arXiv subjects

Masato Onodera

Publications and source records attributed to Masato Onodera.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

The Physical Origin of Extreme Emission Line Galaxies at High redshifts: Strong {\sc [Oiii]} Emission Lines Produced by Obscured AGNs

We present deep Subaru/FOCAS spectra for two extreme emission line galaxies (EELGs) at $z\sim 1$ with strong {\sc[Oiii]}$λ$5007 emission lines, exhibiting equivalent widths (EWs) of $2905^{+946}_{-578}$ Å and $2000^{+188}_{-159}$ Å, comparable to those of EELGs at high redshifts that are now routinely identified with JWST spectroscopy. Adding a similarly large {\sc [Oiii]} EW ($2508^{+1487}_{-689}$ Å) EELG found at $z\sim 2$ in the JWST CEERS survey to our sample, we explore for the physical origins of the large {\sc [Oiii]} EWs of these three galaxies with the Subaru spectra and various public data including JWST/NIRSpec, NIRCam, and MIRI data. While there are no clear signatures of AGN identified by the optical line diagnostics, we find that two out of two galaxies covered by the MIRI data show strong near-infrared excess in the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) indicating obscured AGN. Because none of the three galaxies show clear broad H$β$ lines, the upper limits on the flux ratios of broad-H$β$ to {\sc [Oiii]} lines are small, $\lesssim 0.15$ that are comparable with Seyfert $1.8-2.0$ galaxies. We conduct \texttt{Cloudy} modeling with the stellar and AGN incident spectra, allowing a wide range of parameters including metallicities and ionization parameters. We find that the large {\sc [Oiii]} EWs are not self-consistently reproduced by the spectra of stars or unobscured AGN, but obscured AGN that efficiently produces O$^{++}$ ionizing photons with weak nuclear and stellar continua that are consistent with the SED shapes.

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arXiv2024

EMPRESS. X. Spatially resolved mass-metallicity relation in extremely metal-poor galaxies: evidence of episodic star-formation fueled by a metal-poor gas infall

Using the Subaru/FOCAS IFU capability, we examine the spatially resolved relationships between gas-phase metallicity, stellar mass, and star-formation rate surface densities (Sigma_* and Sigma_SFR, respectively) in extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) in the local universe. Our analysis includes 24 EMPGs, comprising 9,177 spaxels, which span a unique parameter space of local metallicity (12+log(O/H) = 6.9 to 7.9) and stellar mass surface density (Sigma_* ~ 10^5 to 10^7 Msun/kpc^2), extending beyond the range of existing large integral-field spectroscopic surveys. Through spatially resolved emission line diagnostics based on the [NII] BPT-diagram, we verify the absence of evolved active galactic nuclei in these EMPGs. Our findings reveal that, while the resolved mass-metallicity relation exhibits significant scatter in the low-mass regime, this scatter is closely correlated with local star-formation surface density. Specifically, metallicity decreases as Sigma_SFR increases for a given Sigma_*. Notably, half of the EMPGs show a distinct metal-poor horizontal branch on the resolved mass-metallicity relation. This feature typically appears at the peak clump with the highest Sigma_* and Sigma_SFR and is surrounded by a relatively metal-enriched ambient region. These findings support a scenario in which metal-poor gas infall fuels episodic star formation in EMPGs, consistent with the kinematic properties observed in these systems. In addition, we identify four EMPGs with exceptionally low central metallicities (12+log(O/H) <~ 7.2), which display only a metal-poor clump without a surrounding metal-rich region. This suggests that such ultra-low metallicity EMPGs, at less than a few percent of the solar metallicity, may serve as valuable analogs for galaxies in the early stages of galaxy evolution.

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arXiv2024

Large-Scale Stellar Age-Velocity Spiral Pattern in NGC 4030

The processes driving the formation and evolution of late-type galaxies (LTGs) continue to be a debated subject in extragalactic astronomy. Investigating stellar kinematics, especially when combined with age estimates, provides crucial insights into the formation and subsequent development of galactic discs. Post-processing of exceptionally high-quality Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) data of NGC 4030 acquired with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), clearly reveals a striking grand design spiral pattern in the velocity dispersion map not previously detected in other galaxies. This pattern spatially correlates with HII regions, suggesting that stars currently being born exhibit lower velocity dispersion as compared to surrounding areas where star formation (SF) is less active. We examine the age-velocity relation (AVR) and propose that its configuration might be shaped by a combination of heating mechanisms, seemingly consistent with findings from recent high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations. The complex structure of the uncovered AVR of NGC 4030 support the hypothesis that stellar populations initially inherit the velocity dispersion σ of the progenitor cold molecular gas, which depends on formation time and galactocentric distance, subsequently experiencing kinematic heating by cumulative gravitational interactions during their lifetime. While advancing our understanding of the AVR, these findings offer a new framework for investigating disk heating mechanisms, and their role in the evolution of galactic disks.

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arXiv2024

Probing the stellar populations and star formation history of early-type galaxies at $0 < z < 1.1$ in the rest-frame ultraviolet

We measure the evolution of the rest-frame $NUV-V$ colors for early-type galaxies in clusters at $0 3$. The blue UV colors of early-type galaxies at low-intermediate redshifts are likely driven by this sub-population being enriched in helium up to $\sim44\%$. At $z>0.8$ (when the extra UV component has not yet appeared) the data allows us to constrain the star formation histories of galaxies by fitting models to the evolution of their UV colors: we find that the epoch at which the stellar populations formed ranges between $3<z_{form}<10$ (corresponding to $0.5-2.2$ Gyrs after the Big Bang) with a star-formation e-folding timescale of $τ=0.35-0.7$ Gyr, suggesting that these galaxies formed the majority of stars at very high redshift, with a brief yet intense burst of star-formation activity. The star formation history and chemical evolution of early-type galaxies resemble those of globular clusters, albeit on much larger scales.

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arXiv2024

EMPRESS. XIII. Chemical Enrichments of Young Galaxies Near and Far at z ~ 0 and 4-10: Fe/O, Ar/O, S/O, and N/O Measurements with Chemical Evolution Model Comparisons

We present gas-phase elemental abundance ratios of 7 local extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) including our new Keck/LRIS spectroscopy determinations together with 33 JWST $z\sim 4-10$ star-forming galaxies in the literature, and compare chemical evolution models. We develop chemical evolution models with the yields of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), Type Ia supernovae, hypernovae (HNe), and pair-instability supernovae (PISNe), and compare the EMPGs and high-$z$ galaxies in conjunction with dust depletion contributions. We find that high Fe/O values of EMPGs can (cannot) be explained by PISN metal enrichments (CCSN/HN enrichments even with the mixing-and-fallback mechanism enhancing iron abundance), while that the observed Ar/O and S/O values are much smaller than the predictions of the PISN models. The abundance ratios of the EMPGs can be explained by the combination of Type Ia SNe and CCSNe/HNe whose inner layers of argon and sulfur mostly fallback, which are comparable with Sculptor stellar chemical abundance distribution, suggesting that early chemical enrichment is taken place in the EMPGs. Comparing our chemical evolution models with the star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 4-10$, we find that the Ar/O and S/O ratios of the high-$z$ galaxies are comparable with those of the CCSNe/HNe models, while majority of the high-$z$ galaxies do not have constraints good enough to rule out contributions from PISNe. The high N/O ratio recently reported in GN-z11 cannot be explained even by rotating PISNe, but could be reproduced by the winds of rotating Wolf Rayet stars that end up as a direct collapse.

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arXiv2024

EMPRESS. XIV. Strong High Ionization Lines of Young Galaxies at $z=0-8$: Ionizing Spectra Consistent with the Intermediate Mass Black Holes with $M_{\rm BH}\sim 10^3-10^6\ M_\odot$

We present ionizing spectra estimated at 13.6--100 eV for ten dwarf galaxies with strong high ionization lines of He {\sc {ii}}$λ$4686 and [Ne {\sc{v}}]$λ$3426 ([Ne {\sc{iv}}]$λ$2424) at $z=0$ ($z=8$) that are identified in our Keck/LRIS spectroscopy and the literature (the JWST ERO program). With the flux ratios of these high ionization lines and $>10$ low-ionization lines of hydrogen, helium, oxygen, neon, and sulfur, we determine ionizing spectra consisting of stellar and non-thermal power-law radiation by photoionization modeling with free parameters of nebular properties including metallicity and ionization parameter, cancelling out abundance ratio differences. We find that all of the observed flux ratios are well reproduced by the photoinization models with the power law index $α_{\rm EUV}$ of $α_{\rm EUV}\sim (-1)-0$ and the luminosity $L_{\rm EUV}$ of $L_{\rm EUV}\sim 10^{40}-10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ at $\sim 55-100$ eV for six galaxies, while four galaxies include large systematics in $α_{\rm EUV}$ caused by stellar radiation contamination. We then compare $α_{\rm EUV}$ and $L_{\rm EUV}$ of these six galaxies with those predicted by the black hole (BH) accretion disk models, and find that $α_{\rm EUV}$ and $L_{\rm EUV}$ are similar to those of the intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in BH accretion disk models {albeit with possibilities of the other scenarios.} Confirming these results with a known IMBH having a mass $M_{\rm BH}$ of $M_{\rm BH}=10^{5.75} \ M_\odot$, we find that four local galaxies and one $z=7.665$ galaxy have ionizing spectra consistent with those of IMBHs with $M_{\rm BH} \sim 10^3-10^5 \ M_\odot$.

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arXiv2024

A massive quiescent galaxy in a group environment at $z=4.53$

We report on the spectroscopic confirmation of a massive quiescent galaxy at $z_\mathrm{spec}=4.53$ in the COSMOS field. The object was first identified as a galaxy with suppressed star formation at $z_\mathrm{phot}\sim4.65$ from the COSMOS2020 catalog. The follow-up spectroscopy with Keck/MOSFIRE in the $K$-band reveals faint [OII] emission and the Balmer break, indicative of evolved stellar populations. We perform the spectral energy distribution fitting using photometry and spectrum to infer physical properties. The obtained stellar mass is high ($M_*\sim 10^{10.8}\,M_\odot$) and the current star formation rate is more than 1 dex below that of main-sequence galaxies at $z=4.5$. Its star formation history suggests that this galaxy experienced rapid quenching from $z\sim 5$. The galaxy is among the youngest quiescent galaxies confirmed so far at $z_\mathrm{spec}>3$ with $z_\mathrm{form}\sim5.2$ ($200\,\mathrm{Myr}$ ago), which is the epoch when 50\% of total stellar mass was formed. A unique aspect of the galaxy is that it is in an extremely dense region; there are four massive star-forming galaxies at $4.4<z_\mathrm{phot}<4.7$ located within 150 physical kpc from the galaxy. Interestingly, three of them have strongly overlapping virial radii with that of the central quiescent galaxy ($\sim 70\,\mathrm{kpc}$), suggesting that the over-density region is likely the highest redshift candidate of a dense group with a spectroscopically confirmed quiescent galaxy at the center. The group provides us with a unique opportunity to gain insights into the role of the group environment for quenching at $z\sim5$, which corresponds to the formation epoch of massive elliptical galaxies in the local Universe.

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arXiv2024

Size - Stellar Mass Relation and Morphology of Quiescent Galaxies at $z\geq3$ in Public $JWST$ Fields

We present the results of a systematic study of the rest-frame optical morphology of quiescent galaxies at $z \geq 3$ using the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) onboard $JWST$. Based on a sample selected by $UVJ$ color or $NUVUVJ$ color, we focus on 26 quiescent galaxies with $9.8<\log{(M_\star/M_\odot)}<11.4$ at $2.8 10.3$ implies that our size - stellar mass relations are below those at lower redshifts, with the amplitude of $\sim0.6\, {\rm kpc}$ at $M_\star = 5\times 10^{10}\, M_\odot$. This value agrees with the extrapolation from the size evolution of quiescent galaxies at $z<3$ in the literature, implying that the size of quiescent galaxies increases monotonically from $z\sim3-5$. Our sample is mainly composed of galaxies with bulge-like structures according to their median Sérsic index and axis ratio of $n\sim3-4$ and $q\sim0.6-0.8$, respectively. On the other hand, there is a trend of increasing fraction of galaxies with low Sérsic index, suggesting $3<z<5$ might be the epoch of onset of morphological transformation with a fraction of very notable disky quenched galaxies.

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arXiv2024

EMPRESS. XII. Statistics on the Dynamics and Gas Mass Fraction of Extremely-Metal Poor Galaxies

We present demography of the dynamics and gas-mass fraction of 33 extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with metallicities of $0.015-0.195~Z_\odot$ and low stellar masses of $10^4-10^8~M_\odot$ in the local universe. We conduct deep optical integral-field spectroscopy (IFS) for the low-mass EMPGs with the medium high resolution ($R=7500$) grism of the 8m-Subaru FOCAS IFU instrument by the EMPRESS 3D survey, and investigate H$α$ emission of the EMPGs. Exploiting the resolution high enough for the low-mass galaxies, we derive gas dynamics with the H$α$ lines by the fitting of 3-dimensional disk models. We obtain an average maximum rotation velocity ($v_\mathrm{rot}$) of $15\pm3~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$ and an average intrinsic velocity dispersion ($σ_0$) of $27\pm10~\mathrm{km~s^{-1}}$ for 15 spatially resolved EMPGs out of the 33 EMPGs, and find that all of the 15 EMPGs have $v_\mathrm{rot}/σ_0<1$ suggesting dispersion dominated systems. There is a clear decreasing trend of $v_\mathrm{rot}/σ_0$ with the decreasing stellar mass and metallicity. We derive the gas mass fraction ($f_\mathrm{gas}$) for all of the 33 EMPGs, and find no clear dependence on stellar mass and metallicity. These $v_\mathrm{rot}/σ_0$ and $f_\mathrm{gas}$ trends should be compared with young high-$z$ galaxies observed by the forthcoming JWST IFS programs to understand the physical origins of the EMPGs in the local universe.

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arXiv2023

Enhanced star formation and metallicity deficit in the USS 1558-003 forming protocluster at z=2.53

We use K-band multi-object near-infrared spectroscopy with Keck/MOSFIRE to search for environmental imprints on the gas properties of 27 narrow-band selected H$α$ emitters (HAEs) across the three major clumps of the assembling USS1558--003 protocluster at $z=2.53$. We target the H$α$ and [NII]$λ$6584 emission lines to obtain star-formation rates (SFR) and gas-phase oxygen abundances for our sources, confirming the membership of 23 objects. HAEs belonging to this protocluster display enhanced SFRs with respect to the main sequence of star formation at the same cosmic epoch. This effect is more prominent for low-mass galaxies ($\mathrm{\log M_*/M_\odot<10.0}$), which may be experiencing a vigorous phase of mass assembly shortly after they were formed. We compute the individual and stacked gas-phase metallicities for our sources finding a metallicity deficit for low-mass objects when compared against the field mass-metallicity relation and the massive Spiderweb protocluster at $z=2.16$. These results suggest that HAEs within USS1558--003 may be less evolved than those in the Spiderweb protocluster. Finally, we explore the gas metallicity - gas fraction relation for a small sample of five galaxies with CO(3-2) molecular gas information. Assuming our objects are in equilibrium, we obtain a relatively wide range of mass loading factors ($\mathrm{λ=0.5-2}$) matching field samples at the cosmic noon but in contrast with our previous results in the Spiderweb protocluster. We speculate that these discrepancies between protoclusters may be (partly) driven by differences in their current dynamical and mass assembly stages, hinting at the co-evolution of protoclusters and their galaxy populations at $2<z<3$.

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arXiv2023

A proto-cluster of massive quiescent galaxies at z=4

We report on discovery of a concentration of massive quiescent galaxies located at z=4. The concentration is first identified using high-quality photometric redshifts based on deep, mutli-band data in Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Field. Follow-up near-infrared spectroscopic observations with MOSFIRE on Keck confirm a massive (~10^{11} Msun) quiescent galaxy at z=3.99. Our spectral energy distribution (SED) analyses reveal that the galaxy experienced an episode of starburst about 500 Myr prior to the observed epoch, followed by rapid quenching. As its spectrum is sufficiently good to measure the stellar velocity dispersion, we infer its dynamical mass and find that it is consistent with its stellar mass. The galaxy is surrounded by 4 massive (>10^{10} Msun) quiescent galaxies on a ~1 physical Mpc scale, all of which are consistent with being located at the same redshift based on high-accuracy spectro-photometric redshifts. This is likely a (proto-)cluster dominated by quiescent galaxies, the first of the kind reported at such a high redshift as z=4. Interestingly, it is in a large-scale structure revealed by spectroscopic redshifts from VANDELS. Furthermore, it exhibits the red sequence, adding further support to the physical concentration of the galaxies. We find no such concentration in the Illustris-TNG300 simulation; it may be that the cluster is such a rare system that the simulation box is not sufficiently large to reproduce it. The total halo mass of the quiescent galaxies is ~10^{13} Msun, suggesting that they form a group-sized halo once they collapse together. We discuss implications of our findings for the quenching physics and conclude with future prospects.

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arXiv2023

Massive quiescent galaxies at $z\sim3$: a comparison of selection, stellar population and structural properties with simulation predictions

We study stellar population and structural properties of massive $\log(M_{\star} / M_{\odot}) >11$ galaxies at $z\sim 2.7$ in the Magneticum and IllustrisTNG hydrodynamical simulations and GAEA semi-analytic model. We find stellar mass functions broadly consistent with observations, with no scarcity of massive, quiescent galaxies at $z\sim 2.7$, but with a higher quiescent galaxy fraction at high masses in IllustrisTNG. Average ages of simulated quiescent galaxies are between $\sim 0.8$ and 1.0 Gyr, older by a factor $\sim 2$ than observed in spectroscopically-confirmed quiescent galaxies at similar redshift. Besides being potentially indicative of limitations of simulations in reproducing observed star formation histories, this discrepancy may also reflect limitations in the estimation of observed ages. We investigate the purity of simulated UVJ rest-frame color-selected massive quiescent samples with photometric uncertainties typical of deep surveys (e.g., COSMOS). We find evidence for significant contamination (up to 60 percent) by dusty star-forming galaxies in the UVJ region that is typically populated by older quiescent sources. Furthermore, the completeness of UVJ-selected quiescent samples at this redshift may be reduced by 30 percent due to a high fraction of young quiescent galaxies not entering the UVJ quiescent region. Massive, quiescent galaxies in simulations have on average lower angular momenta and higher projected axis ratios and concentrations than star-forming counterparts. Average sizes of simulated quiescent galaxies are broadly consistent with observations within the uncertainties. The average size ratio of quiescent and star-forming galaxies in the probed mass range is formally consistent with observations, although this result is partly affected by poor statistics.

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arXiv2023

EMPRESS. XI. SDSS and JWST Search for Local and z~4-5 Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxies (EMPGs): Clustering and Chemical Properties of Local EMPGs

We search for local extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs), selecting photometric candidates by broadband color excess and machine-learning techniques with the SDSS photometric data. After removing stellar contaminants by shallow spectroscopy with Seimei and Nayuta telescopes, we confirm that three candidates are EMPGs with 0.05--0.1 $Z_\odot$ by deep Magellan/MagE spectroscopy for faint {\sc[Oiii]}$λ$4363 lines. Using a statistical sample consisting of 105 spectroscopically-confirmed EMPGs taken from our study and the literature, we calculate cross-correlation function (CCF) of the EMPGs and all SDSS galaxies to quantify environments of EMPGs. Comparing another CCF of all SDSS galaxies and comparison SDSS galaxies in the same stellar mass range ($10^{7.0}-10^{8.4} M_\odot$), we find no significant ($>1σ$) difference between these two CCFs. We also compare mass-metallicity relations (MZRs) of the EMPGs and those of galaxies at $z\sim$ 0--4 with a steady chemical evolution model and find that the EMPG MZR is comparable with the model prediction on average. These clustering and chemical properties of EMPGs are explained by a scenario of stochastic metal-poor gas accretion on metal-rich galaxies showing metal-poor star formation. Extending the broadband color-excess technique to a high-$z$ EMPG search, we select 17 candidates of $z\sim$ 4--5 EMPGs with the deep ($\simeq30$ mag) near-infrared JWST/NIRCam images obtained by ERO and ERS programs. We find galaxy candidates with negligible {\sc[Oiii]}$λλ$4959,5007 emission weaker than the local EMPGs and known high-$z$ galaxies, suggesting that some of these candidates may fall in 0--0.01 $Z_\odot$, which potentially break the lowest metallicity limit known to date.

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arXiv2023

EMPRESS. IX. Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxies are Very Gas-Rich Dispersion-Dominated Systems: Will JWST Witness Gaseous Turbulent High-z Primordial Galaxies?

We present kinematics of 6 local extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with low metallicities ($0.016-0.098\ Z_{\odot}$) and low stellar masses ($10^{4.7}-10^{7.6} M_{\odot}$). Taking deep medium-high resolution ($R\sim7500$) integral-field spectra with 8.2-m Subaru, we resolve the small inner velocity gradients and dispersions of the EMPGs with H$α$ emission. Carefully masking out sub-structures originated by inflow and/or outflow, we fit 3-dimensional disk models to the observed H$α$ flux, velocity, and velocity-dispersion maps. All the EMPGs show rotational velocities ($v_{\rm rot}$) of 5--23 km s$^{-1}$ smaller than the velocity dispersions ($σ_{0}$) of 17--31 km s$^{-1}$, indicating dispersion-dominated ($v_{\rm rot}/σ_{0}=0.29-0.80<1$) systems affected by inflow and/or outflow. Except for two EMPGs with large uncertainties, we find that the EMPGs have very large gas-mass fractions of $f_{\rm gas}\simeq 0.9-1.0$. Comparing our results with other H$α$ kinematics studies, we find that $v_{\rm rot}/σ_{0}$ decreases and $f_{\rm gas}$ increases with decreasing metallicity, decreasing stellar mass, and increasing specific star-formation rate. We also find that simulated high-$z$ ($z\sim 7$) forming galaxies have gas fractions and dynamics similar to the observed EMPGs. Our EMPG observations and the simulations suggest that primordial galaxies are gas-rich dispersion-dominated systems, which would be identified by the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations at $z\sim 7$.

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arXiv2023

An Atlas of Color-selected Quiescent Galaxies at $z>3$ in Public $JWST$ Fields

We present the results of a systematic search for candidate quiescent galaxies in the distant Universe in eleven $JWST$ fields with publicly available observations collected during the first three months of operations and covering an effective sky area of $\sim145$ arcmin$^2$. We homogeneously reduce the new $JWST$ data and combine them with existing observations from the $Hubble\,Space\,Telescope$. We select a robust sample of $\sim80$ candidate quiescent and quenching galaxies at $3 < z < 5$ using two methods: (1) based on their rest-frame $UVJ$ colors, and (2) a novel quantitative approach based on Gaussian Mixture Modeling of the $NUV-U$, $U-V$, and $V-J$ rest-frame color space, which is more sensitive to recently quenched objects. We measure comoving number densities of massive ($M_\star\geq 10^{10.6} M_\odot$) quiescent galaxies consistent with previous estimates relying on ground-based observations, after homogenizing the results in the literature with our mass and redshift intervals. However, we find significant field-to-field variations of the number densities up to a factor of $2-3$, highlighting the effect of cosmic variance and suggesting the presence of overdensities of red quiescent galaxies at $z>3$, as it could be expected for highly clustered massive systems. Importantly, $JWST$ enables the robust identification of quenching/quiescent galaxy candidates at lower masses and higher redshifts than before, challenging standard formation scenarios. All data products, including the literature compilation, are made publicly available.

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arXiv2022

EMPRESS. VIII. A New Determination of Primordial He Abundance with Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxies: A Suggestion of the Lepton Asymmetry and Implications for the Hubble Tension

The primordial He abundance $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is a powerful probe of cosmology. Currently, $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is best determined by observations of metal-poor galaxies, while there are only a few known local extremely metal-poor ($<0.1 Z_\odot$) galaxies (EMPGs) having reliable He/H measurements with HeI$λ$10830 near-infrared (NIR) emission. Here we present deep Subaru NIR spectroscopy for 10 EMPGs. Combining the existing optical data, He/H values of 5 out of the 10 EMPGs are reliably derived by the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Adding the existing 3 EMPGs and 51 moderately metal-poor ($0.1-0.4 Z_\odot$) galaxies with reliable He/H estimates, we obtain $Y_\mathrm{P}=0.2370^{+0.0034}_{-0.0033}$ by linear regression in the $\mathrm{(He/H)}-\mathrm{(O/H)}$ plane, where we increase the number of EMPGs from 3 to 8 anchoring He/H of the most metal-poor gas in galaxies. Although our $Y_\mathrm{P}$ measurement and previous measurements are consistent, our result is slightly ($\sim 1σ$) smaller due to our EMPGs. With our $Y_\mathrm{P}$ and the existing primordial deuterium $D_\mathrm{P}$ measurement, we constrain the effective number of neutrino species $N_\mathrm{eff}$ and the baryon-to-photon ratio $η$ showing $\gtrsim 1-2σ$ tensions with the Standard Model and Planck Collaboration et al. (2020). Motivated by the tensions, we allow the degeneracy parameter of electron-neutrino $ξ_e$ to vary as well as $N_\mathrm{eff}$ and $η$. We obtain $ξ_e = 0.05^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$, $N_\mathrm{eff}=3.11^{+0.34}_{-0.31}$, and $η\times10^{10}=6.08^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$ from the $Y_\mathrm{P}$ and $D_\mathrm{P}$ measurements with a prior of $η$ taken from Planck Collaboration et al. (2020). Our constraints suggest a lepton asymmetry and allow for a high value of $N_\mathrm{eff}$ within the $1σ$ level, which could mitigate the Hubble tension.

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arXiv2022

EMPRESS. V. Metallicity Diagnostics of Galaxies over 12+log(O/H)=~6.9-8.9 Established by a Local Galaxy Census: Preparing for JWST Spectroscopy

We present optical-line gas metallicity diagnostics established by the combination of local SDSS galaxies and the largest compilation of extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) including new EMPGs identified by the Subaru EMPRESS survey. A total of 103 EMPGs are included that cover a large parameter space of magnitude (Mi=-19 to -7) and H-beta equivalent width (10-600 Ang), i.e., wide ranges of stellar mass and star-formation rate. Using reliable metallicity measurements of the direct method for these galaxies, we derive the relationships between strong optical-line ratios and gas-phase metallicity over the range of 12+log(O/H)=~6.9-8.9 corresponding to 0.02-2 solar metallicity Zsun. We confirm that R23-index, ([OIII]+[OII])/H-beta, is the most accurate metallicity indicator with the metallicity uncertainty of 0.14 dex over the range among various popular metallicity indicators. The other metallicity indicators show large scatters in the metal-poor range (<0.1 Zsun). It is explained by our CLOUDY photoionization modeling that, unlike R23-index, the other metallicity indicators do not use a sum of singly and doubly ionized lines and cannot trace both low and high ionization gas. We find that the accuracy of the metallicity indicators is significantly improved, if one uses H-beta equivalent width measurements that tightly correlate with ionization states. In this work, we also present the relation of physical properties with UV-continuum slope beta and ionization production rate xi_ion derived with GALEX data for the EMPGs, and provide local anchors of galaxy properties together with the optical-line metallicity indicators that are available in the form of ASCII table and useful for forthcoming JWST spectroscopic studies.

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arXiv2021

EMPRESS. IV. Extremely Metal-Poor Galaxies (EMPGs) Including Very Low-Mass Primordial Systems with M*=10^4--10^5 M_sun and 2--3% (O/H)_sun: High (Fe/O) Suggestive of Metal Enrichment by Hypernovae/Pair-Instability Supernovae

We present Keck/LRIS follow-up spectroscopy for 13 photometric candidates of extremely metal poor galaxies (EMPGs) selected by a machine-learning technique applied to the deep (~26 AB mag) optical and wide-area (~500 deg^2) Subaru imaging data in the EMPRESS survey. Nine out of the 13 candidates are EMPGs with an oxygen abundance (O/H) less than ~10% solar value (O/H)_sun, and four sources are contaminants of moderately metal-rich galaxies or no emission-line objects. Notably, two out of the nine EMPGs have extremely-low stellar masses and oxygen abundances of 5*10^4--7*10^5 M_sun and 2--3% (O/H)_sun, respectively. With a sample of five EMPGs with (Fe/O) measurements, two (three) of which are taken from this study (the literature), we confirm that two EMPGs with the lowest (O/H) ratios of ~2% (O/H)_sun show high (Fe/O) ratios of ~0.1, close to the solar abundance ratio. Comparing galaxy chemical enrichment models, we find that the two EMPGs cannot be explained by a scenario of metal-poor gas accretion/episodic star-formation history due to their low (N/O) ratios. We conclude that the two EMPGs can be reproduced by an inclusion of bright hypernovae and/or hypothetical pair-instability supernovae (SNe) preferentially produced in a metal-poor environment. This conclusion implies that primordial galaxies at z~10 could have a high abundance of Fe that is not originated from Type Ia SNe with delays, and that Fe may not serve as a cosmic clock for primordial galaxies.

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