Evidence for inefficient dust production in a massive, metal-rich galaxy at z=7.13 uncovered by JWST and ALMA
Abstract
Recent observations have revealed a remarkably rapid buildup of cosmic dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of high redshift galaxies, with complex dust compositions and large abundances already appearing at redshifts z > 6 . Here we present a comprehensive, joint analysis of observations taken with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) of the highly magnified ( μ = 9.6 ), dusty normal galaxy, A1689-zD1 at z = 7.13 . We perform detailed spectro-photometric modeling of the rest-frame UV to far-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) based on archival photometry of the source and report new rest-frame optical strong-line measurements and metallicity estimates from recent /NIRSpec IFU data. We find that despite its substantial dust mass, , A1689-zD1 has remarkably low dust-to-gas and dust-to-metal mass ratios, and , respectively, due to its high metallicity and substantial gas mass, inferred from the [] luminosity and bounded by its dynamics. The DTG and DTM mass ratios are an order of magnitude lower than expected for galaxies in the local universe with similar chemical enrichment. These low relative measurements are also consistent with the deficit observed in the ratio of A1689-zD1 in the line-of-sight. We find that this deviation in the DTG and DTM mass ratios appears to be ubiquitous in other metal-rich galaxies at similar redshifts, z ≳ 6 . This suggests that the processes that form and destroy dust at later times, or the dust emissivity itself, are likelyl different for galaxies in the early Universe.
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BibTeX
@article{heintz2026evidence,
title = {{Evidence for inefficient dust production in a massive, metal-rich galaxy at z=7.13 uncovered by JWST and ALMA}},
author = {Kasper E. Heintz and Darach Watson and Francesco Valentino and Rashmi Gottumukkala and Desika Narayanan and Robert M. Yates and Chamilla Terp and Negin Nezhad and John R. Weaver and Joris Witstok and Gabriel Brammer and Anja C. Andersen and Albert Sneppen and Clara L. Pollock and Hiddo Algera and Lucie E. Rowland and Pascal A. Oesch and Georgios Magdis and Giorgos Nikopoulos and Kirsten K. Knudsen},
journal = {The Open Journal of Astrophysics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.33232/001c.172038},
url = {https://astro.theoj.org/article/172038-evidence-for-inefficient-dust-production-in-a-massive-metal-rich-galaxy-at-z-7-13-uncovered-by-jwst-and-alma},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Evidence for inefficient dust production in a massive, metal-rich galaxy at z=7.13 uncovered by JWST and ALMA
AU - Kasper E. Heintz
AU - Darach Watson
AU - Francesco Valentino
AU - Rashmi Gottumukkala
AU - Desika Narayanan
AU - Robert M. Yates
AU - Chamilla Terp
AU - Negin Nezhad
AU - John R. Weaver
AU - Joris Witstok
AU - Gabriel Brammer
AU - Anja C. Andersen
AU - Albert Sneppen
AU - Clara L. Pollock
AU - Hiddo Algera
AU - Lucie E. Rowland
AU - Pascal A. Oesch
AU - Georgios Magdis
AU - Giorgos Nikopoulos
AU - Kirsten K. Knudsen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
JO - The Open Journal of Astrophysics
DO - 10.33232/001c.172038
UR - https://astro.theoj.org/article/172038-evidence-for-inefficient-dust-production-in-a-massive-metal-rich-galaxy-at-z-7-13-uncovered-by-jwst-and-alma
AB - Recent observations have revealed a remarkably rapid buildup of cosmic dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of high redshift galaxies, with complex dust compositions and large abundances already appearing at redshifts z > 6 . Here we present a comprehensive, joint analysis of observations taken with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) of the highly magnified ( μ = 9.6 ), dusty normal galaxy, A1689-zD1 at z = 7.13 . We perform detailed spectro-photometric modeling of the rest-frame UV to far-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) based on archival photometry of the source and report new rest-frame optical strong-line measurements and metallicity estimates from recent /NIRSpec IFU data. We find that despite its substantial dust mass, , A1689-zD1 has remarkably low dust-to-gas and dust-to-metal mass ratios, and , respectively, due to its high metallicity and substantial gas mass, inferred from the [] luminosity and bounded by its dynamics. The DTG and DTM mass ratios are an order of magnitude lower than expected for galaxies in the local universe with similar chemical enrichment. These low relative measurements are also consistent with the deficit observed in the ratio of A1689-zD1 in the line-of-sight. We find that this deviation in the DTG and DTM mass ratios appears to be ubiquitous in other metal-rich galaxies at similar redshifts, z ≳ 6 . This suggests that the processes that form and destroy dust at later times, or the dust emissivity itself, are likelyl different for galaxies in the early Universe.
SN - 2565-6120
ER -