Metal enrichment and evolution in four z > 6.5 quasar sightlines observed with JWST/NIRSpec

Abstract

We present JWST/NIRSpec R ≃ 2700 spectra of four high-redshift quasars: VDES J0020–3653 (z = 6.860), DELS J0411–0907 (z = 6.825), UHS J0439+1634 (z = 6.519), and ULAS J1342+0928 (z = 7.535). The exquisite data quality, signal-to-noise ratio of 50–200, and large 0.86 μm ≤ λ ≤ 5.5 μm spectral coverage allowed us to identify between 13 and 17 intervening and proximate metal absorption line systems in each quasar spectrum, with a total number of 61 absorption-line systems detected at 2.42 < z < 7.48 including the highest redshift intervening O Iλ1302 and Mg II systems at z = 7.37 and z = 7.44. We investigated the evolution of the metal enrichment in the epoch of re-ionisation (EoR) at z > 6 and found the following: i) a continued increase in the low-ionisation O I, C II, and Si II incidence, ii) decreasing high-ionisation C IV and Si IV incidence with a transition from predominantly high- to low-ionisation at z ≈ 6.0, and iii) a constant Mg II incidence across all redshifts. The observations support a change in the ionisation state of the intergalactic medium in the EoR rather than a change in metallicity. The abundance ratio of [Si/O] in five z > 6 absorption systems show enrichment signatures produced by low-mass Pop III pair instability supernovae, and possibly Pop III hypernovae. In the Gunn-Peterson troughs, we detected transmission spikes where Lyα photons can escape. From 22 intervening absorption line systems at z > 5.7, only a single low-ionisation system out of 13 lies within 2000 km s−1 from a spike, while four high-ionisation systems out of nine lie within ∼2000 km s−1 from a spike. Most spikes do not have associated metal absorbers close by. This confirms that star-forming galaxies responsible for producing the heavy elements that are transported to the circumgalactic medium via galaxy winds do so in predominantly high-density, neutral environments, while lower density environments are ionised without being polluted by metals at z ≈ 6 − 7.