Nature Astronomy最新文献

{"title":"Direct in situ observations of eruption-associated magnetic reconnection in the solar corona","authors":"Ritesh Patel, Tatiana Niembro, Xiaoyan Xie, Daniel B. Seaton, Samuel T. Badman, Soumya Roy, Yeimy J. Rivera, Katharine K. Reeves, Guillermo Stenborg, Phillip Hess, Matthew J. West, Alex Feller, Johann Hirzberger, David Orozco Suárez, Sami K. Solanki, Hanna Strecker, Gherardo Valori","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02623-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02623-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process within highly conductive plasmas. Oppositely oriented field lines are reconfigured, releasing stored magnetic energy. It plays a vital role in shaping the dynamics of the solar corona and provides one of the main mechanisms for releasing the stored energy that powers solar eruptions. Reconnection at the Sun has been studied using remote-sensing observations, but the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) now permits in situ sampling of reconnection-related plasma in the corona. Here we report on a PSP fly-through of a reconnecting current sheet in the corona during a major solar eruption on 5–6 September 2022. We find that even 24 h after the flare peak, PSP detected the reconnection exhaust, indicating continuing fast reconnection, which we confirmed using remote-sensing observations made by the Solar Orbiter. This reconnection persisted much longer than typical timescales of a few minutes to hours. Plasma parameters measured by PSP within the reconnection region match numerical simulations. These new observations provide a key bridge between theory and measurements of plasmas in the solar atmosphere, laboratory experiments and astrophysical systems, generating new constraints required for the refinement of models and for the strengthening of their links to observations at many scales.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144825215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A post-starburst pathway for the formation of massive galaxies and black holes at z > 6","authors":"Masafusa Onoue, Xuheng Ding, John D. Silverman, Yoshiki Matsuoka, Takuma Izumi, Michael A. Strauss, Charlotte Ward, Camryn L. Phillips, Kei Ito, Irham T. Andika, Kentaro Aoki, Junya Arita, Shunsuke Baba, Rebekka Bieri, Sarah E. I. Bosman, Anna-Christina Eilers, Seiji Fujimoto, Melanie Habouzit, Zoltan Haiman, Masatoshi Imanishi, Kohei Inayoshi, Kazushi Iwasawa, Knud Jahnke, Nobunari Kashikawa, Toshihiro Kawaguchi, Kotaro Kohno, Chien-Hsiu Lee, Junyao Li, Alessandro Lupi, Jianwei Lyu, Tohru Nagao, Roderik Overzier, Jan-Torge Schindler, Malte Schramm, Matthew T. Scoggins, Kazuhiro Shimasaku, Yoshiki Toba, Benny Trakhtenbrot, Maxime Trebitsch, Tommaso Treu, Hideki Umehata, Bram Venemans, Marianne Vestergaard, Marta Volonteri, Fabian Walter, Feige Wang, Jinyi Yang, Haowen Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02628-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02628-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding the rapid formation of supermassive black holes in the early Universe requires insights into stellar mass growth in host galaxies. Here we present NIRSpec rest-frame optical spectra and NIRCam imaging from JWST of two galaxies at z &gt; 6, both hosting moderate-luminosity quasars. These galaxies exhibit Balmer absorption lines, like low-redshift post-starburst galaxies. Our analyses of the medium-resolution spectra and multiband photometry show that the bulk of the stellar mass (log(<i>M</i>_*/<i>M</i>_{<span>☉</span>}) ≥ 10.6) formed in starburst episodes at redshift 9 and 7. One of the galaxies shows a clear Balmer break and lacks spatially resolved Hα emission. It falls well below the star-formation main sequence at <i>z</i> = 6, indicating quiescence. The other is transitioning to quiescence; together, these massive galaxies are among the most distant post-starburst systems known. The blueshifted wings of the quasar [O <span>iii</span>] emission lines indicate quasar-driven outflow, which possibly influences star formation. Direct stellar velocity dispersion measurements reveal that one galaxy follows the local black hole mass versus <i>σ</i>_* relation whereas the other is overmassive. The existence of massive post-starburst galaxies hosting billion-solar-mass black holes in short-lived quasar phases indicates that supermassive black holes and host galaxies played a principal role in each other’s rapid early formation.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144819329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A D/H ratio consistent with Earth’s water in Halley-type comet 12P from ALMA HDO mapping","authors":"M. A. Cordiner, E. L. Gibb, Z. Kisiel, N. X. Roth, N. Biver, D. Bockelée-Morvan, J. Boissier, B. P. Bonev, S. B. Charnley, I. M. Coulson, J. Crovisier, M. N. Drozdovskaya, K. Furuya, M. Jin, Y.-J. Kuan, M. Lippi, D. C. Lis, S. N. Milam, C. Opitom, C. Qi, A. J. Remijan","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02614-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02614-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Isotopic measurements of Solar System bodies provide a primary paradigm within which to understand the origins and histories of planetary materials. The deuterium-to-hydrogen (D/H) ratio, in particular, helps reveal the relationship between (and heritage of) different H₂O reservoirs within the Solar System. Here we present interferometric maps of water (H₂O) and semiheavy water (HDO) in the gas-phase coma of a comet (Halley-type comet 12P/Pons–Brooks), obtained using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The maps are consistent with outgassing of both H₂O and HDO directly from the nucleus, and they imply a coma D/H ratio (for water) of (1.71 ± 0.44) × 10⁻⁴. This is at the lower end of the range of previously observed values in comets and is consistent with D/H in Earth’s ocean water. Our results indicate a possible common heritage between a component of the water ice reservoir in the Oort cloud and the water that was delivered to the young Earth during the early history of the Solar System.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"737 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144796903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The first billion years according to JWST","authors":"Angela Adamo,&nbsp;Hakim Atek,&nbsp;Micaela B. Bagley,&nbsp;Eduardo Bañados,&nbsp;Kirk S. S. Barrow,&nbsp;Danielle A. Berg,&nbsp;Rachel Bezanson,&nbsp;Maruša Bradač,&nbsp;Gabriel Brammer,&nbsp;Adam C. Carnall,&nbsp;John Chisholm,&nbsp;Dan Coe,&nbsp;Pratika Dayal,&nbsp;Daniel J. Eisenstein,&nbsp;Jan J. Eldridge,&nbsp;Andrea Ferrara,&nbsp;Seiji Fujimoto,&nbsp;Anna de Graaff,&nbsp;Melanie Habouzit,&nbsp;Taylor A. Hutchison,&nbsp;Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,&nbsp;Susan A. Kassin,&nbsp;Mariska Kriek,&nbsp;Ivo Labbé,&nbsp;Roberto Maiolino,&nbsp;Rui Marques-Chaves,&nbsp;Michael V. Maseda,&nbsp;Charlotte Mason,&nbsp;Jorryt Matthee,&nbsp;Kristen B. W. McQuinn,&nbsp;Georges Meynet,&nbsp;Rohan P. Naidu,&nbsp;Pascal A. Oesch,&nbsp;Laura Pentericci,&nbsp;Pablo G. Pérez-González,&nbsp;Jane R. Rigby,&nbsp;Guido Roberts-Borsani,&nbsp;Daniel Schaerer,&nbsp;Alice E. Shapley,&nbsp;Daniel P. Stark,&nbsp;Massimo Stiavelli,&nbsp;Allison L. Strom,&nbsp;Eros Vanzella,&nbsp;Feige Wang,&nbsp;Stephen M. Wilkins,&nbsp;Christina C. Williams,&nbsp;Chris J. Willott,&nbsp;Dominika Wylezalek,&nbsp;Antonella Nota","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02624-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-025-02624-5","url":null,"abstract":"With stunning clarity, the JWST has revealed the Universe’s first billion years. The scientific community is analysing a wealth of JWST imaging and spectroscopic data from that era, and is in the process of rewriting the astronomy textbooks. Here, as a result of the 2024 ISSI Breakthrough Workshop, we provide a snapshot of the great progress made towards understanding the initial chapters of our cosmic history 1.5 years into the JWST science mission. We present the current census of early galaxies, their luminosities, appearance, chemical composition, masses and formation histories as revealed by JWST. We relate the discovery of massive black holes in early galaxies and discuss their demographics and implications for their formations and growth. We conclude by describing the potential sources of reionization and our current understanding of how the Universe became fully ionized. Throughout the Perspective, we highlight discoveries and breakthroughs, topics and issues that are not yet understood, and questions that will be addressed in the coming years, as JWST continues its revolutionary observations of the early Universe. The infrared view of JWST has opened up the early Universe to study. This Perspective summarizes the key developments in our understanding of the high-redshift Universe from the first 18 months of JWST observations.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 8","pages":"1134-1147"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144796907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A young galaxy that consists of numerous star-forming clumps","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02597-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02597-5","url":null,"abstract":"Morphology and dynamics probe early galaxy formation. Contrary to previous understanding that early galaxies comprise smooth structures, high-resolution observations combined with gravitational lensing reveal at least 15 star-forming clumps within a rotating galaxy from 900 million years after the Big Bang. These observations challenge current theories of early galaxy formation.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144792652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Radiation efficiency of electromagnetic wave modes from beam-generated solar radio sources","authors":"C. Krafft,&nbsp;A. S. Volokitin,&nbsp;F. J. Polanco-Rodríguez,&nbsp;P. Savoini","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02619-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-025-02619-2","url":null,"abstract":"During type III solar radio bursts, electromagnetic waves are radiated at the plasma frequency ωp and its harmonics by electrostatic wave turbulence generated by electron beams ejected from the Sun in randomly inhomogeneous solar wind and coronal plasmas. These emissions, detected for decades by spacecraft and radiotelescopes, are split by the plasma magnetic field into three modes, $${mathcal{X}}$$ , $${mathcal{O}}$$ and $${mathcal{Z}}$$ , with different dispersion, polarization and radiation properties. Here, using three independent and converging approaches—particle-in-cell simulations, a theoretical model of waves in a random medium and analytical calculations in the framework of turbulence theory—we demonstrate that only a small fraction of electromagnetic energy radiated at ωp (≲10%) escapes from beam-generated radio sources, mainly as $${mathcal{O}}$$ -mode waves and, depending on plasma conditions, as $${mathcal{X}}$$ -mode waves. Most energy is radiated in the $${mathcal{Z}}$$ -mode and can therefore be observed only close to sources. The results provide strong support for interpretation of observations performed up to close distances from the Sun by spacecraft such as Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter. This work, based on general approaches requiring few assumptions, makes it possible to study the properties of radio emission under realistic solar conditions, and thereby provides a solid basis for the development of theoretical tools for probing space and time variations of beam–plasma systems in the solar wind. Three independent theoretical approaches are used to assess the efficiency of the electromagnetic wave mode radiation at the plasma frequency from beam-generated sources during type III solar radio bursts, with parameters close to realistic conditions.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 9","pages":"1292-1299"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144792650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Primordial rotating disk composed of at least 15 dense star-forming clumps at cosmic dawn","authors":"S. Fujimoto, M. Ouchi, K. Kohno, F. Valentino, C. Giménez-Arteaga, G. B. Brammer, L. J. Furtak, M. Kohandel, M. Oguri, A. Pallottini, J. Richard, A. Zitrin, F. E. Bauer, M. Boylan-Kolchin, M. Dessauges-Zavadsky, E. Egami, S. L. Finkelstein, Z. Ma, I. Smail, D. Watson, T. A. Hutchison, J. R. Rigby, B. D. Welch, Y. Ao, L. D. Bradley, G. B. Caminha, K. I. Caputi, D. Espada, R. Endsley, Y. Fudamoto, J. González-López, B. Hatsukade, A. M. Koekemoer, V. Kokorev, N. Laporte, M. Lee, G. E. Magdis, Y. Ono, F. Rizzo, T. Shibuya, K. Shimasaku, F. Sun, S. Toft, H. Umehata, T. Wang, H. Yajima","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02592-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02592-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Early galaxies form through dark matter and gas assembly, evolving into dynamically hot, chaotic structures driven by mergers and feedback. By contrast, remarkably smooth, rotating disks are observed in massive galaxies only 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang, implying rapid dynamical evolution. Probing this evolution mechanism necessitates studies of young galaxies, yet efforts have been hindered by observational limitations in both sensitivity and spatial resolution. Here we report high-resolution observations of a strongly lensed, quintuply imaged, low-luminosity young galaxy at redshift <i>z</i> = 6.072, just 930 million years after the Big Bang. Magnified by gravitational lensing, the galaxy resolves into at least 15 star-forming clumps (effective radii ~10–60 pc), dominating ~70% of the galaxy’s ultraviolet flux. Cool gas emission reveals an underlying rotating disk (rotational-to-random motion ratio 3.58 ± 0.74) in a gravitationally unstable state (Toomre <i>Q</i> ≈ 0.2–0.3) with high surface gas densities comparable to local starbursts (~10³⁻⁵ <i>M</i>_{<span>⊙</span>} pc⁻²). These properties suggest that disk instabilities with weak feedback drive prolific clump formation. The extreme clumpiness surpasses galaxies at later epochs and current simulation predictions. Our findings directly connect small-scale internal structures, underlying disk dynamics along with feedback effects at cosmic dawn, potentially explaining the abundance of luminous galaxies observed in the early Universe.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144792651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A hot white dwarf merger remnant revealed by an ultraviolet detection of carbon","authors":"Snehalata Sahu,&nbsp;Antoine Bédard,&nbsp;Boris T. Gänsicke,&nbsp;Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay,&nbsp;Detlev Koester,&nbsp;Jay Farihi,&nbsp;J. J. Hermes,&nbsp;Mark A. Hollands,&nbsp;Tim Cunningham,&nbsp;Seth Redfield","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02590-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-025-02590-y","url":null,"abstract":"Atmospheric carbon has been detected in the optical spectra of six hydrogen-rich ultra-massive white dwarfs, revealing large carbon abundances (log(C/H) &gt; −0.5) attributable to the convective dredge-up of internal carbon into thin hydrogen surface layers. These rare white dwarfs likely originate from stellar mergers, making them ‘smoking guns’ for one of the binary evolution channels leading to thermonuclear supernovae. However, optical spectroscopy can uncover only the most carbon-enriched objects, suggesting that many more merger remnants may masquerade as normal pure-hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs. Here we report the discovery of atmospheric carbon in a Hubble Space Telescope far-ultraviolet spectrum of WD 0525+526, a long-known hydrogen-rich ultra-massive white dwarf. The carbon abundance (log(C/H) = −4.62) is 4–5 dex lower than in the six counterparts and thus detectable only at ultraviolet wavelengths. We find that the total masses of hydrogen and helium in the envelope (10−13.8 and 10−12.6 of the total white dwarf mass, respectively) are substantially lower than those expected from single-star evolution, implying that WD 0525+526 is a merger remnant. Our modelling indicates that the low surface carbon abundance arises from an envelope structure in which a thin hydrogen-rich layer floats atop a semi-convection zone—a process that has been largely overlooked in white dwarfs. Our study highlights the importance of ultraviolet spectroscopy in identifying and characterizing merger remnants. Ultraviolet observations of an ultra-massive white dwarf with the Hubble Space Telescope reveal small amounts of carbon on the surface, identifying it as a merger remnant.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 9","pages":"1347-1355"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02590-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144786594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of interior dynamics and differentiation on the surface and in the atmosphere of lava planets","authors":"Charles-Édouard Boukaré, Daphné Lemasquerier, Nicolas B. Cowan, Henri Samuel, James Badro, Lisa Dang, Aurélien Falco, Sébastien Charnoz","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02617-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02617-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Lava planets are rocky exoplanets that orbit so close to their host star that their dayside is hot enough to melt silicate rock. Their short orbital periods ensure that lava planets are tidally locked into synchronous rotation, with permanent day and night hemispheres. Such asymmetric magma oceans have no analogues in the Solar System and their internal dynamics and evolution are still poorly understood. Here we report the results of numerical simulations showing that solid–liquid fractionation has a major impact on the composition and evolution of lava planets. We explored two different interior thermal states. If the interior is fully molten, the atmosphere will reflect the planet’s bulk silicate composition, and the nightside solid surface is gravitationally unstable and constantly replenished. If the interior is mostly solid with only a shallow magma ocean on the dayside, the outgassed atmosphere will lack in Na, K and FeO, and the nightside will have an entirely solid mantle with a cold surface. We show that these two end-member cases can be distinguished with observations from JWST, offering an avenue to probe the thermal and chemical evolution of exoplanet interiors.</p>","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144719694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accelerated quenching and chemical enhancement of massive galaxies in a z ≈ 4 gas-rich halo","authors":"Pablo G. Pérez-González,&nbsp;Francesco D’Eugenio,&nbsp;Bruno Rodríguez del Pino,&nbsp;Michele Perna,&nbsp;Hannah Übler,&nbsp;Roberto Maiolino,&nbsp;Santiago Arribas,&nbsp;Giovanni Cresci,&nbsp;Isabella Lamperti,&nbsp;Andrew J. Bunker,&nbsp;Stefano Carniani,&nbsp;Stephane Charlot,&nbsp;Chris J. Willott,&nbsp;Torsten Böker,&nbsp;Eleonora Parlanti,&nbsp;Jan Scholtz,&nbsp;Giacomo Venturi,&nbsp;Guillermo Barro,&nbsp;Luca Costantin,&nbsp;Ignacio Martín-Navarro,&nbsp;James S. Dunlop,&nbsp;Daniel Magee","doi":"10.1038/s41550-025-02586-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41550-025-02586-8","url":null,"abstract":"Stars in galaxies form when baryons radiatively cool down and fall into dark matter-dominated gravitational wells. Eventually, star formation quenches as gas is depleted and/or perturbed by feedback processes that prevent the gas from collapsing and condensing. Here we report spatially resolved spectroscopic observations, using the JWST/NIRSpec integral field unit, of a massive, quiescent galaxy (Jekyll) and its neighbourhood at redshift z = 3.714, when the Universe age was 10% of today’s. Jekyll resides in a massive dark matter halo (MDM &gt; 1012 M⊙) forming a galaxy pair with Hyde, which shows intense dust-enshrouded star formation (star-formation rate ~300 M⊙ yr−1). We find large amounts of kinematically perturbed ionized and neutral gas in the circumgalactic medium around the pair. Despite this large gas reservoir, Jekyll, which formed a stellar mass of 1011 M⊙ in stars and chemically enriched early (first billion years of the Universe) and quickly (200–300 Myr), has remained quiescent for over 500 Myr. The properties of the gas found around the two galaxies are consistent with intense, active galactic nucleus-induced photoionization, or intense shocks. However, with the current data, no obscured or unobscured active galactic nucleus is detected in the central galaxy (Jekyll) nor in the very active star-forming galaxy (Hyde). Our study points to a closed-box model followed by preventive feedback to explain the formation and early quenching of massive galaxies in the first 2 Gyr of the Universe. Spatially resolved JWST spectroscopy of a massive, quiescent galaxy at a redshift of ~4 reveals that it formed its stars and quenched rapidly, despite being surrounded by an abundant gas reservoir and gravitationally bound to a star-bursting companion.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"9 8","pages":"1240-1255"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144677591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}