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We report the detection of cold dust in an apparently quiescent massive galaxy (log (M⋆/M⊙) ≈ 11) at z ∼ 2 (G4). The source is identified as a serendipitous 2 mm continuum source in a deep ALMA observation within the field of Q2343-BX610, a z = 2.21 massive star-forming disc galaxy. Available multiband photometry of G4 suggests redshift of z ∼ 2 and a low specific star formation rate (sSFR), log (SFR/M⋆)[yr−1] ≈ −10.2, corresponding to ≈1.2 dex below the z = 2 main sequence (MS). G4 appears to be a peculiar dust-rich quiescent galaxy for its stellar mass (log (Mdust/M⋆) = −2.71 ± 0.26), with its estimated mass-weighted age (∼1–2 Gyr). We compile z ≳ 1 quiescent galaxies in the literature and discuss their age–ΔMS and log (Mdust/M⋆)–age relations to investigate passive evolution and dust depletion scale. A long dust depletion time and its morphology suggest morphological quenching along with less efficient feedback that could have acted on G4. The estimated dust yield for G4 further supports this idea, requiring efficient survival of dust and/or grain growth, and rejuvenation (or additional accretion). Follow-up observations probing the stellar light and cold dust peak are necessary to understand the implication of these findings in the broader context of galaxy evolutionary studies and quenching in the early universe.

We report the detection of the CO(12–11) line emission toward G09-83808 (or H-ATLAS J090045.4+004125), a strongly-lensed submillimeter galaxy at z = 6.02, with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations. Combining previously detected [O iii] 88 μm, [N ii] 205 μm, and dust continuum at 0.6 mm and 1.5 mm, we investigate the physical properties of the multi-phase interstellar medium in G09-83808. A source-plane reconstruction reveals that the region of the CO(12–11) emission is compact ($R_\mathrm{{e, CO}}=0.49^{+0.29}_{-0.19}\:\mbox{kpc}$) and roughly coincides with that of the dust continuum. Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer modeling of CO spectral-line energy distribution reveals that most of the CO(12–11) emission comes from a warm (kinetic temperature of Tkin = 320 ± 170 K) and dense [log (nH2/cm−3) = 5.4 ± 0.6] gas, indicating that the warm and dense molecular gas is concentrated in the central 0.5 kpc region. The luminosity ratio in G09-83808 is estimated to be LCO(12-11)/LCO(6-5) = 1.1 ± 0.2. The high ratio is consistent with those in local active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and 6 < z < 7 quasars, the fact of which implies that G09-83808 would be a good target to explore dust-obscured AGNs in the epoch of reionization. In the reconstructed [O iii] 88 μm and [N ii] 205 μm cubes, we also find that a monotonic velocity gradient is extending over the central starburst region by a factor of 2 and that star-forming sub-components exist. High-resolution observations of bright [C ii] 158 μm line emissions will enable us to characterize the kinematics of a possible rotating disk and the nature of the sub-components.

We present observations of [N ii] 205 μm, [O iii] 88 μm, and dust emission in a strongly-lensed, submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 6.0, G09.83808, with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Both [N ii] and [O iii] line emissions are detected at >12σ in the ${0{^{\prime \prime}_{.}}8}$-resolution maps. Lens modeling indicates that the spatial distribution of the dust continuum emission is well characterized by a compact disk with an effective radius of 0.64 ± 0.02 kpc and a high infrared surface brightness of ΣIR = (1.8 ± 0.3) × 1012 L⊙ kpc−2. This result supports that G09.83808 is the progenitor of compact quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 4, where the majority of its stars are expected to be formed through a strong and short burst of star formation. G09.83808 and other lensed SMGs show a decreasing trend in the [N ii] line to infrared luminosity ratio with increasing continuum flux density ratio between 63 and 158 μm, as seen in local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). The decreasing trend can be reproduced by photoionization models with increasing ionization parameters. Furthermore, by combining the [N ii]/[O iii] luminosity ratio with far-infrared continuum flux density ratio in G09.83808, we infer that the gas phase metallicity is already Z ≈ 0.5–0.7 Z⊙. G09.83808 is likely one of the earliest galaxies that has been chemically enriched at the end of reionization.

We report the discovery of a triply imaged active galactic nucleus (AGN), lensed by the galaxy cluster MACS J0035.4−2015 (zd = 0.352). The object is detected in Hubble Space Telescope imaging taken for the RELICS program. It appears to have a quasi-stellar nucleus consistent with a point-source, with a de-magnified radius of re ≲ 100 pc. The object is spectroscopically confirmed to be an AGN at zspec = 2.063 ± 0.005 showing broad rest-frame UV emission lines, and detected in both X-ray observations with Chandra and in ALCS ALMA band 6 (1.2 mm) imaging. It has a relatively faint rest-frame UV luminosity for a quasar-like object, MUV, 1450 = −19.7 ± 0.2. The object adds to just a few quasars or other X-ray sources known to be multiply lensed by a galaxy cluster. Some diffuse emission from the host galaxy is faintly seen around the nucleus, and there is a faint object nearby sharing the same multiple-imaging symmetry and geometric redshift, possibly an interacting galaxy or a star-forming knot in the host. We present an accompanying lens model, calculate the magnifications and time delays, and infer the physical properties of the source. We find the rest-frame UV continuum and emission lines to be dominated by the AGN, and the optical emission to be dominated by the host galaxy of modest stellar mass $M_{\star }\simeq 10^{9.2}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ . We also observe some variation in the AGN emission with time, which may suggest that the AGN used to be more active. This object adds a low-redshift counterpart to several relatively faint AGN recently uncovered at high redshifts with HST and JWST.