Ages of distant galaxies captured by the Webb Space Telescope measured by oxygen emission lines, ALMA | Results sorae portal site to the universe

A team led by researchers from Nagoya University and the Japanese National Astronomical Observatory, Chilean Radio Telescope”ALMA Telescope (ALMA)To discover the age of very distant galaxies by detecting radio waves that have traveled through time equivalent to 97% of the age of the universe.Oxygen emission line spectrumDeclare search results that successfully measure it

This galaxy is seen in the distant universe behind giant galaxy clusters with the James Webb Space Telescope.Glass- JWST

It was first identified in the program and named “GLASS-z12 (GHZ2)”. This finding supports the existence of galaxies in the early universe, which was observed by the Webb Space Telescope.

“GLASS: Grim Lens-Amplified Survey from Space” “JWST: James Webb Space Telescope”Light (electromagnetic waves) from distant galaxies travels through space for a very long time before reaching us, so the wavelength gets longer as the universe expands. This phenomenon is called

red offset(cosmic redshift). The “red” color of GLASS-z12 has been cited as one of the most convincing evidence for a candidate distant galaxy observed by the researchers.In its first few weeks of observations, the Webb Space Telescope has identified a large number of bright, distant, candidate galaxies. However, the red color of these galaxies only indicates that they are “distant”, and it is possible that they contain so much dust that the red-looking galaxies appear to be distant objects. This possibility has also been indicated. To ascertain the true distance of any detected galaxy, One can directly observe a galaxy’s spectrum (the intensity of each wavelength of electromagnetic radiation) and find patterns in the spectrum.

The need to measure redshift based on traces of elements (emission lines and absorption lines)

there.The oxygen emission line spectrum was used for exploration. Oxygen is one of the elements that formed relatively quickly since the beginning of the universe, and it is believed that it is found in abundance in distant galaxies, so the research team chose the oxygen emission line to increase the probability of its discovery.The ALMA research team targeted GLASS-z12 and searched for oxygen emission lines at the wavelengths suggested by Webb Space Telescope observations, and successfully detected emission lines near this galaxy. The observed emission line has a redshift of z = about 12.117, which indicates that GLASS- z12 observed by the Webb Space Telescope is

It is said that it turned out to be an appearance

[▲ صورة للمجرة البعيدة GHZ2 / GLASS-z12 وطيف خط انبعاث الأكسجين الذي تم الحصول عليه بواسطة ملاحظات ALMA الطيفية. المقياس الأعلى هو العمر الكوني (مليون سنة) منذ الانفجار العظيم (Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / T. Treu، UCLA / NAOJ / T. Bakx، Nagoya U.)]

“The first images from the Webb Space Telescope revealed that there were many early galaxies captured from the best observatories on Earth,” said lead author Tom Bakx of Nagoya University. “I thought I had to verify the results with observations.”

However, there is said to be a slight discrepancy between the observed oxygen emission line and the galactic position observed by the Webb Space Telescope. But Bax says it’s difficult to interpret the oxygen emission lines detected by ALMA as not coming from a galaxy. Co-author Jorge Zavala of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan added that the discrepancy may have been caused by violent explosions in galaxies in the early universe that exploded gas around them.

Zabara added: ‘The spectroscopic observations of distant galaxies by ALMA are definitive evidence that galaxies existed during the hundreds of millions of years of the Big Bang, and are supported by observations by the Webb Space Telescope. ’ I am confident that if ALMA and Webb work together, we will be able to get even closer to understanding the dawn of the universe.”

The results of this research were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on December 23, 2022.