Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy
Massive quiescent galaxies in the young Universe are expected to be quenched rapidly, but it is unclear whether they all experience starbursts before quenching and what physical mechanism drives rapid quenching. We study 14 massive quiescent galaxies ( $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\gt 10$...
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7e15 |
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| author | Minjung Park Sirio Belli Charlie Conroy Benjamin D. Johnson Rebecca L. Davies Joel Leja Sandro Tacchella J. Trevor Mendel Chloë Benton Letizia Bugiani Razieh Emami Amir H. Khoram Yijia Li Gabriel Maheson Elijah P. Mathews Rohan P. Naidu Erica J. Nelson Bryan A. Terrazas Rainer Weinberger |
| author_facet | Minjung Park Sirio Belli Charlie Conroy Benjamin D. Johnson Rebecca L. Davies Joel Leja Sandro Tacchella J. Trevor Mendel Chloë Benton Letizia Bugiani Razieh Emami Amir H. Khoram Yijia Li Gabriel Maheson Elijah P. Mathews Rohan P. Naidu Erica J. Nelson Bryan A. Terrazas Rainer Weinberger |
| author_sort | Minjung Park |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Massive quiescent galaxies in the young Universe are expected to be quenched rapidly, but it is unclear whether they all experience starbursts before quenching and what physical mechanism drives rapid quenching. We study 14 massive quiescent galaxies ( $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\gt 10$ ) at z ∼ 2 selected from a representative sample of the Blue Jay survey. We reconstruct their star formation histories (SFHs) by fitting spectral energy distribution models to the JWST/NIRSpec R ∼ 1000 spectra. We find that massive quiescent galaxies can be split into three categories with roughly equal numbers of galaxies according to their SFHs: (1) relatively old galaxies quenched at early epochs; (2) galaxies that are rapidly and recently quenched after a flat or bursty formation history (depending on the assumed prior); and (3) galaxies that are rapidly and recently quenched after a major starburst. Most recently quenched galaxies show neutral gas outflows, probed by blueshifted Na i D absorption, and ionized gas emission, with line ratios consistent with active galactic nucleus (AGN) diagnostics. This suggests that AGN activity drives multiphase gas outflows, leading to rapid quenching. By tracing back the SFHs of the entire sample, we predict the number density of massive quiescent galaxies at z = 4–6: n = (1.5–6.0) × 10 ^−5 Mpc ^−3 . The two old massive quiescent galaxies in our sample appear to have extremely early formation and quenching ( z ≳ 6) and are possibly descendants of early post-starbursts at z > 3. These galaxies still show neutral gas reservoirs and weak H α emission, perhaps because the ejective AGN feedback that caused rapid quenching has weakened over time. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-06f816bf67e44287b03adb8f56dc4572 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-06f816bf67e44287b03adb8f56dc45722024-11-13T16:44:56ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-0197617210.3847/1538-4357/ad7e15Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep SpectroscopyMinjung Park0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8435-9402Sirio Belli1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5615-6018Charlie Conroy2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1590-8551Benjamin D. Johnson3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9280-7594Rebecca L. Davies4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3324-4824Joel Leja5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6755-1315Sandro Tacchella6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8224-4505J. Trevor Mendel7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6327-9147Chloë Benton8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5378-9998Letizia Bugiani9Razieh Emami10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2791-5011Amir H. Khoram11Yijia Li12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0682-3310Gabriel Maheson13Elijah P. Mathews14https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0384-0681Rohan P. Naidu15https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3997-5705Erica J. Nelson16https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7524-374XBryan A. Terrazas17https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5529-7305Rainer Weinberger18https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6260-9709Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , Cambridge, MA 02138, USADipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna , Bologna 40129, ItalyCenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , Cambridge, MA 02138, USACenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , Cambridge, MA 02138, USACentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , AustraliaDepartment of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USAKavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UKARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia; Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra 2611, ACT, AustraliaDepartment for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80305, USADipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna , Bologna 40129, ItalyCenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , Cambridge, MA 02138, USADipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna , Bologna 40129, ItalyDepartment of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USAKavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UKDepartment of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USAMIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80305, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, Oberlin College , Oberlin, OH 44074, USALeibniz Institute for Astrophysics , An der Starnwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, GermanyMassive quiescent galaxies in the young Universe are expected to be quenched rapidly, but it is unclear whether they all experience starbursts before quenching and what physical mechanism drives rapid quenching. We study 14 massive quiescent galaxies ( $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\gt 10$ ) at z ∼ 2 selected from a representative sample of the Blue Jay survey. We reconstruct their star formation histories (SFHs) by fitting spectral energy distribution models to the JWST/NIRSpec R ∼ 1000 spectra. We find that massive quiescent galaxies can be split into three categories with roughly equal numbers of galaxies according to their SFHs: (1) relatively old galaxies quenched at early epochs; (2) galaxies that are rapidly and recently quenched after a flat or bursty formation history (depending on the assumed prior); and (3) galaxies that are rapidly and recently quenched after a major starburst. Most recently quenched galaxies show neutral gas outflows, probed by blueshifted Na i D absorption, and ionized gas emission, with line ratios consistent with active galactic nucleus (AGN) diagnostics. This suggests that AGN activity drives multiphase gas outflows, leading to rapid quenching. By tracing back the SFHs of the entire sample, we predict the number density of massive quiescent galaxies at z = 4–6: n = (1.5–6.0) × 10 ^−5 Mpc ^−3 . The two old massive quiescent galaxies in our sample appear to have extremely early formation and quenching ( z ≳ 6) and are possibly descendants of early post-starbursts at z > 3. These galaxies still show neutral gas reservoirs and weak H α emission, perhaps because the ejective AGN feedback that caused rapid quenching has weakened over time.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7e15GalaxiesGalaxy formationGalaxy evolutionGalaxy quenching |
| spellingShingle | Minjung Park Sirio Belli Charlie Conroy Benjamin D. Johnson Rebecca L. Davies Joel Leja Sandro Tacchella J. Trevor Mendel Chloë Benton Letizia Bugiani Razieh Emami Amir H. Khoram Yijia Li Gabriel Maheson Elijah P. Mathews Rohan P. Naidu Erica J. Nelson Bryan A. Terrazas Rainer Weinberger Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy The Astrophysical Journal Galaxies Galaxy formation Galaxy evolution Galaxy quenching |
| title | Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy |
| title_full | Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy |
| title_fullStr | Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy |
| title_short | Widespread Rapid Quenching at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST Deep Spectroscopy |
| title_sort | widespread rapid quenching at cosmic noon revealed by jwst deep spectroscopy |
| topic | Galaxies Galaxy formation Galaxy evolution Galaxy quenching |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7e15 |
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