Strong damped Lyman-a absorption in young star-forming galaxies at redshifts 9 to 11
Heintz KE, Watson D, Brammer G, Vejlgaard S, Hutter A, Strait VB, Matthee JJ, Oesch PA, Jakobsson P, Tanvir NR, Laursen P, Naidu RP, Mason CA, Killi M, Jung I, Hsiao TYY, Abdurro’Uf U, Coe D, Haro PA, Finkelstein SL, Toft S. 2024. Strong damped Lyman-a absorption in young star-forming galaxies at redshifts 9 to 11. Science. 384(6698), 890–894.
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Journal Article
| Published
| English
Scopus indexed
Author
Heintz, Kasper E.;
Watson, Darach;
Brammer, Gabriel;
Vejlgaard, Simone;
Hutter, Anne;
Strait, Victoria B.;
Matthee, Jorryt JISTA 
;
Oesch, Pascal A.;
Jakobsson, Páll;
Tanvir, Nial R.;
Laursen, Peter;
Naidu, Rohan P.
All
;
Oesch, Pascal A.;
Jakobsson, Páll;
Tanvir, Nial R.;
Laursen, Peter;
Naidu, Rohan P.
All
Department
Abstract
Primordial neutral atomic gas, mostly composed of hydrogen, is the raw material for star formation in galaxies. However, there are few direct constraints on the amount of neutral atomic hydrogen (H i) in galaxies at early cosmic times. We analyzed James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) near-infrared spectroscopy of distant galaxies, at redshifts ≳8. From a sample of 12 galaxies, we identified three that show strong damped Lyman-α absorption due to H i in their local surroundings. The galaxies are located at spectroscopic redshifts of 8.8, 10.2, and 11.4, corresponding to 400 to 600 million years after the Big Bang. They have H i column densities ≳1022 cm−2, which is an order of magnitude higher than expected for a fully neutral intergalactic medium, and constitute a gas-rich population of young star-forming galaxies.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2024-05-24
Journal Title
Science
Acknowledgement
K.E.H. acknowledges support from Carlsberg Foundation Reintegration Fellowship grant CF21-0103. A.H. acknowledges support from the VILLUM FONDEN under grant 37459. C.A.M. acknowledges support from the VILLUM FONDEN under grant 37459 and the Carlsberg Foundation under grant CF22-1322. N.R.T. was funded through Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) consolidated grant ST/W000857/1. R.P.N. acknowledges funding from JWST programs GO-1933 and GO-2279. R.P.N. was supported by the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51515.001-A awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under NASA contract NAS5-26555. P.A.O. received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI) under contract number MB22.00072 and from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) through project grant 200020_207349.
Volume
384
Issue
6698
Page
890-894
ISSN
eISSN
IST-REx-ID
Cite this
Heintz KE, Watson D, Brammer G, et al. Strong damped Lyman-a absorption in young star-forming galaxies at redshifts 9 to 11. Science. 2024;384(6698):890-894. doi:10.1126/science.adj0343
Heintz, K. E., Watson, D., Brammer, G., Vejlgaard, S., Hutter, A., Strait, V. B., … Toft, S. (2024). Strong damped Lyman-a absorption in young star-forming galaxies at redshifts 9 to 11. Science. AAAS. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj0343
Heintz, Kasper E., Darach Watson, Gabriel Brammer, Simone Vejlgaard, Anne Hutter, Victoria B. Strait, Jorryt J Matthee, et al. “Strong Damped Lyman-a Absorption in Young Star-Forming Galaxies at Redshifts 9 to 11.” Science. AAAS, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj0343.
K. E. Heintz et al., “Strong damped Lyman-a absorption in young star-forming galaxies at redshifts 9 to 11,” Science, vol. 384, no. 6698. AAAS, pp. 890–894, 2024.
Heintz KE, Watson D, Brammer G, Vejlgaard S, Hutter A, Strait VB, Matthee JJ, Oesch PA, Jakobsson P, Tanvir NR, Laursen P, Naidu RP, Mason CA, Killi M, Jung I, Hsiao TYY, Abdurro’Uf U, Coe D, Haro PA, Finkelstein SL, Toft S. 2024. Strong damped Lyman-a absorption in young star-forming galaxies at redshifts 9 to 11. Science. 384(6698), 890–894.
Heintz, Kasper E., et al. “Strong Damped Lyman-a Absorption in Young Star-Forming Galaxies at Redshifts 9 to 11.” Science, vol. 384, no. 6698, AAAS, 2024, pp. 890–94, doi:10.1126/science.adj0343.
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