A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang
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Author
Looser, Tobias J.
D'Eugenio, Francesco
Maiolino, Roberto
Witstok, Joris
Sandles, Lester
Curtis-Lake, Emma
Chevallard, Jacopo
Tacchella, Sandro
Johnson, Benjamin D.
Baker, William M.
Suess, Katherine A.
Carniani, Stefano
Ferruit, Pierre
Arribas, Santiago
Bonaventura, Nina
Bunker, Andrew J.
Cameron, Alex J.
Charlot, Stephane
Curti, Mirko
Graaff, Anna de
Maseda, Michael V.
Rawle, Tim
Rix, Hans-Walter
Pino, Bruno Rodriguez Del
Smit, Renske
Übler, Hannah
Willott, Chris
Alberts, Stacey
Egami, Eiichi
Eisenstein, Daniel J.
Endsley, Ryan
Hausen, Ryan
Rieke, Marcia
Robertson, Brant
Shivaei, Irene
Williams, Christina C.
Boyett, Kristan
Chen, Zuyi
Ji, Zhiyuan
Jones, Gareth C.
Kumari, Nimisha
Nelson, Erica
Perna, Michele
Saxena, Aayush
Scholtz, Jan
Attention
2299/27822
Abstract
Local and low-redshift ($z$10^{10}~M_{\odot}$) and relatively old. Here we report a (mini-)quenched galaxy at z$=$7.3, when the Universe was only 700~Myr old. The JWST/NIRSpec spectrum is very blue ($U$-$V$$=$0.16$\pm0.03$~mag), but exhibits a Balmer break and no nebular emission lines. The galaxy experienced a short starburst followed by rapid quenching; its stellar mass (4-6$\times 10^8~M_\odot$) falls in a range that is sensitive to various feedback mechanisms, which can result in perhaps only temporary quenching.