The 3D geometry of high-redshift galaxies remains poorly understood. We build a differentiable Bayesian model and use Hamiltonian Monte Carlo to efficiently and robustly infer the 3D shapes of star-forming galaxies in JWST-CEERS observations with $\log M_*/M_{\odot}=9.0-10.5$ at $z=0.5-8.0$. We reproduce previous results from HST-CANDELS in a fraction of the computing time and constrain the mean ellipticity, triaxiality, size and covariances with samples as small as $\sim50$ galaxies. We find high 3D ellipticities for all mass-redshift bins suggesting oblate (disky) or prolate (elongated) geometries. We break that degeneracy by constraining the mean triaxiality to be $\sim1$ for $\log M_*/M_{\odot}=9.0-9.5$ dwarfs at $z>1$ (favoring the prolate scenario), with significantly lower triaxialities for higher masses and lower redshifts indicating the emergence of disks. The prolate population traces out a ``banana'' in the projected $b/a-\log a$ diagram with an excess of low $b/a$, large $\log a$ galaxies. The dwarf prolate fraction rises from $\sim25\%$ at $z=0.5-1.0$ to $\sim50-80\%$ at $z=3-8$. If these are disks, they cannot be axisymmetric but instead must be unusually oval (triaxial) unlike local circular disks. We simultaneously constrain the 3D size-mass relation and its dependence on 3D geometry. High-probability prolate and oblate candidates show remarkably similar S\'ersic indices ($n\sim1$), non-parametric morphological properties and specific star formation rates. Both tend to be visually classified as disks or irregular but edge-on oblate candidates show more dust attenuation. We discuss selection effects, follow-up prospects and theoretical implications.
Abstract We analyze rest-frame ultraviolet to optical spectra of three z ≃ 7.47–7.75 galaxies whose Ly α emission lines were previously detected with Keck/MOSFIRE observations, using the JWST/NIRSpec observations from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science survey. From NIRSpec data, we confirm the systemic redshifts of these Ly α emitters, and emission-line ratio diagnostics indicate these galaxies were highly ionized and metal-poor. We investigate Ly α line properties, including the line flux, velocity offset, and spatial extent. For the one galaxy where we have both NIRSpec and MOSFIRE measurements, we find a significant offset in their flux measurements (∼1.3–5× greater in MOSFIRE) and a marginal difference in the velocity shifts. The simplest interpretation is that the Ly α emission is extended and not entirely encompassed by the NIRSpec slit. The cross-dispersion profiles in NIRSpec reveal that Ly α in one galaxy is significantly more extended than the nonresonant emission lines. We also compute the expected sizes of ionized bubbles that can be generated by the Ly α sources and discuss viable scenarios for the creation of sizable ionized bubbles (>1 physical Mpc). The source with the highest-ionization condition is possibly capable of ionizing its own bubble, while the other two do not appear to be capable of ionizing such a large region, but require additional sources of ionizing photons. Therefore, the fact that we detect Ly α from these galaxies suggests diverse scenarios for the escape of Ly α during the epoch of reionization. High-spectral-resolution spectra with JWST/NIRSpec will be extremely useful for constraining the physics of patchy reionization.
We present results of a search for emission-line galaxies (ELGs) in the southern fields of the Hubble Space Telescope Probing Evolution And Reionization Spectroscopically (PEARS) grism survey. The PEARS South Fields consist of five Advanced Camera for Surveys pointings (including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field) with the G800L grism for a total of 120 orbits, revealing thousands of faint object spectra in the GOODS-South region of the sky. ELGs are one subset of objects that are prevalent among the grism spectra. Using a two-dimensional detection and extraction procedure, we find 320 emission lines originating from 226 galaxy "knots" within 192 individual galaxies. Line identification results in 118 new grism-spectroscopic redshifts for galaxies in the GOODS-South Field. We measure emission-line fluxes using standard Gaussian fitting techniques. At the resolution of the grism data, the Hβ and [O iii] doublet are blended. However, by fitting two Gaussian components to the Hβ and [O iii] features, we find that many of the PEARS ELGs have high [O iii]/Hβ ratios compared to other galaxy samples of comparable luminosities. The star formation rates of the ELGs are presented, as well as a sample of distinct giant star-forming regions at z ∼ 0.1–0.5 across individual galaxies. We find that the radial distances of these H ii regions in general reside near the galaxies' optical continuum half-light radii, similar to those of giant H ii regions in local galaxies.
Galaxies selected on the basis of their emission line strength show low metallicities, regardless of their redshifts. We conclude this from a sample of faint galaxies at redshifts between 0.6 < z < 2.4, selected by their prominent emission lines in low-resolution grism spectra in the optical with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and in the near-infrared using Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Using a sample of 11 emission line galaxies (ELGs) at 0.6 < z < 2.4 with luminosities of -22 < M_B < -19, which have [OII], H\beta, and [OIII] line flux measurements from the combination of two grism spectral surveys, we use the R23 method to derive the gas-phase oxygen abundances: 7.5 < 12+log(O/H) < 8.5. The galaxy stellar masses are derived using Bayesian based Markov Chain Monte Carlo (\piMC^2) fitting of their Spectral Energy Distribution (SED), and span the mass range 8.1 < log(M_*/M_\sun) < 10.1. These galaxies show a mass-metallicity (M-L) and Luminosity-Metallicity (L-Z) relation, which is offset by --0.6 dex in metallicity at given absolute magnitude and stellar mass relative to the local SDSS galaxies, as well as continuum selected DEEP2 samples at similar redshifts. The emission-line selected galaxies most resemble the local "green peas" galaxies and Lyman-alpha galaxies at z~0.3 and z~2.3 in the M-Z and L-Z relations and their morphologies. The G-M_{20} morphology analysis shows that 10 out of 11 show disturbed morphology, even as the star-forming regions are compact. These galaxies may be intrinsically metal poor, being at early stages of formation, or the low metallicities may be due to gas infall and accretion due to mergers.
We present near-infrared spectroscopy of a sample of 22 Extreme Emission Line Galaxies at redshifts 1.3 < z < 2.3, confirming that these are low-mass (M⋆ = 108–109 M☉) galaxies undergoing intense starburst episodes (M⋆/SFR ∼ 10–100 Myr). The sample is selected by [O iii] or Hα emission line flux and equivalent width using near-infrared grism spectroscopy from the 3D-HST survey. High-resolution NIR spectroscopy is obtained with LBT/LUCI and VLT/X-SHOOTER. The [O iii]/Hβ line ratio is high (≳ 5) and [N ii]/Hα is always significantly below unity, which suggests a low gas-phase metallicity. We are able to determine gas-phase metallicities for seven of our objects using various strong-line methods, with values in the range 0.05–0.30 Z☉ and with a median of 0.15 Z☉; for three of these objects we detect [O iii] λ4363, which allows for a direct constraint on the metallicity. The velocity dispersion, as measured from the nebular emission lines, is typically ∼50 km s−1. Combined with the observed star-forming activity, the Jeans and Toomre stability criteria imply that the gas fraction must be large (fgas ≳ 2/3), consistent with the difference between our dynamical and stellar mass estimates. The implied gas depletion timescale (several hundred Myr) is substantially longer than the inferred mass-weighted ages (∼50 Myr), which further supports the emerging picture that most stars in low-mass galaxies form in short, intense bursts of star formation.
