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Abstract While quiescent galaxies have comparable amounts of cool gas in their outer circumgalactic medium (CGM) compared to star-forming galaxies, they have significantly less interstellar gas. However, open questions remain on the processes causing galaxies to stop forming stars and stay quiescent. Theories suggest dynamical interactions with the hot corona prevent cool gas from reaching the galaxy, therefore predicting the inner regions of quiescent galaxy CGMs are devoid of cool gas. However, there is a lack of understanding of the inner regions of CGMs due to the lack of spatial information in quasar-sightline methods. We present integral-field spectroscopy probing 10–20 kpc (2.4–4.8 Re) around a massive quiescent galaxy using a gravitationally lensed star-forming galaxy. We detect absorption from Magnesium (MgII) implying large amounts of cool atomic gas (108.4–109.3 M⊙ with T~104 Kelvin), in comparable amounts to star-forming galaxies. Lens modeling of Hubble imaging also reveals a diffuse asymmetric component of significant mass consistent with the spatial extent of the MgII absorption, and offset from the galaxy light profile. This study demonstrates the power of galaxy-scale gravitational lenses to not only probe the gas around galaxies, but to also independently probe the mass of the CGM due to it’s gravitational effect.

We present a measurement of the mass–metallicity relation (MZR) at Cosmic Noon, using the JWST near-infrared wide-field slitless spectroscopy obtained by the GLASS-JWST Early Release Science program. By combining the power of JWST and the lensing magnification by the foreground cluster A2744, we extend the measurements of the MZR to the dwarf mass regime at high redshifts. A sample of 50 galaxies with several emission lines is identified across two wide redshift ranges of z = 1.8–2.3 and 2.6–3.4 in the stellar mass range of $\mathrm{log}\,({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })\in [6.9,10.0]$ . The observed slope of MZR is 0.223 ± 0.017 and 0.294 ± 0.010 at these two redshift ranges, respectively, consistent with the slopes measured in field galaxies with higher masses. In addition, we assess the impact of the morphological broadening on emission line measurement by comparing two methods of using 2D forward modeling and line profile fitting to 1D extracted spectra. We show that ignoring the morphological broadening effect when deriving line fluxes from grism spectra results in a systematic reduction of flux by ∼30% on average. This discrepancy appears to affect all the lines and thus does not lead to significant changes in flux ratio and metallicity measurements. This assessment of the morphological broadening effect using JWST data presents, for the first time, an important guideline for future work deriving galaxy line fluxes from wide-field slitless spectroscopy, such as Euclid, Roman, and the Chinese Space Station Telescope.

Cosmic hydrogen reionization and cosmic production of the first metals are major phase transitions of the Universe occurring during the first billion years after the Big Bang; however, these are still underexplored observationally. Using the JWST/NIRSpec prism spectroscopy, we report the discovery of a sub- L _* galaxy at z _spec = 8.1623 ± 0.0007, dubbed RX J2129–z8He II , via the detection of a series of strong rest-frame UV/optical nebular emission lines and the clear Lyman break. RX J2129–z8He II shows a pronounced UV continuum with an extremely steep (i.e., blue) spectral slope of $\beta =-{2.53}_{-0.07}^{+0.06}$ , the steepest among all spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at z _spec ≳ 7, in support of its very hard ionizing spectrum that could lead to a significant leakage of its ionizing flux. Therefore, RX J2129–z8He II is representative of the key galaxy population driving the cosmic reionization. More importantly, we detect a strong He II λ 1640 emission line in its spectrum, one of the highest redshifts at which such a line is robustly detected. Its high rest-frame equivalent width (EW = 21 ± 4 Å) and extreme flux ratios with respect to UV metal and Balmer lines raise the possibility that part of RX J2129–z8He II ’s stellar population could be Pop III (Pop III)-like. Through careful photoionization modeling, we show that the physically calibrated phenomenological models of the ionizing spectra of Pop III stars with strong mass loss can successfully reproduce the emission line flux ratios observed in RX J2129–z8He II . Assuming the Eddington limit, the total mass of the Pop III stars within this system is estimated to be 7.8 ± 1.4 × 10 ^5 M _⊙ . To date, this galaxy presents the most compelling case in the early Universe where trace Pop III stars might coexist with metal-enriched populations.

Over the past few years alone, the lensing community has discovered thousands of strong lens candidates, and spectroscopically confirmed hundreds of them. In this time of abundance, it becomes pragmatic to focus our time and resources on the few extraordinary systems, in order to most efficiently study the Universe. In this paper, we present such a system: DESI-090.9854-35.9683, a cluster-scale lens at z _l = 0.49, with seven observed lensed sources around the core, and additional lensed sources further out in the cluster. From the number and the textbook configuration of the lensed images, a tight constraint on the mass potential of the lens is possible. This would allow for detailed analysis on the dark and luminous matter content within galaxy clusters, as well as a probe into dark energy and high-redshift galaxies. We present our spatially resolved kinematic measurements of this system from the Very Large Telescope Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, which confirm five of these source galaxies (in ascending order, at z _s = 0.962, 0.962, 1.166, 1.432, and 1.432). With previous Hubble Space Telescope imaging in the F140W and F200LP bands, we also present a simple flux-based lens model consisting of two power-law profiles that, for a cluster lens, well models the five lensed arc families with redshifts. We determine the mass to be M (< θ _E ) = 4.78 × 10 ^13 M _⊙ for the primary mass potential. From the model, we extrapolate the redshift of one of the two source galaxies not yet spectroscopically confirmed to be at ${z}_{{\rm{s}}}={4.52}_{-0.71}^{+1.03}$ .

The detections of Ly α emission in galaxies with redshifts above 5 are of utmost importance for constraining the cosmic reionization timeline, yet such detections are usually based on slit spectroscopy. Here we investigate the significant bias induced by slit placement on the estimate of Ly α escape fraction ( ${f}_{\mathrm{esc}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }$ ) by presenting a galaxy (dubbed A2744-z6Lya) at z = 5.66, where its deep JWST/NIRSpec prism spectroscopy completely misses the strong Ly α emission detected in the MUSE data. A2744-z6Lya exhibits a pronounced UV continuum with an extremely steep spectral slope of $\beta =-{2.640}_{-0.008}^{+0.008}$ , and it has a stellar mass of ∼10 ^8.75 M _⊙ , a star formation rate of ∼5.95 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , and a gas-phase metallicity of $12+\mathrm{log}({\rm{O}}/{\rm{H}})\sim 7.90$ . The observed flux and rest-frame equivalent width of its Ly α from MUSE spectroscopy are 1.2 × 10 ^−16 erg s ^−1 cm ^−2 and 75 Å, equivalent to ${f}_{\mathrm{esc}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }=42 \% \pm 1 \% $ . However, its Ly α nondetection from JWST NIRSpec gives a 5 σ upper limit of

Observed evolution of the total mass distribution with redshift is crucial to testing galaxy evolution theories. To measure the total mass distribution, strong gravitational lenses complement the resolved dynamical observations that are currently limited to z ≲ 0.5. Here we present the lens models for a pilot sample of seven galaxy-scale lenses from the ASTRO3D Galaxy Evolution with Lenses ( AGEL ) survey. The AGEL lenses, modeled using HST/WFC3-F140W images with Gravitational Lens Efficient Explorer ( GLEE ) software, have deflector redshifts in the range 0.3 < z _defl < 0.9. Assuming a power-law density profile with slope γ , we measure the total density profile for the deflector galaxies via lens modeling. We also measure the stellar velocity dispersions ( σ _obs ) for four lenses and obtain σ _obs from SDSS - BOSS for the remaining lenses to test our lens models by comparing observed and model-predicted velocity dispersions. For the seven AGEL lenses, we measure an average density profile slope of −1.95 ± 0.09 and a γ – z relation that does not evolve with redshift at z < 1. Although our result is consistent with some observations and simulations, it differs from other studies at z < 1 that suggest the γ – z relation evolves with redshift. The apparent conflicts among observations and simulations may be due to a combination of (1) systematics in the lensing and dynamical modeling; (2) challenges in comparing observations with simulations; and (3) assuming a simple power law for the total mass distribution. By providing more lenses at z _defl > 0.5, the AGEL survey will provide stronger constraints on whether the mass profiles evolve with redshift as predicted by current theoretical models.

Ly α emission is possibly the best indirect diagnostic of Lyman continuum (LyC) escape since the conditions that favor the escape of Ly α photons are often the same that allow for the escape of LyC photons. In this work, we present the rest-frame UV–optical spectral characteristics of 11 Ly α emitting galaxies at 3 < z < 6—the redshift range that optimizes between intergalactic medium attenuation effects and temporal proximity to the epoch of reionization. From a combined analysis of JWST/NIRSpec and MUSE data, we present the Ly α escape fraction and study its correlation with other physical properties of galaxies that might facilitate Ly α escape. We find that our galaxies have low masses (80% of the sample with ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}\ {M}_{\star }\lt 9.5\ {M}_{\odot }$ ), compact sizes (median R _e ∼ 0.7 kpc), low dust content, moderate [O iii ]/[O ii ] flux ratios (mean ∼ 6.8 ± 1.2), and moderate Ly α escape fractions (mean ${f}_{\mathrm{esc}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }\ \sim $ 0.11). Our sample shows characteristics that are broadly consistent with low-redshift galaxies with Ly α emission, which are termed as “analogs” of the high-redshift population. We predict the LyC escape fraction in our sample to be low (0.03–0.07), although larger samples in the postreionization epoch are needed to confirm these trends.

The abundance of carbon relative to oxygen (C/O) is a promising probe of star formation history in the early universe, as the ratio changes with time due to production of these elements by different nucleosynthesis pathways. We present a measurement of $\mathrm{log}({\rm{C}}/{\rm{O}})=-1.01\pm 0.12$ (stat) ±0.15 (sys) in a z = 6.23 galaxy observed as part of the GLASS–JWST Early Release Science Program. Notably, we achieve good precision thanks to the detection of the rest-frame ultraviolet O iii ], C iii ], and C iv emission lines delivered by JWST/NIRSpec. The C/O abundance is ∼0.8 dex lower than the solar value and is consistent with the expected yield from core-collapse supernovae, indicating that longer-lived intermediate-mass stars have not fully contributed to carbon enrichment. This in turn implies rapid buildup of a young stellar population with age ≲100 Myr in a galaxy seen ∼900 Myr after the big bang. Our chemical abundance analysis is consistent with spectral energy distribution modeling of JWST/NIRCam photometric data, which indicates a current stellar mass $\mathrm{log}\,{M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot }={8.4}_{-0.2}^{+0.4}$ and specific star formation rate ≃20 Gyr ^−1 . These results showcase the value of chemical abundances and C/O in particular to study the earliest stages of galaxy assembly.

We present the spectroscopic confirmation of a protocluster at z = 7.88 behind the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 (hereafter A2744-z7p9OD). Using JWST NIRSpec, we find seven galaxies within a projected radius of 60 kpc. Although the galaxies reside in an overdensity around ≳20× greater than a random volume, they do not show strong Ly α emission. We place 2 σ upper limits on the rest-frame equivalent width 0.45 (68% C i ). Using an empirical M _UV – M _halo relation for individual galaxies, we estimate that the total halo mass of the system is ≳4 × 10 ^11 M _⊙ . Likewise, the line-of-sight velocity dispersion is estimated to be 1100 ± 200 km s ^−1 . Using an empirical relation, we estimate the present-day halo mass of A2744-z7p9OD to be ∼2 × 10 ^15 M _⊙ , comparable to the Coma cluster. A2744-z7p9OD is the highest redshift spectroscopically confirmed protocluster to date, demonstrating the power of JWST to investigate the connection between dark-matter halo assembly and galaxy formation at very early times with medium-deep observations at

How passive galaxies form, and the physical mechanisms which prevent star formation over long timescales, are some of the most outstanding questions in understanding galaxy evolution. The properties of quiescent galaxies over cosmic time provide crucial information to identify the quenching mechanisms. Passive galaxies have been confirmed and studied out to z ∼ 4, but all of these studies have been limited to massive systems (mostly with $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\mathrm{star}}/{M}_{\odot })\gt 10.8$ ). Using JWST-NIRISS grism slitless spectroscopic data from the GLASS-JWST Early Release Science program, we present spectroscopic confirmation of two quiescent galaxies at ${z}_{\mathrm{spec}}={2.650}_{-0.006}^{+0.004}$ and ${z}_{\mathrm{spec}}={2.433}_{-0.016}^{+0.032}$ (3 σ errors) with stellar masses of $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\mathrm{star}}/{M}_{\odot })={10.59}_{-0.05}^{+0.11}$ and $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\mathrm{star}}/{M}_{\odot })={10.07}_{-0.03}^{+0.06}$ (corrected for magnification factors of μ = 2.0 and μ = 2.1, respectively). The latter represents the first spectroscopic confirmation of the existence of low-mass quiescent galaxies at cosmic noon, showcasing the power of JWST to identify and characterize this enigmatic population.

We study the kinematics of the interstellar medium (ISM) viewed “down the barrel” in 20 gravitationally lensed galaxies during cosmic noon ( z = 1.5–3.5). We use moderate-resolution spectra ( R ∼ 4000) from Keck’s Echellette Spectrograph and Imager and Magellan/MagE to spectrally resolve the ISM absorption in these galaxies into ∼10 independent elements and use double Gaussian fits to quantify the velocity structure of the gas. We find that the bulk motion of gas in this galaxy sample is outflowing, with average velocity centroid $\left\langle {v}_{\mathrm{cent}}\right\rangle =-141$ km s ^−1 (±111 km s ^−1 scatter) measured with respect to the systemic redshift. A total of 16 out of the 20 galaxies exhibit a clear positive skewness, with a blueshifted tail extending to ∼ −500 km s ^−1 . We examine scaling relations in outflow velocities with galaxy stellar mass and star formation rate, finding correlations consistent with a momentum-driven wind scenario. Our measured outflow velocities are also comparable to those reported for FIRE-2 and TNG50 cosmological simulations at similar redshift and galaxy properties. We also consider implications for interpreting results from lower-resolution spectra. We demonstrate that while velocity centroids are accurately recovered, the skewness, velocity width, and probes of high-velocity gas (e.g., v _95 ) are subject to large scatter and biases at lower resolution. We find that R ≳ 1700 is required for accurate results for the gas kinematics of our sample. This work represents the largest available sample of well-resolved outflow velocity structure at z > 2 and highlights the need for good spectral resolution to recover accurate properties.

Using deep near-infrared Keck/MOSFIRE observations, we analyze the rest-optical spectra of eight star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS and GOODS-N fields. We reach integration times of ∼10 hr in the deepest bands, pushing the limits on current ground-based observational capabilities. The targets fall into two redshift bins, of five galaxies at z ∼ 1.7 and three galaxies at z ∼ 2.5, and were selected as likely to yield significant auroral-line detections. Even with long integration times, detection of the auroral lines remains challenging. We stack the spectra together into subsets based on redshift, improving the signal-to-noise ratio on the [O iii ] λ 4364 auroral emission line and, in turn, enabling a direct measurement of the oxygen abundance for each stack. We compare these measurements to commonly employed strong-line ratios alongside measurements from the literature. We find that the stacks fall within the distribution of z > 1 literature measurements, but a larger sample size is needed to robustly constrain the relationships between strong-line ratios and oxygen abundance at high redshift. We additionally report detections of [O i ] λ 6302 for nine individual galaxies and composite spectra of 21 targets in the MOSFIRE pointings. We plot their line ratios on the [O iii ] λ 5008/H β versus [O i ] λ 6302/H α diagnostic diagram, comparing our targets to local galaxies and H ii regions. We find that the [O i ]/H α ratios in our sample of galaxies are consistent with being produced in gas ionized by α -enhanced massive stars, as has been previously inferred for rapidly forming galaxies at early cosmic times.

Gravitational lenses can magnify distant galaxies, allowing us to discover and characterize the stellar populations of intrinsically faint, quiescent galaxies that are otherwise extremely difficult to directly observe at high redshift from ground-based telescopes. Here, we present the spectral analysis of two lensed, quiescent galaxies at z ≳ 1 discovered by the ASTRO 3D Galaxy Evolution with Lenses survey: AGEL 1323 ( M _* ∼ 10 ^11.1 M _⊙ , z = 1.016, μ ∼ 14.6) and AGEL 0014 ( M _* ∼ 10 ^11.5 M _⊙ , z = 1.374, μ ∼ 4.3). We measured the age, [Fe/H], and [Mg/Fe] of the two lensed galaxies using deep, rest-frame-optical spectra (S/N ≳40 Å ^−1 ) obtained on the Keck I telescope. The ages of AGEL 1323 and AGEL 0014 are ${5.6}_{-0.8}^{+0.8}$ Gyr and ${3.1}_{-0.3}^{+0.8}$ Gyr, respectively, indicating that most of the stars in the galaxies were formed less than 2 Gyr after the Big Bang. Compared to nearby quiescent galaxies of similar masses, the lensed galaxies have lower [Fe/H] and [Mg/H]. Surprisingly, the two galaxies have comparable [Mg/Fe] to similar-mass galaxies at lower redshifts, despite their old ages. Using a simple analytic chemical evolution model connecting the instantaneously recycled element Mg with the mass-loading factors of outflows averaged over the entire star formation history, we found that the lensed galaxies may have experienced enhanced outflows during their star formation compared to lower-redshift galaxies, which may explain why they quenched early.

We present observations of CO(3−2) in 13 main-sequence z = 2.0–2.5 star-forming galaxies at $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })=10.2\mbox{--}10.6$ that span a wide range in metallicity (O/H) based on rest-optical spectroscopy. We find that ${L}_{\mathrm{CO}(3-2)}^{{\prime} }$ /SFR decreases with decreasing metallicity, implying that the CO luminosity per unit gas mass is lower in low-metallicity galaxies at z ∼ 2. We constrain the CO-to-H _2 conversion factor ( α _CO ) and find that α _CO inversely correlates with metallicity at z ∼ 2. We derive molecular gas masses ( M _mol ) and characterize the relations among M _* , SFR, M _mol , and metallicity. At z ∼ 2, M _mol increases and the molecular gas fraction ( M _mol / M _* ) decreases with increasing M _* , with a significant secondary dependence on SFR. Galaxies at z ∼ 2 lie on a near-linear molecular KS law that is well-described by a constant depletion time of 700 Myr. We find that the scatter about the mean SFR− M _* , O/H− M _* , and M _mol − M _* relations is correlated such that, at fixed M _* , z ∼ 2 galaxies with larger M _mol have higher SFR and lower O/H. We thus confirm the existence of a fundamental metallicity relation at z ∼ 2, where O/H is inversely correlated with both SFR and M _mol at fixed M _* . These results suggest that the scatter of the z ∼ 2 star-forming main sequence, mass–metallicity relation, and M _mol – M _* relation are primarily driven by stochastic variations in gas inflow rates. We place constraints on the mass loading of galactic outflows and perform a metal budget analysis, finding that massive z ∼ 2 star-forming galaxies retain only 30% of metals produced, implying that a large mass of metals resides in the circumgalactic medium.

We present ultradeep Keck/MOSFIRE rest-optical spectra of two star-forming galaxies at z = 2.18 in the COSMOS field with bright emission lines, representing more than 20 hr of total integration. The fidelity of these spectra enabled the detection of more than 20 unique emission lines for each galaxy, including the first detection of the auroral [O ii ] λλ 7322, 7332 lines at high redshift. We use these measurements to calculate the electron temperature in the low-ionization O ^+ zone of the ionized interstellar medium and derive abundance ratios of O/H, N/H, and N/O using the direct method. The N/O and α /Fe abundance patterns of these galaxies are consistent with rapid formation timescales and ongoing strong starbursts, in accord with their high specific star formation rates. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using auroral [O ii ] measurements for accurate metallicity studies at high redshift in a higher-metallicity and lower-excitation regime previously unexplored with the direct method in distant galaxies. These results also highlight the difficulty in obtaining the measurements required for direct-method metallicities from the ground. We emphasize the advantages that the JWST/NIRSpec instrument will bring to high-redshift metallicity studies, where the combination of increased sensitivity and uninterrupted wavelength coverage will yield more than an order of magnitude increase in efficiency for multiplexed auroral-line surveys relative to current ground-based facilities. Consequently, the advent of JWST promises to be the beginning of a new era of precision chemical abundance studies of the early universe at a level of detail rivaling that of local galaxy studies.

We present spectroscopic confirmation of candidate strong gravitational lenses using the Keck Observatory and Very Large Telescope as part of our ASTRO 3D Galaxy Evolution with Lenses ( AGEL ) survey. We confirm that (1) search methods using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with visual inspection successfully identify strong gravitational lenses and (2) the lenses are at higher redshifts relative to existing surveys due to the combination of deeper and higher-resolution imaging from DECam and spectroscopy spanning optical to near-infrared wavelengths. We measure 104 redshifts in 77 systems selected from a catalog in the DES and DECaLS imaging fields ( r ≤ 22 mag). Combining our results with published redshifts, we present redshifts for 68 lenses and establish that CNN-based searches are highly effective for use in future imaging surveys with a success rate of at least 88% (defined as 68/77). We report 53 strong lenses with spectroscopic redshifts for both the deflector and source ( z _src > z _defl ), and 15 lenses with a spectroscopic redshift for either the deflector ( z _defl > 0.21) or source ( z _src ≥ 1.34). For the 68 lenses, the deflectors and sources have average redshifts and standard deviations of 0.58 ± 0.14 and 1.92 ± 0.59 respectively, and corresponding redshift ranges of z _defl = 0.21–0.89 and z _src = 0.88–3.55. The AGEL systems include 41 deflectors at z _defl ≥ 0.5 that are ideal for follow-up studies to track how mass density profiles evolve with redshift. Our goal with AGEL is to spectroscopically confirm ∼100 strong gravitational lenses that can be observed from both hemispheres throughout the year. The AGEL survey is a resource for refining automated all-sky searches and addressing a range of questions in astrophysics and cosmology.