Uncovering the MIR emission of quiescent galaxies with JWST

Journal article

We present a study of the mid-IR (MIR) emission of quiescent galaxies (QGs) beyond the local universe. Using deep $JWST$ imaging in the SMACS-0723 cluster field we identify a mass limited ($M_{*} >10^{9}$M$_{\odot}$) sample of intermediate redshift QGs ($0.2 5 \mu$m, can be attributed to different dust continuum levels and/or the presence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) features. The latter would indicate enhanced 11.3- and 12.7 $\mu$m PAHs strengths with respect to those at 6.2- and 7.7$ \mu$m, consistent with the observed spectra of local ellipticals and indicative of soft radiation fields. Finally, we augment the average UV-to-MIR spectrum of the population with cold dust and gas emission in the far-IR/mm and construct a panchromatic UV-to-radio SED that can serve as a template for the future exploration of the interstellar medium of $z>0$ QGs with ALMA and $JWST$.Comment: The panchromatic QG SED has been made publicly available at http://www.georgiosmagdis.com/softwar

Authors: Blánquez-Sesé, D; Magdis, GE; Gómez-Guijarro, C; Shuntov, M; Kokorev, V

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: EDP Sciences
• Journal: Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Volume: 679
• Pages: L2-L2
• Publication date: 2023-10-16
• Acceptance date: 2023-10-02
• DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202347771
• EISSN: 1432-0746
• ISSN: 0004-6361
• Language: English
• Keywords: Galaxy; Astrophysics; Physics; Astronomy