Discovery of a new N-emitter in the epoch of reionization
/ Authors
/ Abstract
We report the discovery of a compact star-forming galaxy at $z=9.380$ in the GOODS-North field (named which shows numerous strong UV-optical emission lines and a single UV line This makes the third-highest redshift N-emitter known to date. We determined the nebular abundances of H, C, N, O and Ne, along with the size and other physical properties of this object, then compared them to those of the other N-emitters known so far and to other star-forming galaxies. Using the direct method, we found a metallicity of $ 0.15$, which stands as one of the lowest among N-emitters. The N/O abundance ratio is highly super-solar, while C/O and Ne/O are normal compared to other galaxies at low metallicity. We show that the compactness of (with an effective radius of $118 pc at 2 and other N-emitters translates to very high stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR) surface densities, which could serve as a criterium for identifying other N-emitters. Future studies and larger samples are needed to understand these rare, and enigmatic objects that have only recently been discovered.
Journal: Astronomy & Astrophysics