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Abstract High-velocity clouds (HVCs), which are gas clouds moving at high velocity relative to the galactic disk, may play a critical role in galaxy evolution, potentially supplying gas to the disk and triggering star formation. In this study, we focus on the nearby face-on barred spiral galaxy M83, where high-spatial-resolution, high-sensitivity CO(1–0) data are available. We identified molecular clouds and searched for clouds with velocities deviating by more than 50 km s⁻¹from the disk velocity field as HVCs. A total of 10 HVCs were detected—9 redshifted and 1 blueshifted—clearly highlighting an asymmetry in their velocity distribution. These HVCs have radii of 30–80 pc, masses on the order of 10⁵M_⊙, and velocity dispersions of 3–20 km s⁻¹, displaying a tendency toward higher velocity dispersion compared to disk molecular clouds in M83. Most of the HVCs do not overlap with the candidates of supernova remnants, and the energy needed to drive HVCs at such high velocities exceeds single supernova energy. Together with the asymmetry in their velocity distribution, we thus conclude that most of the HVCs found in this study are inflow from outside the M83’s disk. 

Abstract Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) data toward QSO J1851+0035 (l= 33.°498,b= +0.°194) were used to study absorption lines by Galactic molecular gas. We detected 17 species (CO,¹³CO, C¹⁸O, HCO⁺, H¹³CO⁺, HCO, H₂CO, C₂H,c-C₃H,c-C₃H₂, CN, HCN, HNC, CS, SO, SiO, and C) and set upper limits to 18 species as reference values for chemical models. About 20 independent velocity components at 4.7–10.9 kpc from the Galactic center were identified. Their column density and excitation temperature estimated from the absorption study, as well as the CO intensity distributions obtained from the FUGIN survey, indicate that the components withτ≲1 correspond to diffuse clouds or cloud outer edges. Simultaneous multiple-Gaussian fitting of COJ= 1–0 andJ= 2–1 absorption lines shows that these are composed of narrow- and broad-line components. The kinetic temperature empirically expected from the high HCN/HNC isomer ratio (≳4) reaches ≳40 K and the corresponding thermal width accounts for the line widths of the narrow-line components. CN-bearing molecules and hydrocarbons have tight and linear correlations within the groups. The CO/HCO⁺abundance ratio showed a dispersion as large as 3 orders of magnitude with a smaller ratio in a smallerN(HCO⁺) (or lowerA_V) range. Some of the velocity components are detected in single-dish CO emission and ALMA HCO⁺absorption but without corresponding ALMA CO absorption. This may be explained by the mixture of clumpy CO emitters not resolved with the ∼1 pc single-dish beam surrounded by extended components with a very low CO/HCO⁺abundance ratio (i.e., CO-poor gas). 

Strong gravitational magnification enables the detection of faint background sources and allows researchers to resolve their internal structures and even identify individual stars in distant galaxies. Highly magnified individual stars are useful in various applications, including studies of stellar populations in distant galaxies and constraining dark matter structures in the lensing plane. However, these applications have been hampered by the small number of individual stars observed, as typically one or a few stars are identified from each distant galaxy. Here, we report the discovery of more than 40 microlensed stars in a single galaxy behind Abell 370 at redshift of 0.725 (dubbed ‘the Dragon arc’) when the Universe was half of its current age, using James Webb Space Telescope observations with the time-domain technique. These events were found near the expected lensing critical curves, suggesting that these are magnified stars that appear as transients from intracluster stellar microlenses. Through multi-wavelength photometry, we constrained their stellar types and found that many of them are consistent with red giants or supergiants magnified by factors of hundreds. This finding reveals a high occurrence of microlensing events in the Dragon arc and demonstrates that time-domain observations by the James Webb Space Telescope could lead to the possibility of conducting statistical studies of high-redshift stars. 

Abstract We report the detection of an ionized gas outflow from an X-ray active galactic nucleus hosted in a massive quiescent galaxy in a protocluster at z = 3.09 (J221737.29+001823.4). It is a type-2 QSO with broad ( W 80 > 1000 km s −1 ) and strong ( log ( L [ OIII ] /erg s −1 ) ≈ 43.4) [O iii ] λ λ 4959,5007 emission lines detected by slit spectroscopy in three-position angles using Multi-Object Infra-Red Camera and Spectrograph (MOIRCS) on the Subaru telescope and the Multi-Object Spectrometer For Infra-Red Exploration (MOSFIRE) on the Keck-I telescope. In the all slit directions, [O iii ] emission is extended to ∼15 physical kpc and indicates a powerful outflow spreading over the host galaxy. The inferred ionized gas mass outflow rate is 22 ± 3 M ⊙ yr −1 . Although it is a radio source, according to the line diagnostics using H β , [O ii ], and [O iii ], photoionization by the central QSO is likely the dominant ionization mechanism rather than shocks caused by radio jets. On the other hand, the spectral energy distribution of the host galaxy is well characterized as a quiescent galaxy that has shut down star formation several hundred Myr ago. Our results suggest a scenario that QSOs are powered after the shutdown of the star formation and help complete the quenching of massive quiescent galaxies at high redshift. 

Abstract We report a massive quiescent galaxy at z spec = 3.0922 − 0.004 + 0.008 spectroscopically confirmed at a protocluster in the SSA22 field by detecting the Balmer and Ca ii absorption features with the multi-object spectrometer for infrared exploration on the Keck I telescope. This is the most distant quiescent galaxy confirmed in a protocluster to date. We fit the optical to mid-infrared photometry and spectrum simultaneously with spectral energy distribution (SED) models of parametric and nonparametric star formation histories (SFHs). Both models fit the observed SED well and confirm that this object is a massive quiescent galaxy with a stellar mass of log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) = 11.26 − 0.04 + 0.03 and 11.54 − 0.00 + 0.03 , and a star formation rate of SFR/ M ⊙ yr −1 < 0.3 and = 0.01 − 0.01 + 0.03 for parametric and nonparametric models, respectively. The SFH from the former modeling is described as an instantaneous starburst whereas that of the latter modeling is longer-lived, but both models agree with a sudden quenching of the star formation at ∼0.6 Gyr ago. This massive quiescent galaxy is confirmed in an extremely dense group of galaxies predicted as a progenitor of a brightest cluster galaxy formed via multiple mergers in cosmological numerical simulations. We discover three new plausible [O iii ] λ 5007 emitters at 3.0791 ≤ z spec ≤ 3.0833 serendipitously detected around the target. Two of them just between the target and its nearest massive galaxy are possible evidence of their interactions. They suggest the future great size and stellar mass evolution of this massive quiescent galaxy via mergers. 

The detection of starlight from the host galaxies of quasars during the reionization epoch (z > 6) has been elusive, even with deep HST observations1,2. The current highest redshift quasar host detected3, at z = 4.5, required the magnifying effect of a foreground lensing galaxy. Low-luminosity quasars4,5,6 from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP)7 mitigate the challenge of detecting their underlying, previously-undetected host galaxies. Here we report rest-frame optical images and spectroscopy of two HSC-SSP quasars at z > 6 with JWST. Using NIRCam imaging at 3.6μm and 1.5μm and subtracting the light from the unresolved quasars, we find that the host galaxies are massive (stellar masses of 13 × and 3.4 × 1010 M⊙, respectively), compact, and disk-like. NIRSpec medium-resolution spectroscopy shows stellar absorption lines in the more massive quasar, confirming the detection of the host. Velocity-broadened gas in the vicinity of these quasars enables measurements of their black hole masses (1.4 × 109 and 2.0 × 108 M⊙, respectively). Their location in the black hole mass - stellar mass plane is consistent with the distribution at low redshift, suggesting that the relation between black holes and their host galaxies was already in place less than a billion years after the Big Bang.