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N-enhancement in GN-z11: First evidence for supermassive stars nucleosynthesis in proto-globular clusters-like conditions at high redshift?

Published inAstronomy & astrophysics, vol. 673, L7
Publication date2023-05
First online date2023-05-05
Abstract

Unusually high N/O abundance ratios were recently reported for a very compact, intensively star-forming object GN-z11 at z  = 10.6 from JWST/NIRSpec observations. We present an empirical comparison with the C, N, and O abundance ratios in Galactic globular clusters (GCs) over a large metallicity range. We show that hot hydrogen-burning nucleosynthesis within supermassive stars (SMS) formed through runaway collisions can consistently explain the observed abundances ratio in GN-z11 and in GCs. This suggests that a proto-globular cluster hosting a SMS could be at the origin of the strong N-enrichment in GN-z11. Our model predicts the behavior of N/O, C/O, and Ne/O ratios as a function of metallicity, which can be tested if high- z objects similar to GN-z11 are detected with JWST in the future. Further studies and statistics will help differentiate the proto-GC scenario from the Wolf-Rayet scenario that we quantify with a population synthesis model, and shed more light on this peculiar object.

Citation (ISO format)
CHARBONNEL, Corinne et al. N-enhancement in GN-z11: First evidence for supermassive stars nucleosynthesis in proto-globular clusters-like conditions at high redshift? In: Astronomy & astrophysics, 2023, vol. 673, p. L7. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202346410
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Additional URL for this publicationhttps://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202346410
Journal ISSN0004-6361
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