The reviewed record of science sign in
Pith

arxiv: 2504.13118 · v2 · pith:Z74LHMZR · submitted 2025-04-17 · astro-ph.GA

CEERS: Forging the First Dust Grains in the Universe? A Population of Galaxies with spectroscopically-derived Extremely Low Dust Attenuation (GELDA) at 4.0<z<11.4

Reviewed by Pith T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 kernel pith:Z74LHMZRrecord.jsonopen to challenge →

classification astro-ph.GA
keywords dustgalaxiesattenuationstarextremelygeldasodotbeta
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

We investigate the coevolution of metals and dust in 173 galaxies at $4.0<z<11.4$ using NIRSpec spectroscopy. Focusing on galaxies with extremely low dust attenuation, we explore their physical processes using a new CIGALE version that incorporates spectroscopic and photometric data. Comparing observations with models, we derive key physical parameters. We identify 49 galaxies with extremely low dust attenuation (GELDAs), characterized by $A_{FUV}=0$ within $2\sigma$ and $M_{star}<10^9 M_\odot$. The stacked spectra reveal a very blue UV slope ($\beta_{FUV} =-2.451\pm-0.066$) and Balmer decrement H$\alpha$/H$\beta = 2.932\pm-0.660$, consistent with no dust attenuation. GELDAs are more common at $z>8.8$ (83.3%) than at $z<8.8$ (26.3%) suggesting they dominate the early Universe. Assuming a prior FIR dust spectrum (from ALPINE), we examine dust-stellar mass trends. The $M_{dust}$ vs. $M_{star}$ diagram shows upper and lower sequences linked by possible transitional galaxies. A transition at $M_{star}=10^8.5 M_\odot$ ($Z_{crit}=12+\log_{10}(O/H)=7.60$ or $Z/Z_\odot=0.1$) may mark the shift from stellar dust production to ISM grain growth, in agreement with theoretical predictions. Our full sample has a high mean gas fraction ($f_{gas}>0.9$), indicating retained gas across all galaxies. Their small sizes and large gas masses imply high gas surface densities but relatively low star formation efficiency. High-redshift GELDAs may naturally explain the observed excess of bright galaxies at $z>9$ compared to theoretical expectations.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Forward citations

Cited by 1 Pith paper

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

  1. Grain-size evolution and rapid dust growth in high-redshift galaxies

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 conditional novelty 5.0

    A multiphase ISM grain-size model with low supernova dust yield reproduces observed dust-to-stellar mass ratios and UV luminosity functions at z=7-12 by letting small grains seed rapid metal accretion.