The entire area was first observed by a space telescope Hubble in 2018It has properties that suggest it may be a reionization site, but its components have been difficult to resolve. The size of each star cluster is about Parsec (about 3.26 light-years), indicating that it is Very denseabout three times larger than typical young star clusters in the local universe.
At the time of reionization of the universe
The researchers conclude that these results imply that star cluster formation and feedback may have helped shape the properties of galaxies during the stellar era. reionization The universe, a major change that began about 379,000 years after the Big Bang.
“Reionization is one of the last major phase transitions of the universe, and we think it started around the redshift at which we detected these star clusters, so they were found in the galaxy during the early stages of reionization,” Adamo explains.
The discovery of young massive star clusters in the Cosmic Jewel Arc provides excellent insight into how globular star clusters form.
“We think that radiation from these star clusters could have escaped the galaxy and contributed to the reionization. But of course this is speculation. We cannot have direct evidence with the current data,” the researcher admits.
In our Milky Way Galaxy we see ancient Globular star clustersheld together by gravity and surviving for billions of years. They are ancient relics of intense star formation in the early universe, but it is not well known where and when they formed. The discovery of young, massive star clusters in the Cosmic Gemstone Arc now provides an excellent insight into this process.
“These results provide direct evidence that proto-globular clusters formed in faint galaxies during the epoch of reionization, contributing to our understanding of how these clusters form.” Galaxies have managed to reionize the universe.“Angela says.
These results provide evidence that the first globular clusters formed in faint galaxies during the era of reionization in the Universe.
Angela Adamo (Stockholm University)
Moreover, “the high stellar densities found in the clusters provide us with the first indication of the processes taking place within them,” he asserts, “and provide new data on the possibilities for this to occur.” Formation of very massive stars And based on Black hole seedsBoth are important for the evolution of galaxies.
Spanish participation
Another of the authors, Yolanda JimenezResearcher at the Institute of Astrophysics in Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) and the National Observatory in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), summarize the result: “These structures are the oldest stellar clusters ever discovered and could be a precursor to the globular clusters we currently observe in our Galaxy.”
“This discovery once again demonstrates how, thanks to the James Webb, we are revealing the early stages of our universe,” the co-author notes. Jose Maria DiegoScientist at the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (EvekaJoint Center of CSIC and the University of Cantabria), where a model of the gravitational lensing effect was developed to understand arc magnification.
“One question that still needs to be resolved is why we only see five double images, when we actually expect six,” he comments. “A possible explanation is that there is a Dwarf galaxy, not discovered By James Webb, at a lower magnification that doesn’t allow us to see the image in question.
One question that still needs to be resolved is why we see only five double images, when in reality we expect six double images.
Jose Maria Diego (IFCA, CSIC-UC)
In any case, these results help shed light on how this happens. Stars and galaxies in the early universeThe researchers hope to find more examples in the future.
At the moment, “we are following Spectroscopic observations “From the arc of the comic gems, which will help extract more stringent physical properties of their star clusters and their host galaxy,” Adamo offers. Further studies with Webb are scheduled for 2025, which may hold new surprises.
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