Redshift Evolution of Electron Density in the Interstellar Medium at z 0-9 Uncovered with JWST/NIRSpec Spectra and Line-spread Function Determinations

October 2023 • 2023ApJ...956..139I

Authors • Isobe, Yuki • Ouchi, Masami • Nakajima, Kimihiko • Harikane, Yuichi • Ono, Yoshiaki • Xu, Yi • Zhang, Yechi • Umeda, Hiroya

Abstract • We present electron densities n _e in the interstellar medium (ISM) of star-forming galaxies at z = 4-9 observed by the JWST/NIRSpec GLASS, Early Release Observations, and CEERS programs. We carefully evaluate the line-spread functions of the NIRSpec instrument as a function of wavelength with the calibration data of a planetary nebula taken on board, and obtain secure [O II] λ λ3726, 3729 doublet fluxes for 14 galaxies at z = 4.02-8.68 falling on the star formation main sequence with the NIRSpec high- and medium-resolution spectra. We thus derive the electron densities of singly ionized oxygen nebulae with the standard n _e indicator of the [O II] doublet, and find that the electron densities of the z = 4-9 galaxies are n _e ≳ 300 cm^-3 significantly higher than those of low-z galaxies at a given stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and specific SFR. Interestingly, the typical electron densities of the singly ionized nebulae increase from z = 0 to z = 1-3 and z = 4-9, which is approximated by the evolutionary relation of n _e ∝ (1 + z)^p with p ~ 1-2. Although it is not obvious that the ISM property of n _e is influenced by global galaxy properties, these results may suggest that the nebula densities of high-z galaxies are generally high due to the compact morphologies of high-z galaxies evolving by ${r}_{{\rm{e}}}\mathop{\propto }\limits_{\sim }{(1+z)}^{-1}$ (r _vir ∝ (1 + z)^-1) for a given stellar (halo) mass whose inverse square corresponds to the p ~ 2 evolutionary relation. The p ~ 1-2 evolutionary relation can be explained by a combination of the compact morphology and the reduction of n _e due to the high electron temperature of high-z metal-poor nebulae.

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Yechi Zhang

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