Detection of an oxygen emission line from a high-redshift galaxy in the reionization epoch

Akio K Inoue; Yoichi Tamura; Hiroshi Matsuo; Ken Mawatari; Ikkoh Shimizu; Takatoshi Shibuya; Kazuaki Ota; Naoki Yoshida; Erik Zackrisson; Nobunari Kashikawa; Kotaro Kohno; Hideki Umehata; Bunyo Hatsukade; Masanori Iye; Yuichi Matsuda; Takashi Okamoto; Yuki Yamaguchi

doi:10.1126/science.aaf0714

Detection of an oxygen emission line from a high-redshift galaxy in the reionization epoch

Science. 2016 Jun 24;352(6293):1559-62. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf0714. Epub 2016 Jun 16.

Authors

Akio K Inoue¹, Yoichi Tamura², Hiroshi Matsuo³, Ken Mawatari⁴, Ikkoh Shimizu⁵, Takatoshi Shibuya⁶, Kazuaki Ota⁷, Naoki Yoshida⁸, Erik Zackrisson⁹, Nobunari Kashikawa³, Kotaro Kohno², Hideki Umehata¹⁰, Bunyo Hatsukade¹¹, Masanori Iye¹¹, Yuichi Matsuda³, Takashi Okamoto¹², Yuki Yamaguchi²

Affiliations

¹ College of General Education, Osaka Sangyo University, 3-1-1 Nakagaito, Daito, Osaka 574-8530, Japan. akinoue@las.osaka-sandai.ac.jp.
² Institute of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015, Japan.
³ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan. Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
⁴ College of General Education, Osaka Sangyo University, 3-1-1 Nakagaito, Daito, Osaka 574-8530, Japan.
⁵ Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan.
⁶ Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582, Japan.
⁷ Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK. Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK.
⁸ Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. Kavli IPMU, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan.
⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁰ Institute of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015, Japan. European Southern Observatory, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
¹¹ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
¹² Department of Cosmosciences, Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University, N10 W8, Kitaku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan.

PMID: 27312046
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf0714

Abstract

The physical properties and elemental abundances of the interstellar medium in galaxies during cosmic reionization are important for understanding the role of galaxies in this process. We report the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array detection of an oxygen emission line at a wavelength of 88 micrometers from a galaxy at an epoch about 700 million years after the Big Bang. The oxygen abundance of this galaxy is estimated at about one-tenth that of the Sun. The nondetection of far-infrared continuum emission indicates a deficiency of interstellar dust in the galaxy. A carbon emission line at a wavelength of 158 micrometers is also not detected, implying an unusually small amount of neutral gas. These properties might allow ionizing photons to escape into the intergalactic medium.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't