Halfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRS

This paper presents the first combined detections of CO _2 , CO, XCN, and water ices beyond the local Universe. We find gas-phase CO in addition to the solid phase CO. Our source, SSTXFLS J172458.3+591545, is a z = 0.494 star-forming galaxy that also hosts a deeply obscured AGN. The profiles of its...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anna Sajina, Alexandra Pope, Henrik Spoon, Lee Armus, Miriam Eleazer, Duncan Farrah, Mark Lacy, Thomas Lai, Jed McKinney, Sylvain Veilleux, Lin Yan, Jason Young
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc44a
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850268311010410496
author Anna Sajina
Alexandra Pope
Henrik Spoon
Lee Armus
Miriam Eleazer
Duncan Farrah
Mark Lacy
Thomas Lai
Jed McKinney
Sylvain Veilleux
Lin Yan
Jason Young
author_facet Anna Sajina
Alexandra Pope
Henrik Spoon
Lee Armus
Miriam Eleazer
Duncan Farrah
Mark Lacy
Thomas Lai
Jed McKinney
Sylvain Veilleux
Lin Yan
Jason Young
author_sort Anna Sajina
collection DOAJ
description This paper presents the first combined detections of CO _2 , CO, XCN, and water ices beyond the local Universe. We find gas-phase CO in addition to the solid phase CO. Our source, SSTXFLS J172458.3+591545, is a z = 0.494 star-forming galaxy that also hosts a deeply obscured AGN. The profiles of its ice features are consistent with those of other Galactic and local galaxy sources, and the implied ice mantle composition is similar to that of even more obscured sources. The ice features indicate the presence of a compact nucleus in our Galaxy and allow us to place constraints on its density and temperature ( n  > 10 ^5 cm ^−3 and T  = 20–90 K). We infer the visual extinction towards this nucleus to be A _V  ≈ 6–7. An observed plot of τ _Si versus τ _CO2 / τ _Si can be viewed as a probe for both the total dustiness of a system as well as the clumpiness of the dust along the line of sight. This paper highlights the potential of using JWST MIRI spectra to study the dust composition and geometric distribution of sources beyond the local Universe.
format Article
id doaj-art-7524f67645d34041a604d2bf62d54c79
institution OA Journals
issn 1538-4357
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher IOP Publishing
record_format Article
series The Astrophysical Journal
spelling doaj-art-7524f67645d34041a604d2bf62d54c792025-08-20T01:53:30ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01985220110.3847/1538-4357/adc44aHalfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRSAnna Sajina0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1917-1200Alexandra Pope1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8592-2706Henrik Spoon2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8712-369XLee Armus3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3498-2973Miriam Eleazer4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4690-4502Duncan Farrah5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1748-2010Mark Lacy6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3032-1783Thomas Lai7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8490-6632Jed McKinney8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6149-8178Sylvain Veilleux9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3158-6820Lin Yan10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1710-9339Jason Young11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5830-9233Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University , Medford, MA 02155, USADepartment of Astronomy , UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USACornell University , Ithaca, NY, USACalifornia Institute of Technology , 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USADepartment of Astronomy , UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USAUniversity of Hawaii , Manoa, HI, USANRAO , Charlottesville, VA, USACalifornia Institute of Technology , 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USAUniversity of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USADepartment of Astronomy and Joint Space-Science Institute, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USACalifornia Institute of Technology , 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USAWilliams College & SETI Institute , USAThis paper presents the first combined detections of CO _2 , CO, XCN, and water ices beyond the local Universe. We find gas-phase CO in addition to the solid phase CO. Our source, SSTXFLS J172458.3+591545, is a z = 0.494 star-forming galaxy that also hosts a deeply obscured AGN. The profiles of its ice features are consistent with those of other Galactic and local galaxy sources, and the implied ice mantle composition is similar to that of even more obscured sources. The ice features indicate the presence of a compact nucleus in our Galaxy and allow us to place constraints on its density and temperature ( n  > 10 ^5 cm ^−3 and T  = 20–90 K). We infer the visual extinction towards this nucleus to be A _V  ≈ 6–7. An observed plot of τ _Si versus τ _CO2 / τ _Si can be viewed as a probe for both the total dustiness of a system as well as the clumpiness of the dust along the line of sight. This paper highlights the potential of using JWST MIRI spectra to study the dust composition and geometric distribution of sources beyond the local Universe.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc44aActive galaxiesDust composition
spellingShingle Anna Sajina
Alexandra Pope
Henrik Spoon
Lee Armus
Miriam Eleazer
Duncan Farrah
Mark Lacy
Thomas Lai
Jed McKinney
Sylvain Veilleux
Lin Yan
Jason Young
Halfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRS
The Astrophysical Journal
Active galaxies
Dust composition
title Halfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRS
title_full Halfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRS
title_fullStr Halfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRS
title_full_unstemmed Halfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRS
title_short Halfway to the Peak: Ice Absorption Bands at z ≈ 0.5 with JWST MIRI/MRS
title_sort halfway to the peak ice absorption bands at z ≈ 0 5 with jwst miri mrs
topic Active galaxies
Dust composition
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc44a
work_keys_str_mv AT annasajina halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT alexandrapope halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT henrikspoon halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT leearmus halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT miriameleazer halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT duncanfarrah halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT marklacy halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT thomaslai halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT jedmckinney halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT sylvainveilleux halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT linyan halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs
AT jasonyoung halfwaytothepeakiceabsorptionbandsatz05withjwstmirimrs