhanced (i.e. higher α/Fe) than the low population, both samples are significantly more α-enhanced compared to local star-forming galaxies with similar rest-optical line ratios. These differences must be accounted for in all high-redshift star-forming galaxies – not only those ‘offset’ from local excitation sequences. 

   more » « less
5. Disentangling the Physical Origin of Emission Line Ratio Offsets at High Redshift with Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac1d52  

   Hirtenstein, Jessie; Jones, Tucker; Sanders, Ryan L.; Martin, Crystal L.; Cooper, M. C.; Brammer, Gabriel; Treu, Tommaso; Schmidt, Kasper; Shapley, Alice (November 2021, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We present spatially resolved Hubble Space Telescope grism spectroscopy of 15 galaxies at z ∼ 0.8 drawn from the DEEP2 survey. We analyze H α +[N ii ], [S ii ], and [S iii ] emission on kiloparsec scales to explore which mechanisms are powering emission lines at high redshifts, testing which processes may be responsible for the well-known offset of high-redshift galaxies from the z ∼ 0 locus in the [O iii ]/H β versus [N ii ]/H α Baldwin—Phillips—Terlevich (BPT) excitation diagram. We study spatially resolved emission-line maps to examine evidence for active galactic nuclei (AGN), shocks, diffuse ionized gas (DIG), or escaping ionizing radiation, all of which may contribute to the BPT offsets observed in our sample. We do not find significant evidence of AGN in our sample and quantify that, on average, AGN would need to contribute ∼25% of the H α flux in the central resolution element in order to cause the observed BPT offsets. We find weak (2 σ ) evidence of DIG emission at low surface brightnesses, yielding an implied total DIG emission fraction of ∼20%, which is not significant enough to be the dominant emission line driver in our sample. In general we find that the observed emission is dominated by star-forming H ii regions. We discuss trends with demographic properties and the possible role of α -enhanced abundance patterns in the emission spectra of high-redshift galaxies. Our results indicate that photoionization modeling with stellar population synthesis inputs is a valid tool to explore the specific star formation properties which may cause BPT offsets, to be explored in future work. 

   more » « less