An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289
While rotation-supported gas disks are known to exist as early as at z ≈ 7, it is still a general belief that stellar disks form late in the Universe. This picture is now being challenged by the observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which have revealed a large number of disk-like...
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7de9 |
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| author | Haojing Yan Bangzheng Sun Chenxiaoji Ling |
| author_facet | Haojing Yan Bangzheng Sun Chenxiaoji Ling |
| author_sort | Haojing Yan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While rotation-supported gas disks are known to exist as early as at z ≈ 7, it is still a general belief that stellar disks form late in the Universe. This picture is now being challenged by the observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which have revealed a large number of disk-like galaxies that could be at z > 3, with some being candidates at z > 7. As an early formation of stellar disks will greatly impact our theory of galaxy formation and evolution, it is important to determine when such systems first emerged. Here we present D-CEERS-RUBIES-z5289 at z = 5.289 ± 0.001, the second confirmed stellar disk at z > 5, discovered using the archival JWST NIRCam imaging and NIRSpec spectroscopic data. This galaxy has a highly regular edge-on disk morphology, extends to ∼6.2 kpc along its major axis, and has an effective radius of ∼1.3–1.4 kpc. Such a large stellar disk is yet to be produced in numerical simulations. By analyzing its 10-band spectral energy distribution using four different tools, we find that it has a high stellar mass of 10 ^9.5–10.0 M _⊙ . Its age is in the range of 330–510 Myr, and it has a mild star formation rate of 10–30 M _⊙ yr ^−1 . While the current spectroscopic data do not allow the derivation of its rotation curve, the width of its H α line from the partial slit coverage on one side of the disk reaches ∼345 km s ^−1 , which suggests that it could have a significant contribution from rotation. |
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| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| spelling | doaj-art-c7396e4c36fb4b7080c51e7bee1b8e5c2025-08-20T02:11:30ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-0197514410.3847/1538-4357/ad7de9An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289Haojing Yan0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7592-7714Bangzheng Sun1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7957-6202Chenxiaoji Ling2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4952-3008Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri , Columbia, MO 65211, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri , Columbia, MO 65211, USANational Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science , Beijing 100101, People's Republic of ChinaWhile rotation-supported gas disks are known to exist as early as at z ≈ 7, it is still a general belief that stellar disks form late in the Universe. This picture is now being challenged by the observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which have revealed a large number of disk-like galaxies that could be at z > 3, with some being candidates at z > 7. As an early formation of stellar disks will greatly impact our theory of galaxy formation and evolution, it is important to determine when such systems first emerged. Here we present D-CEERS-RUBIES-z5289 at z = 5.289 ± 0.001, the second confirmed stellar disk at z > 5, discovered using the archival JWST NIRCam imaging and NIRSpec spectroscopic data. This galaxy has a highly regular edge-on disk morphology, extends to ∼6.2 kpc along its major axis, and has an effective radius of ∼1.3–1.4 kpc. Such a large stellar disk is yet to be produced in numerical simulations. By analyzing its 10-band spectral energy distribution using four different tools, we find that it has a high stellar mass of 10 ^9.5–10.0 M _⊙ . Its age is in the range of 330–510 Myr, and it has a mild star formation rate of 10–30 M _⊙ yr ^−1 . While the current spectroscopic data do not allow the derivation of its rotation curve, the width of its H α line from the partial slit coverage on one side of the disk reaches ∼345 km s ^−1 , which suggests that it could have a significant contribution from rotation.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7de9Disk galaxiesHigh-redshift galaxiesGalaxy kinematics |
| spellingShingle | Haojing Yan Bangzheng Sun Chenxiaoji Ling An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289 The Astrophysical Journal Disk galaxies High-redshift galaxies Galaxy kinematics |
| title | An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289 |
| title_full | An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289 |
| title_fullStr | An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289 |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289 |
| title_short | An Edge-on Regular Disk Galaxy at z = 5.289 |
| title_sort | edge on regular disk galaxy at z 5 289 |
| topic | Disk galaxies High-redshift galaxies Galaxy kinematics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad7de9 |
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