Probing infrared eXcess to investigate early-Universe dust (PIXIEDust)
Journal article, 2026
Despite the implied presence of dust through reddened UV emission in high-redshift galaxies, no dust emission has been detected in the (sub)millimetre regime beyond z > 8.3. This study combines around 200 h of Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) and Northern Extended Millimetre. Array (NOEMA) observations on 10 z > 8 galaxies, revealing no significant dust emission down to a 1σ depth of 2.0, 2.0, and 1.5 μJy at rest-frame 158, 88 μm, and across all the data, respectively.
This constrains average dust masses to be below < 105 M at 3σ and dust-to-stellar mass ratios to be below 3.7 × 10−4 (assuming Tdust = 50 K and βdust = 2.0). Binning by redshift (8 < z < 9.5 and 9.5 < z < 15), UV-continuum slope (βUV ≶ −2), and stellar mass (log10 M∗/M ≶ 9) yields similarly stringent constraints. Combined with other studies, these results are consistent with inefficient dust build-up in the z > 8 Universe, likely due to inefficient supernova production, limited interstellar grain growth and/or ejection by outflows. We provide data and tools online to facilitate community wide high-redshift dust searches.
This constrains average dust masses to be below < 105 M at 3σ and dust-to-stellar mass ratios to be below 3.7 × 10−4 (assuming Tdust = 50 K and βdust = 2.0). Binning by redshift (8 < z < 9.5 and 9.5 < z < 15), UV-continuum slope (βUV ≶ −2), and stellar mass (log10 M∗/M ≶ 9) yields similarly stringent constraints. Combined with other studies, these results are consistent with inefficient dust build-up in the z > 8 Universe, likely due to inefficient supernova production, limited interstellar grain growth and/or ejection by outflows. We provide data and tools online to facilitate community wide high-redshift dust searches.
galaxies: evolution
dust, extinction
galaxies: formation
submillimetre: galaxies
galaxies: high-redshift
Author
Tom Bakx
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
H. Algera
Academia Sinica
J. B. Jolly
Max Planck Society
Clarke Jarett Esmerian
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Kirsten Knudsen
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Laura Sommovigo
Flatiron Institute
Joris Witstok
Niels Bohr Institute
Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
S. Carniani
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Jianhang Chen
Max Planck Society
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
S. Eales
Cardiff University
Andrea Ferrara
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
Yoshinobu Fudamoto
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Waseda University
Chiba University
Masato Hagimoto
Nagoya University
Takuya Hashimoto
University of Tsukuba
H. Inami
Hiroshima University
Akio K. Inoue
Waseda University
Theo Khouri
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Ikki Mitsuhashi
University of Colorado
G Nyman
University of Gothenburg
Gustav Olander
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
S. Serjeant
The Open University
Renske Smit
Liverpool John Moores University
I. Yoon
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
J. A. Zavala
University of Massachusetts
Susanne Aalto
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Caitlin M. Casey
University of California
Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
Y. Tamura
University of Tsukuba
Wouter Vlemmings
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)
Vol. 546 2 staf2284The Origin and Fate of Dust in Our Universe
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW 2019.0443), 2020-06-01 -- 2023-05-31.
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW 2020.0081), 2021-07-01 -- 2026-06-30.
Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
DOI
10.1093/mnras/staf2284
Related datasets
Stacking deep ALMA observations of robust sources above redshift 8 [dataset]
URI: https://github.com/tjlcbakx/high-z-dust-stack