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A wealth of observations have long suggested that the vast majority of isolated classical dwarf galaxies ( M _* = 10 ^7 –10 ^9 M _⊙ ) are currently star forming. However, recent observations of the large abundance of “ultra-diffuse galaxies” beyond the reach of previous large spectroscopic surveys suggest that our understanding of the dwarf galaxy population may be incomplete. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of an isolated quiescent dwarf galaxy in the nearby Universe, which was imaged as part of the JWST PEARLS Guaranteed Time Observation program. Remarkably, individual red-giant branch stars are visible in this near-IR imaging, suggesting a distance of 30 ± 4 Mpc, and a wealth of archival photometry point to an sSFR of 2 × 10 ^−11 yr ^−1 and star formation rate of 4 × 10 ^−4 M _⊙ yr ^−1 . Spectra obtained with the Lowell Discovery Telescope find a recessional velocity consistent with the Hubble Flow and >1500 km s ^−1 separated from the nearest massive galaxy in Sloan Digital Sky Survey suggesting that this galaxy was either quenched from internal mechanisms or had a very high-velocity (≳1000 km s ^−1 ) interaction with a nearby massive galaxy in the past. This analysis highlights the possibility that many nearby quiescent dwarf galaxies are waiting to be discovered and that JWST has the potential to resolve them.

We present the molecular gas content and interstellar medium conditions of MACS J0717_Az9, a strong gravitationally lensed z = 4.273, M _* ≃ 2 × 10 ^9 M _⊙ star-forming galaxy with an unusually high (∼80%) obscured star formation fraction. We detect CO (4–3) in two independent lensed images, as well as [N ii ] 205 μ m, with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. We derive a molecular gas mass of log ${}_{10}[{M}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}}({M}_{\odot })]=9.77$ , making it moderately deficient in molecular gas compared to the lower-redshift gas fraction scaling relation. Leveraging photodissociation region (PDR) models, we combine our CO (4–3) measurements with existing measurements of the [C ii ] 158 μ m line and total infrared luminosity to model the PDR conditions. We find PDR conditions similar to those in local star-forming galaxies, with a mean hydrogen density log _10 [ n _H cm ^−3 ] = 4.80 ± 0.39 and a mean radiation field strength log _10 [ G _0 Habing] = 2.83 ± 0.26. Based on Band 3 continuum data, we derive an upper limit on the intrinsic dust mass of log _10 [ M _dust ( M _⊙ )] < 7.73, consistent with existing estimates. We use the 3D tilted-ring model fitting code 3D-Barolo to determine the kinematic properties of the CO (4–3) emitting gas. We find that it is rotationally dominated, with a V / σ = 4.6 ± 1.7, consistent with the kinematics of the [C ii ]. With PDR conditions remarkably similar to those in normal dusty star-forming galaxies at z < 0.2 and a stable molecular disk, our observations of Az9 suggest that the dust-obscured phase for a low-mass galaxy at z ∼ 4 is relatively long. Thus, Az9 may be representative of a more widespread population that has been missed owing to insufficiently deep existing millimeter surveys.

We report ALMA detections of [C ii ] and a dust continuum in Az9, a multiply imaged galaxy behind the Frontier Field cluster MACS J0717.5+3745. The bright [C ii ] emission line provides a spectroscopic redshift of z = 4.274. This strongly lensed ( μ = 7 ± 1) galaxy has an intrinsic stellar mass of only 2 × 10 ^9 M _⊙ and a total star formation rate of 26 M _⊙ yr ^−1 (∼80% of which is dust-obscured). Using public magnification maps, we reconstruct the [C ii ] emission in the source plane to reveal a stable, rotation-dominated disk with V / σ = 5.3, which is >2× higher than predicted from simulations for similarly high-redshift, low-mass galaxies. In the source plane, the [C ii ] disk has a half-light radius of 1.8 kpc and, along with the dust, is spatially offset from the peak of the stellar light by 1.4 kpc. Az9 is not deficient in [C ii ]; L _[C _II _] / L _IR = 0.0027, consistent with local and high-redshift normal star-forming galaxies. While dust-obscured star formation is expected to dominate in higher-mass galaxies, such a large reservoir of dust and gas in a lower-mass disk galaxy 1.4 Gyr after the Big Bang challenges our picture of early galaxy evolution. Furthermore, the prevalence of such low-mass dusty galaxies has important implications for the selection of the highest-redshift dropout galaxies with JWST. As one of the lowest stellar mass galaxies at z > 4 to be detected in a dust continuum and [C ii ], Az9 is an excellent laboratory in which to study early dust enrichment in the interstellar medium.

We present a multiwavelength analysis using the Submillimeter Array (SMA), James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, NOEMA, JWST, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and the Spitzer Space Telescope of two dusty strongly star-forming galaxies, 850.1 and 850.2, seen through the massive cluster lens A 1489. These SMA-located sources both lie at z = 4.26 and have bright dust continuum emission, but 850.2 is a UV-detected Lyman-break galaxy, while 850.1 is undetected at ≲ 2 μ m, even with deep JWST/NIRCam observations. We investigate their stellar, interstellar medium, and dynamical properties, including a pixel-level spectral energy distribution analysis to derive subkiloparsec-resolution stellar-mass and A _V maps. We find that 850.1 is one of the most massive and highly obscured, A _V ∼ 5, galaxies known at z > 4 with M _* ∼10 ^11.8 M _⊙ (likely forming at z > 6), and 850.2 is one of the least massive and least obscured, A _V ∼ 1, members of the z > 4 dusty star-forming population. The diversity of these two dust-mass-selected galaxies illustrates the incompleteness of galaxy surveys at z ≳ 3–4 based on imaging at ≲ 2 μ m, the longest wavelengths feasible from HST or the ground. The resolved mass map of 850.1 shows a compact stellar-mass distribution, ${R}_{{\rm{e}}}^{\mathrm{mass}}$ ∼1 kpc, but its expected evolution means that it matches both the properties of massive, quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 1.5 and ultramassive early-type galaxies at z ∼ 0. We suggest that 850.1 is the central galaxy of a group in which 850.2 is a satellite that will likely merge in the near future. The stellar morphology of 850.1 shows arms and a linear bar feature that we link to the active dynamical environment it resides within.

A full understanding of how unusually large ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) fit into our conventional theory of galaxy formation remains elusive, despite the large number of objects identified locally. A natural extension of UDG research is the study of similar galaxies at higher redshift to establish how their properties may evolve over time. However, this has been a challenging task given how severely systematic effects and cosmological surface brightness dimming inhibit our ability to analyze low surface brightness galaxies at high z . Here, we present a sample of low stellar surface density galaxies (LDGs) at moderate redshift, likely the progenitors of local UDGs, identified using deep near-IR observations of the El Gordo cluster at z = 0.87 with JWST. By stacking eight NIRCAM filters, we reach an apparent surface brightness sensitivity of 24.59 mag arcsec ^−2 , which is faint enough to be complete to the bright end of the LDG population. Our analysis identifies significant differences between this population and UDGs observed locally, such as their color and size distributions, which suggest that the UDG progenitors at high z are bluer and more extended than UDGs at z = 0. This suggests that multiple mechanisms are responsible for the UDG formation and that prolonged transformation of cluster dwarfs is not a primary UDG formation mechanism at high z . Furthermore, we find a slight overabundance of LDGs in El Gordo, and, in contrast to findings in local clusters, our analysis does not show a deficit of LDGs in the center of El Gordo, implying that tidal destruction of LDGs is significant between z = 0.87 and z = 0.

The massive galaxy cluster El Gordo ( z = 0.87) imprints multitudes of gravitationally lensed arcs onto James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) images. Eight bands of NIRCam imaging were obtained in the “Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science” (“PEARLS”) program. Point-spread function–matched photometry across Hubble Space Telescope and NIRCam filters supplies new photometric redshifts. A new light-traces-mass lens model based on 56 image multiplicities identifies the two mass peaks and yields a mass estimate within 500 kpc of (7.0 ± 0.30) × 10 ^14 M _⊙ . A search for substructure in the 140 cluster members with spectroscopic redshifts confirms the two main mass components. The southeastern mass peak that contains the brightest cluster galaxy is more tightly bound than the northwestern one. The virial mass within 1.7 Mpc is (5.1 ± 0.60)×10 ^14 M _⊙ , lower than the lensing mass. A significant transverse velocity component could mean the virial mass is underestimated. We contribute one new member to the previously known z = 4.32 galaxy group. Intrinsic (delensed) positions of the five secure group members span a physical extent of ∼60 kpc. 13 additional candidates selected by spectroscopic/photometric constraints are small and faint, with a mean intrinsic luminosity ∼2.2 mag fainter than L ^* . NIRCam imaging admits a fairly wide range of brightnesses and morphologies for the group members, suggesting a more diverse galaxy population in this galaxy overdensity.