Recent studies have detected oxygen in the most distant galaxy ever recorded, JADES-GS-z14-0, challenging existing theories about early cosmic development. The findings were published by two teams separately: the first study, led by Italian researchers, appeared in Astronomy & Astrophysics, while the second, led by Dutch researchers, is online on the arXiv platform and pending publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
Astronomers using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) identified oxygen in JADES-GS-z14-0, a galaxy so distant that light from it has taken about 13.4 billion years to reach Earth. This means researchers observed the galaxy as it existed when the universe was less than 300 million years old, approximately 2% of its current age.
The detection of oxygen is causing the astronomical community to rethink how quickly galaxies formed in the early universe. "It's like finding a teenager where you would only expect to find babies," said Sander Schouws, a PhD student at Leiden Observatory and first author of one of the studies, referring to JADES-GS-z14-0's unexpected maturity.
Previously, scientists believed that the universe at that time was too young to form galaxies rich in heavy elements. However, JADES-GS-z14-0 was found to be chemically more mature than expected, indicating rapid chemical evolution. This suggests that stars in the early universe were born, died, and dispersed heavy elements into their surroundings much faster than previously thought.
"They opened a new view on the first phases of galaxy evolution," said Stefano Carniani from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, referring to the rapid maturation of JADES-GS-z14-0.
The presence of oxygen allows astronomers to measure the distance to the early galaxy more accurately, confirming its extreme distance with an uncertainty of just 0.005%, as reported by Digital Trends. "Thanks to ALMA, we obtained an extremely precise measurement with an uncertainty of just 0.005%, equivalent to 5 centimeters over a distance of 1 kilometer," said Eleonora Parlanti, a PhD student at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and author of one of the studies.
"I was really surprised by this clear detection of oxygen in JADES-GS-z14-0," said Gergö Popping, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory, according to The Independent.
The findings suggest that galaxies formed much faster than expected in the early universe, raising new questions about the development of the early cosmos. "The evidence of a mature galaxy in the infant universe raises questions about when and how galaxies formed," said Carniani.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) played a crucial role in this discovery, revealing that galaxies appeared earlier and were more luminous than anticipated. "While the galaxy was originally discovered with the James Webb Space Telescope, it took ALMA to confirm and precisely determine its enormous distance," said Rychard Bouwens of Leiden Observatory.
Astronomers are eager to understand how galaxies like JADES-GS-z14-0 could have matured so quickly. "It seems we are about to witness a paradigm shift in the models of the universe's evolution, and this is very exciting," said Andreu Font-Ribera from the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE) in Barcelona.
The unexpected discovery reveals the synergy between the JWST and ALMA in studying the formation and evolution of the first galaxies. "Together, we can study the formation and evolution of the first galaxies," said Bouwens.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.