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JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Evidence for Wolf-Rayet contribution to stellar populations at 430 Myr after Big Bang?

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arxiv 2504.12584 v1 pith:A5NFEFB4 submitted 2025-04-17 astro-ph.GA

JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Evidence for Wolf-Rayet contribution to stellar populations at 430 Myr after Big Bang?

classification astro-ph.GA
keywords stellarmodelsobservedgn-z11emissionenrichmentlinepopulations
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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abstract

We investigate the unusual emission line luminosity ratios observed in the JADES NIRSpec spectroscopy of GN-z11, which reveal exceptionally strong emission lines and a significant detection of the rarely observed N III] $\lambda1748-1753$\r{A} multiplet. These features suggest an elevated N/O abundance, challenging existing models of stellar populations and nebular emission. To assess whether Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars can account for the observed line ratios, we construct a suite of stellar and nebular models incorporating high-resolution stellar spectral libraries, enabling a more accurate treatment of WR evolution and its influence on the ionising radiation field. We find that the inclusion of WR stars is essential for reproducing the observed position of GN-z11 in the C III]/He II versus C III]/C iv diagnostic plane, resolving discrepancies from previous studies. The model-derived metallicity (0.07$\lesssim$Z/Z$_{\odot}\lesssim$0.15), ionisation parameter ($\log\,U$$\approx$-2) and stellar ages are consistent with the literature estimates. However, our models under-predict the N III/O III] ratio, suggesting that WR stars alone cannot fully explain the nitrogen enrichment. This suggests that additional mechanisms, such as rapid chemical enrichment in a young, metal-poor environment, may be necessary to explain the nitrogen excess. While our models successfully reproduce most observed line ratios, further refinements to the models are needed to fully characterise the stellar populations and the enrichment processes of high-redshift galaxies like GN-z11.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Nitrogen enhancement of GN-z11 by metal pollution from supermassive stars

    astro-ph.GA 2026-01 conditional novelty 7.0

    Simulations show that 10-30% pollution from supermassive star ejecta reproduces the nitrogen-enhanced abundance pattern of GN-z11 and some other high-z galaxies.

  2. Discovery of a new transitional type of evolved massive stars with hard ionizing flux

    astro-ph.SR 2025-08 conditional novelty 7.0

    The authors identify a new WN/WO transitional Wolf-Rayet stage in five hot, weak-winded massive stars, implying a direct WN to WO evolutionary path at low metallicity with strong hard ionizing flux.