English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

The recent reported discovery of a low-mass $z=5.2$ and an intermediate-mass$z=7.3$ quenched galaxy with JWST/NIRSpec is the first evidence of halted starformation above $z\approx 5$. Here we show how bursty star formation at $z=4-8$gives rise to temporarily quenched, or mini-quenched galaxies in the mass range$M_{\star} = 10^7-10^9 \ M_{\odot}$ using four models of galaxy formation: theperiodic box simulation IllustrisTNG, the zoom-in simulations VELA andFirstLight and an empirical halo model. The main causes for mini-quenching arestellar feedback, lack of gas accretion onto galaxies and galaxy-galaxyinteractions. The abundance of (mini-)quenched galaxies agrees across themodels: the population first appears below $z\approx 8$, after which theirproportion increases with cosmic time, from $\sim 0.5-1.0$% at $z=7$ to $\sim2-4$% at $z=4$, corresponding to comoving number densities of $\sim 10^{-5}$Mpc$^{-3}$ and $\sim 10^{-3}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, respectively. These numbers areconsistent with star formation rate duty cycles inferred for VELA andFirstLight galaxies. Their star formation histories (SFHs) suggest thatmini-quenching at $z=4-8$ is short-lived with a duration of $\sim 20-40$ Myr,which is close to the free-fall timescale of the inner halo. However, mockspectral energy distributions of mini-quenched galaxies in IllustrisTNG andVELA do not match JADES-GS-z7-01-QU photometry, unless their SFHs areartificially altered to be more bursty on timescales of $\sim 40$ Myr. Studyingmini-quenched galaxies might aid in calibrating sub-grid models governinggalaxy formation, as these may not generate sufficient burstiness at highredshift to explain the SFH inferred for JADES-GS-z7-01-QU.

Mini-quenching of $z=4-8$ galaxies by bursty star formation