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1. Unveiling the Cosmic Chemistry. II. “Direct” T _e -based Metallicity of Galaxies at 3 < z < 10 with JWST/NIRSpec

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc7b5  

   Chakraborty, Priyanka; Sarkar, Arnab; Smith, Randall; Ferland, Gary J; McDonald, Michael; Forman, William; Vogelsberger, Mark; Torrey, Paul; Garcia, Alex M; Bautz, Mark; et al (May 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We report the detection of the [Oiii] auroral line in 42 galaxies within the redshift range of 3 <z< 10. These galaxies were selected from publicly available JWST data releases, including the JADES and PRIMAL surveys, and observed using both the low-resolution PRISM/CLEAR configuration and medium-resolution gratings. The measured electron temperatures in the high-ionization regions of these galaxies range fromT_e([Oiii]) = 12,000 to 24,000 K, consistent with temperatures observed in local metal-poor galaxies and previous JWST studies. In 10 galaxies, we also detect the [Oii] auroral line, allowing us to determine electron temperatures in the low-ionization regions, which range betweenT_e([Oii]) = 10,830 and 20,000 K. The directT_e-based metallicities of our sample span from 12 + log(O/H) = 7.2 to 8.4, indicating these high-redshift galaxies are relatively metal-poor. By combining our sample with 25 galaxies from the literature, we expand the data set to a total of 67 galaxies within 3 <z< 10, effectively more than doubling the previous sample size for directT_e-based metallicity studies. This larger data set allows us to derive empirical metallicity calibration relations based exclusively on high-redshift galaxies, using six key line ratios: R3, R2, R23, Ne3O2, O32, and O3N2. Notably, we derive a novel metallicity calibration relation for the first time using high-redshiftT_e-based metallicities: $\hat{R}$= 0.18log R2 + 0.98log R3. This new calibration significantly reduces the scatter in high-redshift galaxies compared to the $\hat{R}$relation previously calibrated for low-redshift galaxies. 

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2. L oo p D e l t a : E m b e dd i n g L o c a li t y - a w a r e O pp o r t un i s t i c D e l t a C o m p r e ss i o n i n I n li n e D e dup li c a t i o n f o r Hi g h l y E ffic i e n t D a t a R e du c t i o n

   Zhang, Yucheng; Jiang, Hong; Feng, Dan; Jiang Nan; Qui, Taorong; Huang, Wei (July 2023, USENIX annual technical conference)

   A s a c om pl e men t t o da ta d edupli cat ion , de lta c om p ress i on fu r- t he r r edu c es t h e dat a vo l u m e by c o m pr e ssi n g n o n - dup li c a t e d ata chunk s r e l a t iv e to t h e i r s i m il a r chunk s (bas e chunk s). H ow ever, ex is t i n g p o s t - d e dup li c a t i o n d e l t a c o m pr e ssi o n a p- p ro a ches fo r bac kup s t or ag e e i t h e r su ffe r f ro m t h e l ow s i m - il a r i t y b e twee n m any de te c ted c hun ks o r m i ss so me po t e n - t i a l s i m il a r c hunks , o r su ffer f r om l ow (ba ckup and r es t ore ) th r oug hpu t du e t o extr a I/ Os f or r e a d i n g b a se c hun ks o r a dd a dd i t i on a l s e r v i c e - d i s r up t ive op e r a t i on s to b a ck up s ys t em s. I n t h i s pa p e r, w e pr opo se L oop D e l t a t o a dd ress the above - m e n t i on e d prob l e m s by an e nha nced em b e ddi n g d e l t a c o m p - r e ss i on sc heme i n d e dup li c a t i on i n a non - i n t ru s ive way. T h e e nha nce d d elt a c o mpr ess ion s che m e co m b in e s f our key t e c h - ni qu e s : (1) du a l - l o c a li t y - b a s e d s i m il a r i t y t r a c k i n g to d e t ect po t e n t i a l si m il a r chun k s b y e x p l o i t i n g both l o g i c a l and ph y - s i c a l l o c a li t y, ( 2 ) l o c a li t y - a wa r e pr e f e t c h i n g to pr efe tc h ba se c hun ks to a vo i d ex t ra I/ Os fo r r e a d i n g ba s e chun ks on t h e w r i t e p at h , (3) c a che -aware fil t e r to avo i d ext r a I/Os f or b a se c hunk s on t he read p at h, a nd (4) i nver sed de l ta co mpressi on t o perf orm de lt a co mpress i o n fo r d at a chunk s t hat a re o th e r wi se f o r b i dd e n to s er ve as ba se c hunk s by r ew r i t i n g t e c hn i qu e s d e s i g n e d t o i m p r ove r es t o re pe rf o rma nc e. E x p e r i m e n t a l re su lts indi ca te t hat L oop D e l t a i ncr ea se s t he c o m pr e ss i o n r a t i o by 1 .2410 .97 t i m e s on t op of d e dup li c a - t i on , wi t hou t no t a b l y a ffe c t i n g th e ba ck up th rou ghpu t, a nd i t i m p r ove s t he res to re p er fo r m an ce b y 1.23.57 t i m e 

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3. CECILIA: The Faint Emission Line Spectrum of z ∼ 2–3 Star-forming Galaxies

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad07dc  

   Strom, Allison L.; Rudie, Gwen C.; Trainor, Ryan F.; Brammer, Gabriel B.; Maseda, Michael V.; Raptis, Menelaos; Rogers, Noah S.; Steidel, Charles C.; Chen 陈, Yuguang 昱光; Law, David R. (November 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract We present the first results from Chemical Evolution Constrained Using Ionized Lines in Interstellar Aurorae (CECILIA), a Cycle 1 JWST NIRSpec/MSA program that uses ultra-deep ∼30 hr G235M/F170LP observations to target multiple electron temperature-sensitive auroral lines in the spectra of 33 galaxies atz∼ 1–3. Using a subset of 23 galaxies, we construct two ∼600 object-hour composite spectra, both with and without the stellar continuum, and use these to investigate the characteristic rest-optical (λ_rest≈ 5700–8500 Å) spectrum of star-forming galaxies at the peak epoch of cosmic star formation. Emission lines of eight different elements (H, He, N, O, Si, S, Ar, and Ni) are detected, with most of these features observed to be ≲3% the strength of Hα. We report the characteristic strength of three auroral features ([Nii]λ5756, [Siii]λ6313, and [Oii]λλ7322, 7332), as well as other semi-strong and faint emission lines, including forbidden [Niii]λλ7380, 7414 and permitted Oiλ8449, some of which have never before been observed outside of the local Universe. Using these measurements, we findT_e[Nii] = 13,630 ± 2540 K, representing the first measurement of electron temperature using [Nii] in the high-redshift Universe. We also see evidence for broad line emission with a FWHM of ${536}_{-167}^{+45}$km s⁻¹; the broad component of Hαis 6.01%–28.31% the strength of the narrow component and likely arises from star-formation-driven outflows. Finally, we briefly comment on the feasibility of obtaining large samples of faint emission lines using JWST in the future. 

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4. Multiphase ISM in the z = 5.7 Hyperluminous Starburst SPT 0346–52

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac58f9  

   Litke, Katrina C.; Marrone, Daniel P.; Aravena, Manuel; Béthermin, Matthieu; Chapman, Scott C.; Dong, Chenxing; Hayward, Christopher C.; Hill, Ryley; Jarugula, Sreevani; Malkan, Matthew A.; et al (April 2022, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract With Σ_SFR∼ 4200M_⊙yr⁻¹kpc⁻², SPT 0346–52 (z= 5.7) is the most intensely star-forming galaxy discovered by the South Pole Telescope. In this paper, we expand on previous spatially resolved studies, using ALMA observations of dust continuum, [Nii] 205μm, [Cii] 158μm, [Oi] 146μm, and undetected [Nii] 122μm and [Oi] 63μm emission to study the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM) in SPT 0346–52. We use pixelated, visibility-based lens modeling to reconstruct the source-plane emission. We also model the source-plane emission using the photoionization codecloudyand find a supersolar metallicity system. We calculateT_dust= 48.3 K andλ_peak= 80μm and see line deficits in all five lines. The ionized gas is less dense than comparable galaxies, withn_e< 32 cm⁻³, while ∼20% of the [Cii] 158μm emission originates from the ionized phase of the ISM. We also calculate the masses of several phases of the ISM. We find that molecular gas dominates the mass of the ISM in SPT 0346–52, with the molecular gas mass ∼4× higher than the neutral atomic gas mass and ∼100× higher than the ionized gas mass. 

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5. 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; Arrabal_Haro, Pablo; 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 fivez> 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 reliablerelativeflux calibration of emission lines that are closely separated in wavelength, despite the uncertainabsolutespectrophotometry of the current version of the reductions. Compared toz∼ 3 galaxies in the literature, thez> 5 galaxies have similar [Oiii]λ5008/Hβratios, similar [Oiii]λ4364/Hγratios, and higher (∼0.5 dex) [NeIII]λ3870/[OII]λ3728 ratios. We compare the observations to MAPPINGS V photoionization models and find that the measured [NeIII]λ3870/[OII]λ3728, [Oiii]λ4364/Hγ, and [Oiii]λ5008/Hβemission-line ratios are consistent with an interstellar medium (ISM) that has very high ionization ( $\log \left(Q\right)\simeq 8-9$, units of cm s⁻¹), low metallicity (Z/Z_⊙≲ 0.2), and very high pressure ( $\log \left(P/k\right)\simeq 8-9$, units of cm⁻³). The combination of [Oiii]λ4364/Hγand [Oiii]λ(4960 + 5008)/Hβline ratios indicate very high electron temperatures of $4.1<\log \left(T_e/\mathrm{K}\right)<4.4$, further implying metallicities ofZ/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. 

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