Spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at a redshift of 14

Stefano Carniani (), Kevin Hainline, Francesco D’Eugenio, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Peter Jakobsen, Joris Witstok, Benjamin D. Johnson, Jacopo Chevallard, Roberto Maiolino, Jakob M. Helton, Chris Willott, Brant Robertson, Stacey Alberts, Santiago Arribas, William M. Baker, Rachana Bhatawdekar, Kristan Boyett, Andrew J. Bunker, Alex J. Cameron, Phillip A. Cargile, Stéphane Charlot, Mirko Curti, Emma Curtis-Lake, Eiichi Egami, Giovanna Giardino, Kate Isaak, Zhiyuan Ji, Gareth C. Jones, Nimisha Kumari, Michael V. Maseda, Eleonora Parlanti, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Tim Rawle, George Rieke, Marcia Rieke, Bruno Rodríguez Pino, Aayush Saxena, Jan Scholtz, Renske Smit, Fengwu Sun, Sandro Tacchella, Hannah Übler, Giacomo Venturi, Christina C. Williams and Christopher N. A. Willmer
Additional contact information
Stefano Carniani: Scuola Normale Superiore
Kevin Hainline: University of Arizona
Francesco D’Eugenio: University of Cambridge
Daniel J. Eisenstein: Harvard & Smithsonian
Peter Jakobsen: Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
Joris Witstok: University of Cambridge
Benjamin D. Johnson: Harvard & Smithsonian
Jacopo Chevallard: University of Oxford
Roberto Maiolino: University of Cambridge
Jakob M. Helton: University of Arizona
Chris Willott: NRC Herzberg
Brant Robertson: University of California, Santa Cruz
Stacey Alberts: University of Arizona
Santiago Arribas: CSIC–INTA
William M. Baker: University of Cambridge
Rachana Bhatawdekar: European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
Kristan Boyett: University of Melbourne
Andrew J. Bunker: University of Oxford
Alex J. Cameron: University of Oxford
Phillip A. Cargile: Harvard & Smithsonian
Stéphane Charlot: Sorbonne Université, CNRS
Mirko Curti: European Southern Observatory
Emma Curtis-Lake: University of Hertfordshire
Eiichi Egami: University of Arizona
Giovanna Giardino: ESTEC
Kate Isaak: ESTEC
Zhiyuan Ji: University of Arizona
Gareth C. Jones: University of Oxford
Nimisha Kumari: Space Telescope Science Institute
Michael V. Maseda: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Eleonora Parlanti: Scuola Normale Superiore
Pablo G. Pérez-González: CSIC–INTA
Tim Rawle: European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
George Rieke: University of Arizona
Marcia Rieke: University of Arizona
Bruno Rodríguez Pino: CSIC–INTA
Aayush Saxena: University of Oxford
Jan Scholtz: University of Cambridge
Renske Smit: Liverpool John Moores University
Fengwu Sun: University of Arizona
Sandro Tacchella: University of Cambridge
Hannah Übler: University of Cambridge
Giacomo Venturi: Scuola Normale Superiore
Christina C. Williams: NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory
Christopher N. A. Willmer: University of Arizona

Nature, 2024, vol. 633, issue 8029, 318-322

Abstract: Abstract The first observations of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revolutionized our understanding of the Universe by identifying galaxies at redshift z ≈ 13 (refs. 1–3). In addition, the discovery of many luminous galaxies at Cosmic Dawn (z > 10) has suggested that galaxies developed rapidly, in apparent tension with many standard models4–8. However, most of these galaxies lack spectroscopic confirmation, so their distances and properties are uncertain. Here we present JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey–Near-Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at $$z={14.32}_{-0.20}^{+0.08}$$ z = 14.32 − 0.20 + 0.08 and z = 13.90 ± 0.17. The spectra reveal ultraviolet continua with prominent Lyman-α breaks but no detected emission lines. This discovery proves that luminous galaxies were already in place 300 million years after the Big Bang and are more common than what was expected before JWST. The most distant of the two galaxies is unexpectedly luminous and is spatially resolved with a radius of 260 parsecs. Considering also the very steep ultraviolet slope of the second galaxy, we conclude that both are dominated by stellar continuum emission, showing that the excess of luminous galaxies in the early Universe cannot be entirely explained by accretion onto black holes. Galaxy formation models will need to address the existence of such large and luminous galaxies so early in cosmic history.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07860-9

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