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Anatomy of a z=6 Lyman-{\alpha} emitter down to parsec scales: extreme UV slopes, metal-poor regions and possibly leaking star clusters

Authors :
Messa, Matteo
Vanzella, E.
Loiacono, F.
Bergamini, P.
Castellano, M.
Sun, B.
Willott, C.
Windhorst, R. A.
Yan, H.
Angora, G.
Rosati, P.
Adamo, A.
Annibali, F.
Bolamperti, A.
Bradač, M.
Bradley, L. D.
Calura, F.
Claeyssens, A.
Comastri, A.
Conselice, C. J.
D'Silva, J. C. J.
Dickinson, M.
Frye, B. L.
Grillo, C.
Grogin, N. A.
Gruppioni, C.
Koekemoer, A. M.
Meneghetti, M.
Meštrić, U.
Pascale, R.
Ravindranath, S.
Ricotti, M.
Summers, J.
Zanella, A.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

We present a detailed JWST/NIRSpec and NIRCam analysis of a gravitationally-lensed galaxy ($\rm \mu=17-21$) at redshift 6.14 magnified by the Hubble Frontier Field galaxy cluster MACS J0416. The target galaxy is overall a typical compact and UV-faint ($\rm M_{UV}=-17.8$) Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter; yet, the large magnification allows the detailed characterisation of structures on sub-galactic (down to few parsec) scales. Prominent optical $\rm H\alpha$, $\rm H\beta$ and [OIII]$\lambda\lambda4959,5007$ lines are spatially resolved with the high spectral resolution grating (G395H, R~2700), with large equivalent widths, EW($\rm H\beta$+[OIII])$\gtrsim1000$ \AA, and elevated ionising photon production efficiencies $\rm log(\xi_{ion}/erg^{-1}Hz)=25.2-25.7$. NIRCam deep imaging reveals the presence of compact rest-UV bright regions along with individual star clusters of sizes $\rm R_{eff}=3-8~pc$ and masses $\rm M\sim2\cdot10^5-5\cdot10^{6}~M_\odot$ These clusters are characterised by steep UV slopes, $\rm\beta_{UV}\lesssim-2.5$, in some cases associated with a dearth of line emission, indicating possible leaking of the ionising radiation, as also supported by a Lyman-$\rm \alpha$ emission peaking at $\rm \sim100~km~s^{-1}$ from the systemic redshift. While the entire system is characterised by low-metallicity, $\sim0.1~Z_\odot$, the NIRSpec-IFU map also reveals the presence of a low-luminosity, metal-poor region with $\rm Z\lesssim2\%~Z_\odot$, barely detected in NIRCam imaging; this region is displaced by $\rm >200~pc$ from one of the UV brightest structures of the system, and it would have been too faint to detect if not for the large magnification of the system.<br />Comment: 19 pages (11 figures, 2 tables) + appendix (3 pages, 4 figures, 1 table). Submitted to A&A; comments are welcome

Details

Database :
arXiv
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.2407.20331
Document Type :
Working Paper