A galaxy rapidly forming stars 700 million years after the big bang at redshift 7. 51

ABSTRACT Of several dozen galaxies observed spectroscopically that are candidates for having a redshift (_z_) in excess of seven, only five have had their redshifts confirmed via Lyman α

emission, at _z_ = 7.008, 7.045, 7.109, 7.213 and 7.215 (refs 1, 2, 3, 4). The small fraction of confirmed galaxies may indicate that the neutral fraction in the intergalactic medium rises

quickly at _z_ > 6.5, given that Lyman α is resonantly scattered by neutral gas3,5,6,7,8. The small samples and limited depth of previous observations, however, makes these conclusions

tentative. Here we report a deep near-infrared spectroscopic survey of 43 photometrically-selected galaxies with _z_ > 6.5. We detect a near-infrared emission line from only a single

galaxy, confirming that some process is making Lyman α difficult to detect. The detected emission line at a wavelength of 1.0343 micrometres is likely to be Lyman α emission, placing this

galaxy at a redshift _z_ = 7.51, an epoch 700 million years after the Big Bang. This galaxy’s colours are consistent with significant metal content, implying that galaxies become enriched

rapidly. We calculate a surprisingly high star-formation rate of about 330 solar masses per year, which is more than a factor of 100 greater than that seen in the Milky Way. Such a galaxy is

unexpected in a survey of our size9, suggesting that the early Universe may harbour a larger number of intense sites of star formation than expected. Access through your institution Buy or

subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print issues and online

access $199.00 per year only $3.90 per issue Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which

are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS

CONFIRMATION AND REFUTATION OF VERY LUMINOUS GALAXIES IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE Article 14 August 2023 EVIDENCE FOR GN-Z11 AS A LUMINOUS GALAXY AT REDSHIFT 10.957 Article 14 December 2020 A

LUMINOUS AND YOUNG GALAXY AT _Z_ = 12.33 REVEALED BY A JWST/MIRI DETECTION OF HΑ AND [O III] Article Open access 30 October 2024 REFERENCES * Vanzella, E. et al. Spectroscopic confirmation

of two Lyman break galaxies at redshift beyond 7. _Astrophys. J._ 730, L35 (2011) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Schenker, M. A. et al. Keck spectroscopy of faint 3 < z < 8

Lyman break galaxies: evidence for a declining fraction of emission line sources in the redshift range 6 < z < 8. _Astrophys. J._ 744, 179 (2012) Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

* Ono, Y. et al. Spectroscopic confirmation of three z-dropout galaxies at z = 6.844–7.213: demographics of Ly_α_ emission in z ∼ 7 galaxies. _Astrophys. J._ 744, 83 (2012) Article  ADS 

Google Scholar  * Shibuya, T. et al. The first systematic survey for Ly_α_ emitters at z = 7.3 with red-sensitive Subaru/Suprime-Cam. _Astrophys. J._ 752, 114 (2012) Article  ADS  Google

Scholar  * Kashikawa, N. et al. The end of the reionization epoch probed by Ly_α_ emitters at z = 6.5 in the Subaru deep field. _Astrophys. J._ 648, 7–22 (2006) Article  ADS  CAS  Google

Scholar  * Iye, M. et al. A galaxy at a redshift z = 6.96. _Nature_ 443, 186–188 (2006) Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  * Ouchi, M. et al. Statistics of 207 Ly_α_ emitters at a redshift

near 7: constraints on reionization and galaxy formation models. _Astrophys. J._ 723, 869–894 (2010) Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  * Pentericci, L. et al. Spectroscopic confirmation of

z ∼ 7 Lyman break galaxies: probing the earliest galaxies and the epoch of reionization. _Astrophys. J._ 743, 132 (2011) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Smit, R. et al. The star formation

rate function for redshift z ∼ 4–7 galaxies: evidence for a uniform buildup of star-forming galaxies during the first 3 Gyr of cosmic time. _Astrophys. J._ 756, 14 (2012) Article  ADS 

Google Scholar  * Grogin, N. A. et al. CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey. _Astrophys. J._ 197 (Supp.). 35 (2011) Article  Google Scholar  *

Koekemoer, A. M. et al. CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey – The Hubble Space Telescope observations, imaging data products, and mosaics. _Astrophys.

J._ 197 (Supp.). 36 (2011) Article  Google Scholar  * McLean, I. S. et al. MOSFIRE, the multi-object spectrometer for infra-red exploration at the Keck Observatory. _Proc. SPIE_ 8446,

J84460–1-15 (2012) Article  Google Scholar  * Finkelstein, S. L. et al. On the stellar populations and evolution of star-forming galaxies at 6.3 ≤ z ≤ 8.6. _Astrophys. J._ 719, 1250–1273

(2010) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * McLure, R. J. et al. Galaxies at z = 6–9 from the WFC3/IR imaging of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. _Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc._ 403, 960–983 (2010)

Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Finkelstein, S. L. et al. CANDELS: The evolution of galaxy rest-frame ultraviolet colors from z = 8 to 4. _Astrophys. J._ 756, 164 (2012) Article  ADS  Google

Scholar  * McLure, R. J. et al. A new multifield determination of the galaxy luminosity function at z = 7–9 incorporating the 2012 Hubble Ultra-Deep Field imaging. _Mon. Not. R. Astron.

Soc._ 432, 2696–2716 (2013) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Stark, D. P. et al. Keck spectroscopy of 3 < z < 7 faint Lyman break galaxies: the importance of nebular emission in

understanding the specific star formation rate and stellar mass density. _Astrophys. J._ 763, 129 (2013) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Riechers, D. A. et al. A dust-obscured massive

maximum-starburst galaxy at a redshift of 6.34. _Nature_ 496, 329–333 (2013) Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  * Stark, D. P., Ellis, R. S. & Ouchi, M. Keck spectroscopy of faint

3>z>7 Lyman break galaxies: a high fraction of line emitters at redshift six. _Astrophys. J._ 728, L2 (2011) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Fan, X. et al. Constraining the

evolution of the ionizing background and the epoch of reionization with z∼6 quasars. II. A sample of 19 quasars. _Astron. J._ 132, 117–136 (2006) Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  * Bolton,

J. S. et al. How neutral is the intergalactic medium surrounding the redshift z = 7.085 quasar ULAS J1120+0641? _Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc._ 416, L70–L74 (2011) Article  ADS  Google Scholar

  * Finkelstein, S. L. et al. CANDELS: the contribution of the observed galaxy population to cosmic reionization. _Astrophys. J._ 758, 93 (2012) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Dekel, A. et

al. Toy models for galaxy formation versus simulations. _Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc._ 435, 999–1019 (2013) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Kennicutt, R. C. & Evans, N. J. Star formation in

the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. _Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys._ 50, 531–608 (2012) Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  * Krumholz, M. R. & Dekel, A. Metallicity-dependent quenching of

star formation at high redshift in small galaxies. _Astrophys. J._ 753, 16 (2012) Article  ADS  Google Scholar  * Riechers, D. A. et al. A dust-obscured massive maximum-starburst galaxy at

a redshift of 6.34. _Nature_ 496, 329–333 (2013) Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  * Kennicutt, R. C., Jr Star formation in galaxies along the Hubble sequence. _Annu. Rev. Astron.

Astrophys._ 36, 189–231 (1998) Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank M. Dijkstra, J. Rhoads and S. Malhotra for conversations, as well as N.

Konidaris and C. Steidel for assistance with the MOSFIRE data reduction pipeline. We also thank our Keck Support Astronomer G. Wirth for assistance during our observing run. S.L.F.

acknowledges support from the University of Texas at Austin, the McDonald Observatory and NASA through a NASA Keck PI Data Award, administered by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. Data

presented here were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory from telescope time allocated to NASA through the agency’s scientific partnership with the California Institute of Technology and

the University of California. The Observatory was made possible by the financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. We recognize and acknowledge the cultural role and reverence that the

summit of Mauna Kea has within the indigenous Hawaiian community. This work is also based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space

Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555, as well as the Spitzer Space Telescope,

which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * The University of Texas at

Austin, 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, Texas 78712, USA, S. L. Finkelstein, M. Song & K. D. Finkelstein * George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and

Astronomy, Texas A&M University, 4242 TAMU, College Station, Texas 78743, USA, C. Papovich & V. Tilvi * National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, 85719, Arizona, USA M.

Dickinson * Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, 21218, Maryland, USA A. M. Koekemoer, H. C. Ferguson & N. A. Grogin * University of California,

Riverside, 92521, California, USA B. Mobasher & N. Reddy * University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 01003, Massachusetts, USA M. Giavalisco * Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60

Garden Street, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA M. L. N. Ashby, G. G. Fazio, J.-S. Huang & S. P. Willner * Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904,

Israel, A. Dekel * INAF-Osservatorio di Roma, II-00040, Monteporzio, Italy, A. Fontana * University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40506, Kentucky, USA D. Kocevski * Infrared Processing and

Analysis Center, MS 100-22, Caltech, Pasadena, California 91125, USA, M. Rafelski * Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA, B. J.

Weiner Authors * S. L. Finkelstein View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * C. Papovich View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. Dickinson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. Song View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * V. Tilvi View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * A. M. Koekemoer View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * K. D. Finkelstein View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * B. Mobasher View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * H. C. Ferguson View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. Giavalisco View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * N. Reddy View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. L. N. Ashby

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * A. Dekel View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * G. G.

Fazio View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * A. Fontana View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

N. A. Grogin View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * J.-S. Huang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * D. Kocevski View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * M. Rafelski View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed

 Google Scholar * B. J. Weiner View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * S. P. Willner View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS S.L.F. wrote the text, obtained and reduced the data and led the initial observing proposal. C.P. and M.D. assisted with the analysis of the

data. M.S. and V.T. assisted with the observation planning and implementation. K.D.F. performed the Spitzer/IRAC photometry. A.M.K. was responsible for the reduction of the optical and NIR

imaging data used to select the sample. G.G.F., M.L.N.A. and S.P.W. obtained and reduced the mid-infrared data. B.J.W. provided grism spectroscopic information. B.M., H.C.F., M.G., N.R.,

A.D., A.F., N.A.G., J.-S.H., D.K. and M.R. have contributed in their roles as members of the CANDELS and S-CANDELS teams, and assisted with the planning and interpretation of the

observations. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to S. L. Finkelstein. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION This file contains Supplementary Text, Supplementary References, Supplementary Tables 1-3 and Supplementary Figures 1-5. (PDF 690 kb) POWERPOINT SLIDES

POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 1 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 2 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 3 RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Finkelstein, S.,

Papovich, C., Dickinson, M. _et al._ A galaxy rapidly forming stars 700 million years after the Big Bang at redshift 7.51. _Nature_ 502, 524–527 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12657

Download citation * Received: 07 June 2013 * Accepted: 13 September 2013 * Published: 23 October 2013 * Issue Date: 24 October 2013 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12657 SHARE THIS

ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative