{"id":634961,"date":"2026-09-24T21:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T21:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634961\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T21:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T21:44:14","slug":"early-metal-enriched-baryon-cycling-before-the-midpoint-of-cosmic-reionization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/634961\/","title":{"rendered":"Early metal-enriched baryon cycling before the midpoint of cosmic reionization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Observations and data reduction<\/p>\n<p>The data analysed in this work were obtained as part of the JWST Cycle 4 programme SPURS in the Abell 2744 field<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 17\" title=\"Chen, Z. et al. SPURS: bursty star formation in an extremely luminous weak emission line galaxy at z = 9.3. Preprint at &#010;                https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2604.21516&#010;                &#010;               (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR17\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2569\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">17<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 51\" title=\"Tang, M. et al. SPURS: evidence for clumpy neutral envelopes and ionized IGM surrounding little red dots in Abell 2744 from ultra-deep rest-UV spectroscopy. Preprint at &#010;                https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2604.03563&#010;                &#010;               (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR51\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2572\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">51<\/a>. Medium-resolution spectroscopy was carried out with JWST\/NIRSpec<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 52\" title=\"Jakobsen, P. et al. The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope. I. Overview of the instrument and its capabilities. Astron. Astrophys. 661, A80 (2022).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR52\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2576\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">52<\/a> in micro-shutter assembly (MSA) mode using the three medium-resolution gratings F100LP\/G140M, F170LP\/G235M and F290LP\/G395M, providing continuous wavelength coverage from ~1 to 5\u2009\u03bcm. Each galaxy was observed with all three gratings using a standard three-nod dithering pattern to improve background subtraction and mitigate detector artefacts. The effective exposure times were 29.2\u2009h for G140M, 7.9\u2009h for G235M and 2.9\u2009h for G395M. In this work, we analyse the three galaxies at z &gt; 7 in SPURS whose rest-frame ultraviolet continuum near 1,450\u2009\u00c5 is detected at a signal-to-noise ratio &gt;10, enabling absorption-line measurements against the stellar continuum.<\/p>\n<p>The raw data were reduced and calibrated using the JWST Calibration Pipeline<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 53\" title=\"Bushouse, H. et al. JWST calibration pipeline, version 1.14.0. Zenodo &#010;                https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.10870758&#010;                &#010;               (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR53\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2586\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">53<\/a>, version 1.14.0, with Calibration Reference Data System (CRDS) context jwst_1236.pmap. The calwebb_detector1 stage was used to process the uncalibrated exposures and generate slope images, followed by the calwebb_spec2 stage to perform wavelength calibration, flat-fielding, flux calibration and local background subtraction, producing rectified two-dimensional spectra for each nod position. Spectra from individual nods were then combined using the calwebb_spec3 stage. One-dimensional spectra were extracted using a boxcar aperture centred on the spatial trace of each galaxy. For all targets, spectra obtained with the three medium-resolution gratings were stitched together to form a continuous spectrum, with overlapping wavelength regions used to verify flux consistency. In addition to the standard pipeline steps, we applied custom procedures for hot pixel rejection, mitigation of low-level detector noise, and treatment of spatially extended sources, following the approach described in ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 54\" title=\"Zhu, Y. et al. SMILES Data Release. II. Probing galaxy evolution during Cosmic Noon and beyond with NIRSpec medium-resolution spectra. Astrophys. J. 997, 301 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR54\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2603\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">54<\/a>. Flux uncertainties were propagated through all reduction steps and carried forward in subsequent measurements. We further scale the pipeline-provided flux uncertainties by a factor of 1.7 to account for residual pixel-to-pixel variations that are not fully captured by the formal error model<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Brinchmann, J. High-z galaxies with JWST and local analogues &#x2013; it is not only star formation. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 525, 2087&#x2013;2106 (2023).\" href=\"#ref-CR55\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2607\">55<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Trump, J. R. et al. The physical conditions of emission-line galaxies at Cosmic Dawn from JWST\/NIRSpec spectroscopy in the SMACS 0723 early release observations. Astrophys. J. 945, 35 (2023).\" href=\"#ref-CR56\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2607_1\">56<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 57\" title=\"Maseda, M. V. et al. JWST\/NIRSpec measurements of extremely low metallicities in high equivalent width Ly&#x3B1; emitters. Astrophys. J. 956, 11 (2023).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR57\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2610\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">57<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photometric fitting and host-galaxy properties<\/p>\n<p>To characterize the host galaxies, we fit their SEDs using publicly available HST and JWST imaging in the Abell 2744 field, fixing the redshift of each source to the NIRSpec spectroscopic measurement. The input photometry includes the HST filters F435W, F606W and F814W, together with JWST\/NIRCam imaging spanning both broad and medium bands: F070W, F090W, F115W, F140M, F150W, F162M, F182M, F200W, F210M, F250M, F277W, F300M, F335M, F356W, F360M, F410M, F430M, F444W, F460M and F480M. We model these data with Prospector, following the same fitting strategy as in ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 54\" title=\"Zhu, Y. et al. SMILES Data Release. II. Probing galaxy evolution during Cosmic Noon and beyond with NIRSpec medium-resolution spectra. Astrophys. J. 997, 301 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR54\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e2625\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">54<\/a>. The model includes flexible star-formation-history, stellar-population, dust-attenuation and nebular-emission components appropriate for non-AGN star-forming galaxies at high redshift. We use a non-parametric star formation histories (SFHs) with seven age bins. The bin edges are logarithmically spaced from \\({\\log }_{10}(t\/{\\rm{yr}})=7.1295\\) to \\({\\log }_{10}(0.9\\,{t}_{{\\rm{univ}}}\/{\\rm{yr}})\\), with an additional final bin extending to \\({\\log }_{10}({t}_{{\\rm{univ}}}\/{\\rm{yr}})\\), where tuniv is the age of the Universe at the galaxy redshift and t is measured as lookback time from that redshift. We replace the first logarithmic bin edge, 107.1295\u2009years, with zero lookback time. In practice, for the redshift range of the three galaxies (z = 7.3\u20139.3), the bin edges correspond to lookback times of approximately 0, 24\u201326, 44\u201349, 80\u201394, 144\u2013179, 261\u2013341, 471\u2013651 and 524\u2013724\u2009Myr. For Galaxies A, B and C, the fits yield stellar masses of \\(\\mathrm{log}({M}_{\\star }\/{M}_{\\odot })=9.8{0}_{-0.05}^{+0.06}\\), \\(9.1{1}_{-0.01}^{+0.01}\\) and \\(9.4{8}_{-0.01}^{+0.01}\\), observed ultraviolet slopes of \\({\\beta }_{{\\rm{UV}},{\\rm{obs}}}=-2.1{9}_{-0.01}^{+0.01}\\), \\(-2.1{2}_{-0.01}^{+0.01}\\) and \\(-2.2{6}_{-0.01}^{+0.01}\\), dust attenuation parameters of \\({\\mathtt{dust2}}=0.4{5}_{-0.07}^{+0.08}\\), \\(1.1{3}_{-0.02}^{+0.02}\\) and \\(0.4{4}_{-0.01}^{+0.01}\\), stellar metallicities of \\(\\mathrm{log}({Z}_{\\star }\/{Z}_{\\odot })=-1.7{6}_{-0.09}^{+0.07}\\), \\(-1.6{8}_{-0.02}^{+0.02}\\) and \\(-1.97{8}_{-0.001}^{+0.002}\\), and gas metallicities of \\(\\mathrm{log}({Z}_{\\mathrm{gas}}\/{Z}_{\\odot })=-0.5{2}_{-0.09}^{+0.09}\\), \\(-0.8{5}_{-0.01}^{+0.01}\\) and \\(-0.7{8}_{-0.02}^{+0.02}\\), respectively. The uncertainties quoted here correspond to the 16th\u201384th percentile ranges of the posterior distributions; the typical systematic uncertainty of this SED-fitting framework is \u00b10.15\u2009dex (ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 54\" title=\"Zhu, Y. et al. SMILES Data Release. II. Probing galaxy evolution during Cosmic Noon and beyond with NIRSpec medium-resolution spectra. Astrophys. J. 997, 301 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR54\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e3479\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">54<\/a>). The recent star-formation histories inferred from the fits are also substantial, with youngest-bin star-formation rates of 19, 39 and 29\u2009M\u2299\u2009yr\u22121 for Galaxies A, B and C, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Systemic redshifts and velocity reference frame<\/p>\n<p>Accurate systemic redshifts are essential for interpreting absorption-line kinematics. Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Fig5\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1<\/a> shows observed-frame cutouts of H\u03b2 \u03bb4861 and the [O III] \u03bb\u03bb4959, 5008 doublet for all three galaxies. For each galaxy, we adopt the centroid of [O III] \u03bb5008 as the fiducial systemic reference, as this is the strongest and most robustly measured nebular line in the current data. We independently fit H\u03b2 where detected and use it as a consistency check on the systemic frame. For Galaxy C, H\u03b2 agrees with [O III] \u03bb5008 within ~5\u2009km\u2009s\u22121, whereas for Galaxy B it is offset redward by ~90\u2009km\u2009s\u22121; adopting H\u03b2 in that system increases the inferred absorption blueshift. For Galaxy A, H\u03b2 is only weakly detected and does not provide a comparably reliable independent centroid. Lower-redshift interloper solutions are disfavoured by the combination of the Ly\u03b1 break, the H\u03b2+[O III] line pattern at a common redshift, and the absence of other sources within the MSA slitlets. Emission-line centroids were measured by fitting Gaussian profiles to continuum-subtracted spectra, with uncertainties estimated from the covariance matrix of the fit. The nebular profiles show no separate, well-constrained broad or shifted emission component. We therefore use the nebular lines to define the systemic frame, while the absorption-line kinematics provide the evidence for outflowing or otherwise disturbed gas. For Galaxy A, [O III] \u03bb5008 lies near the red end of the G395M wavelength range, but the fitted line window remains within the available spectral coverage, the wavelength solution extends beyond the fitted window, and the line centroid is not clipped by the data edge. All absorption-line velocities are computed relative to these adopted nebular systemic redshifts, and Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"table anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Tab1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1<\/a> reports the corresponding velocity uncertainties. The absorption-line velocities are reported relative to this systemic frame as<\/p>\n<p>$$v=c\\,\\frac{{z}_{{\\rm{abs}}}-{z}_{{\\rm{sys}}}}{1+{z}_{{\\rm{sys}}}},$$<\/p>\n<p>\n                    (1)\n                <\/p>\n<p>where zabs is the absorber redshift and c is the speed of light. We also considered whether the stellar continuum could provide an independent systemic velocity reference, but the spectra do not show stellar absorption features strong enough to yield a velocity zero point with precision comparable to the nebular-line centroids.<\/p>\n<p>For completeness, we also measure rest-frame optical nebular emission-line flux ratios from the same NIRSpec spectra used to determine systemic redshifts. The measured [O III] \u03bb5008\/H\u03b2 ratios are 8.0 \u00b1 1.7, 8.1 \u00b1 0.3 and 6.7 \u00b1 0.2 for Galaxies A, B and C, respectively. Such high ratios are commonly observed in low-metallicity star-forming galaxies at high redshift and can also arise under harder ionizing conditions. We do not attempt to use these line ratios to discriminate between ionizing sources or excitation mechanisms. Although AGN can also drive efficient baryon cycling and metal redistribution<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 58\" title=\"Zou, Y. et al. A systematic study of AGN feedback in a disk galaxy. I. Global overview. Astrophys. J. 1000, 41 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR58\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e3622\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">58<\/a>, the current spectra do not show a definitive AGN diagnostic, such as broad emission lines with full width at half maximum (FWHM) &gt;1,000\u2009km\u2009s\u22121. Importantly, the identification, kinematics and abundance inferences of the absorption features presented in this work do not depend on the physical origin of the nebular emission.<\/p>\n<p>Continuum normalization, absorption-line identification and profile fitting<\/p>\n<p>We measure absorption-line properties in a two-step procedure that (1) fits a local linear continuum around each transition and produces a continuum-normalized spectrum, and (2) fits Voigt absorption models to the normalized profiles. For each transition, we extract a wavelength window of typically \u00b1300\u2013500\u2009\u00c5 around the expected observed wavelength based on zsys. We fit the local continuum with a linear model, f\u03bb = a + b(\u03bb \u2212 \u03bb0), using inverse-variance weighting. To avoid bias from line features, we mask a central region of \u00b112\u201325\u2009\u00c5 around the expected line centre (depending on transition and spectral resolution) and iteratively sigma-clip (4\u03c3) outliers in the remaining continuum region repeated for up to three iterations. In addition, when other obvious absorption features fall within the continuum window (for example, unrelated lower-redshift absorbers not discussed in this work), we manually mask those regions before the continuum fit; for the Galaxy C C IV doublet, this includes masking the adjacent blue-side absorption feature before fitting the local continuum. Masked intervals due to noisy data are visible as locally increased uncertainties in the relevant wavelength ranges. The observed spectrum is divided by the best-fitting linear continuum to obtain a continuum-normalized flux and uncertainty spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>Absorption features are identified at the expected wavelengths of known metal transitions, requiring \u22733\u03c3 significance, where available, consistent detections across multiple transitions tracing the same ion or ionization phase. We fit the continuum-normalized absorption profiles using Voigt models. For isolated single transitions (O I \u03bb1302, Si II \u03bb1260, C II \u03bb1334), we fit a single component characterized by the absorber redshift zabs, a Gaussian width \u03c3g (in wavelength units), a Lorentzian damping parameter \u03b3l and a line-centre optical-depth normalization \u03c40 of an area-normalized Voigt profile. Fits are performed via \u03c72 minimization, with parameter bounds chosen to avoid unphysical solutions, including enforcing a minimum resolved width comparable to the instrumental core. For resonance doublets (Si IV \u03bb\u03bb1393, 1402 and C IV \u03bb\u03bb1548, 1550), the two components are fit simultaneously, enforcing a common absorber redshift and kinematic width and fixing the optical-depth ratio to the ratio of oscillator strengths. EWs for the two components are measured separately within integration windows defined as \u00b13\u03c3g around each fitted line centre, with the additional requirement that the integration domains lie on opposite sides of the midpoint between the two components to prevent overlap when the doublet is partially blended.<\/p>\n<p>At the spectral resolution of these data (R \u2248 1,000), the fitted profiles and measured EWs should be interpreted as effective, unresolved representations of potentially multiple narrow components, following, for example, ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 19\" title=\"Shapley, A. E., Steidel, C. C., Pettini, M. &amp; Adelberger, K. L. Rest-frame ultraviolet spectra of z ~ 3 Lyman break galaxies. Astrophys. J. 588, 65&#x2013;89 (2003).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR19\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e3720\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">19<\/a>. In particular, for C II \u03bb1334, the measured EW may include contributions from unresolved fine-structure absorption (C II* \u03bb1335) and weak wing structure, which cannot be reliably separated at the present resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. We also identify tentative absorption consistent with Si II* \u03bb1264 in Galaxy A (for example, ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 59\" title=\"Ding, J. et al. Deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging on the extended Ly&#x3B1; emission of a QSO at z = 2.19 with a damped Lyman alpha system as a natural coronagraph. Astrophys. J. 889, L12 (2020).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR59\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e3738\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">59<\/a>); however, given the low signal-to-noise ratio and potential blending with the Si II \u03bb1260 profile, we do not attempt an explicit fit or EW measurement for this feature.<\/p>\n<p>We report two EW estimates for each transition. The primary measurement is the data EW, computed by direct integration of (1 \u2212 Fnorm) over an objectively defined line window. For single transitions, the integration window is taken as \u00b13\u03c3g around the fitted line centre. For doublets, EWs are computed for each component within \u00b13\u03c3g of its fitted centre (split at the doublet midpoint) and summed to obtain a total doublet EW. The corresponding statistical uncertainty is computed by propagating the normalized flux uncertainties across the same integration window. In addition, we compute a model EW by integrating the best-fitting Voigt model over the same window; its uncertainty is estimated from the parameter covariance via finite-difference propagation. Rest-frame EWs are obtained by dividing observed-frame values by (1 + zabs). We also record the minimum continuum-normalized flux within the integration window as a model-independent measure of line depth and saturation. The fitted optical-depth normalizations \u03c40 are provided for reference only. Given the moderate spectral resolution, the presence of saturation and the possibility of partial covering, \u03c40 and Voigt-derived column densities are not used as primary constraints. Throughout the main text, we therefore emphasize EWs, minimum normalized fluxes and overlapping kinematics as the most robust observables. Our measurements are summarized in Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"table anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Tab1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Fig6\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2<\/a> shows a validation of these detections for all three galaxies in this work. For each galaxy and transition, the two-dimensional NIRSpec spectra and the corresponding one-dimensional extracted spectra with the best-fitting absorption profiles overlaid are shown, together with the integration windows used for EW measurements after local continuum normalization. The spatial coincidence of the absorption features with the galaxy continuum trace in the two-dimensional spectra shows that the detected lines are associated with the target galaxies instead of detector artifacts or background residuals. The fitted line centroids also show blueshifted absorption and ionization-dependent velocity structure, summarized in Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Fig3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Line centroid uncertainty estimation<\/p>\n<p>To quantify realistic uncertainties on line centroid measurements given the moderate spectral resolution of the NIRSpec medium-resolution gratings (R \u2248 1,000), we performed mock line-injection tests directly on the observed, calibrated one-dimensional spectrum. Synthetic Gaussian absorption features were injected at representative wavelengths (for example, \u03bb \u2248 15,500\u2009\u00c5) with widths fixed by the typical grating resolution, \u03c3 = \u03bb\/(2.355R), and with depths comparable to those of the detected absorption lines. The injected features were added to the real spectrum, preserving the native wavelength grid, noise properties and any correlated residual structure. For each realization, we refit the line centroid using the same fitting procedure applied to the science data. Repeating this procedure for 3,000 Monte Carlo realizations, we find a negligible centroid bias (~\u221215\u2009km\u2009s\u22121) and a 1\u03c3 scatter of ~47\u2009km\u2009s\u22121.<\/p>\n<p>As discussed earlier, the formal pipeline uncertainties underestimate the true pixel-to-pixel variance in the NIRSpec spectra. When the flux uncertainties are conservatively scaled by a factor of 1.7 to account for this effect, the corresponding centroid scatter increases to ~133\u2009km\u2009s\u22121. The velocity uncertainties reported in Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"table anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Tab1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1<\/a> are the statistical fit uncertainties from the profile fits; the injection-based scatter is used as a conservative guide to the robustness of individual centroid offsets. The repeated occurrence of blueshifted absorption across multiple transitions and galaxies, together with the overlapping velocity structure within each system, indicates that the measured velocity shifts are not driven by a single marginal centroid measurement. The injection tests provide an empirical estimate of the typical centroid uncertainty.<\/p>\n<p>Constraints on gas temperature from line widths<\/p>\n<p>As a consistency check, we use the measured absorption-line widths to place thermal-only upper limits on the gas temperature. For each transition, we adopt the fitted Gaussian dispersion in wavelength units, \u03c3g, from the profile fitting described above, and convert it to a velocity dispersion using a reference wavelength \u03bbref (the fitted line centre for single transitions and the midpoint of the fitted doublet components for Si IV and C IV).<\/p>\n<p>Because the observed widths include instrumental broadening, we correct them using a Gaussian approximation to the instrumental profile with resolving power R \u2248 1,000. We take FWHMinst = \u03bbref\/R and \u03c3inst = FWHMinst\/2.355, and estimate the intrinsic width via quadrature subtraction, \\({\\sigma }_{\\mathrm{int}}^{2}={\\sigma }_{{\\rm{g}}}^{2}-{\\sigma }_{\\mathrm{inst}}^{2}\\). This correction is intended only for order-of-magnitude thermal checks. The exact NIRSpec line-spread function varies with wavelength, so \u03c3int values near the instrumental limit should not be over-interpreted. At the same time, because the effective resolution is generally better at the longer observed wavelengths corresponding to higher-redshift lines, the resolved\/unresolved classification is unlikely to be set primarily by this wavelength dependence. Transitions that are unresolved under this correction (that is, \u03c3g \u2272 \u03c3inst within a small tolerance) or that reach the imposed minimum width in the fitting procedure are excluded from the temperature analysis. Accordingly, differences in fitted \u03c3int among transitions do not by themselves imply distinct bulk kinematics, as they can also reflect unresolved substructure, saturation, blending and measurement uncertainty near the resolution limit.<\/p>\n<p>We convert \u03c3int to a Doppler parameter b = c\u2009\u03c3int\/\u03bbref and compute<\/p>\n<p>$${T}_{\\max }=\\frac{m\\,{b}^{2}}{2{k}_{{\\rm{B}}}},$$<\/p>\n<p>\n                    (2)\n                <\/p>\n<p>where m is the atomic mass of the ion and kB is the Boltzmann constant. These values are upper limits on the thermal temperature, as any contribution from turbulence, bulk flows or unresolved velocity substructure would reduce the thermal component of the line width. The resulting limits are therefore interpreted only as indicative checks on physical plausibility instead of direct temperature measurements.<\/p>\n<p>The inferred \\({T}_{\\max }\\) values for neutral (O I), low-ionization (Si II, C II) and high-ionization (Si IV, C IV) species in each galaxy are shown in Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Fig7\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3<\/a>. Because these limits exceed the ionization survival temperatures of the detected species, the observed line widths are probably dominated by non-thermal motions. This is consistent with lower-redshift studies in which multiphase galaxy-associated absorption reflects substantial unresolved or turbulent kinematic structure<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Churchill, C. W. et al. Low- and high-ionization absorption properties of Mg II absorption-selected galaxies at intermediate redshifts. II. Taxonomy, kinematics, and galaxies. Astrophys. J. 543, 577&#x2013;598 (2000).\" href=\"#ref-CR60\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4062\">60<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Li, Z. et al. Kinematically coherent multiphase galactic winds in star-forming galaxies revealed by unified radiative transfer modeling of UV emission and absorption lines. Preprint at &#10;                https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2603.06546&#10;                &#10;               (2026).\" href=\"#ref-CR61\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4062_1\">61<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 62\" title=\"Sun, Y. et al. A census of Na D-traced neutral ISM and outflows at 0.6 &lt; z &lt; 4. Preprint at &#010;                https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2604.18522&#010;                &#010;               (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR62\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4065\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">62<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ionic column-density lower limits and relative carbon absorption<\/p>\n<p>We first compute conservative ionic column-density lower limits from the measured rest-frame EWs. We use the optically thin linear curve-of-growth relation<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 63\" title=\"Draine, B. T. Physics of the Interstellar and Intergalactic Medium (Princeton Univ. Press, 2011).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR63\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4077\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">63<\/a><\/p>\n<p>$${N}_{{\\rm{ion}}}=1.13\\times 1{0}^{20}\\frac{{W}_{0}}{{\\sum }_{i}\\;{f}_{i}{\\lambda }_{i}^{2}}\\,{{\\rm{cm}}}^{-2},$$<\/p>\n<p>\n                    (3)\n                <\/p>\n<p>where W0 and \u03bbi are in \u00c5, and the sum is taken over both components for doublets. These values, listed in Extended Data Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"table anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Tab2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1<\/a>, are lower limits because unresolved saturation and partial covering can increase the true ionic columns. We do not infer a total metal mass or Mmetal\/M\u22c6, as that conversion requires the absorber area, covering fraction, geometry and ionization correction.<\/p>\n<p>The optically thin limits in Extended Data Table <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"table anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Tab2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">1<\/a> are intended only as conservative ionic column-density lower limits and are not used to derive the carbon ratios shown in Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Fig8\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">4<\/a>. As a qualitative, order-of-magnitude probe of the ionization structure of the galaxy-associated absorbing gas, we examine the ratio of low- to high-ionization carbon, N(C\u2009II)\/N(C\u2009IV), for systems with coverage of both transitions. Ratios between C II and C IV have been widely used as empirical indicators of multiphase gas in absorption systems; however, their interpretation depends sensitively on line saturation, covering fraction and spectral resolution. At the moderate resolution of the NIRSpec medium-resolution gratings (R \u2248 1,000), intrinsically saturated absorption with partial covering can appear unsaturated, placing the inferred column densities on the flat part of the curve of growth and allowing order-of-magnitude variations in N for modest changes in line depth.<\/p>\n<p>For the carbon-ratio comparison, we use optical-depth integrals of the best-fitting Voigt profiles. For C II \u03bb1334, we adopt the fitted (\u03c40, \u03c3g) from the single-line fit. For the C IV doublet, we use the (\u03c40, \u03c3g) from the simultaneous doublet fit and adopt an effective oscillator strength equal to the sum of the two components. Given the likelihood of unresolved saturation and non-uniform covering, the resulting ratios should not be interpreted as precise column-density measurements.<\/p>\n<p>As shown in Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Fig8\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">4<\/a>, the inferred N(C\u2009II)\/N(C\u2009IV) ratios fall within the broad range spanned by quasar-selected absorbers at z \u2248 2\u20136 (refs. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 64\" title=\"Boksenberg, A. &amp; Sargent, W. L. W. Properties of QSO metal-line absorption systems at high redshifts: nature and evolution of the absorbers and new evidence on escape of ionizing radiation from galaxies. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 218, 7 (2015).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR64\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4314\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">64<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 65\" title=\"Rowlands, S. et al. E-XQR-30: evidence for an increase in the ionization state of metal absorbers from z ~ 6 to z ~ 2. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 546, staf2254 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR65\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4317\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">65<\/a>), including systems at 5 \u2272 z \u2272 6.3 from the E-XQR-30 sample<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 65\" title=\"Rowlands, S. et al. E-XQR-30: evidence for an increase in the ionization state of metal absorbers from z ~ 6 to z ~ 2. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 546, staf2254 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR65\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4325\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">65<\/a>; also see refs. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 12\" title=\"Fan, X., Ba&#xF1;ados, E. &amp; Simcoe, R. A. Quasars and the intergalactic medium at cosmic dawn. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 61, 373&#x2013;426 (2023).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR12\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4329\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">12<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 28\" title=\"Davies, R. L. et al. The XQR-30 metal absorber catalogue: 778 absorption systems spanning 2 &#x2272; z &#x2272; 6.5. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 521, 289&#x2013;313 (2023).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR28\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4332\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">28<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Becker, G. D. et al. The Evolution of O I over 3.2 &lt; z &lt; 6.5: reionization of the circumgalactic medium. Astrophys. J. 883, 163 (2019).\" href=\"#ref-CR66\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335\">66<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Becker, G. D., Sargent, W. L. W., Rauch, M. &amp; Carswell, R. F. Iron and &#x3B1;-element production in the first one billion years after the Big Bang. Astrophys. J. 744, 91 (2012).\" href=\"#ref-CR67\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_1\">67<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Becker, G. D., Bolton, J. S. &amp; Lidz, A. Reionisation and high-redshift galaxies: the view from quasar absorption lines. Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust. 32, e045 (2015).\" href=\"#ref-CR68\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_2\">68<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Christensen, L. et al. Metal enrichment and evolution in four z &gt; 6.5 quasar sightlines observed with JWST\/NIRSpec. Astron. Astrophys. 680, A82 (2023).\" href=\"#ref-CR69\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_3\">69<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Cooper, T. J. et al. Heavy element absorption systems at 5.0 &lt; z &lt; 6.8: metal-poor neutral gas and a diminishing signature of highly ionized circumgalactic matter. Astrophys. J. 882, 77 (2019).\" href=\"#ref-CR70\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_4\">70<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Davies, R. L. et al. Examining the decline in the C IV content of the Universe over 4.3 &#x2272; z &#x2272; 6.3 using the E-XQR-30 sample. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 521, 314&#x2013;331 (2023).\" href=\"#ref-CR71\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_5\">71<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"D&#x2019;Odorico, V. et al. The evolution of the Si IV content in the Universe from the epoch of reionization to cosmic noon. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 512, 2389&#x2013;2401 (2022).\" href=\"#ref-CR72\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_6\">72<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"D&#x2019;Odorico, V. et al. XQR-30: the ultimate XSHOOTER quasar sample at the reionization epoch. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 523, 1399&#x2013;1420 (2023).\" href=\"#ref-CR73\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_7\">73<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Doughty, C. &amp; Finlator, K. Evolution of neutral oxygen during the epoch of reionization and its use in estimating the neutral hydrogen fraction. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 489, 2755&#x2013;2768 (2019).\" href=\"#ref-CR74\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_8\">74<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Noterdaeme, P. et al. Proximate molecular quasar absorbers. Excess of damped H2 systems at zabs &#x2248; zQSO in SDSS DR14. Astron. Astrophys. 627, A32 (2019).\" href=\"#ref-CR75\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_9\">75<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Sodini, A. et al. Evidence of Pop III stars&#x2019; chemical signature in neutral gas at z ~ 6. A study based on the E-XQR-30 spectroscopic sample. Astron. Astrophys. 687, A314 (2024).\" href=\"#ref-CR76\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_10\">76<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Wu, Y. et al. A [C II] 158 &#x3BC;m emitter associated with an O I absorber at the end of the reionization epoch. Nat. Astron. 5, 1110&#x2013;1117 (2021).\" href=\"#ref-CR77\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4335_11\">77<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 78\" title=\"Zou, S. et al. A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): impact of galaxies on the circumgalactic medium metal enrichment at z &gt; 6 using the JWST and VLT. Astrophys. J. 963, L28 (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR78\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4338\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">78<\/a>. We use this comparison strictly as a consistency check, noting that the present data do not permit robust constraints on ionization state from carbon ratios alone.<\/p>\n<p>To provide qualitative guidance on the ionization conditions compatible with the observed ratios, we computed a set of simple photoionization models using CLOUDY (c25)<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 79\" title=\"Gunasekera, C. M. et al. The 2025 release of Cloudy. Rev. Mex. Astron. Astrofis. 61, 120&#x2013;133 (2025).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR79\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4346\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">79<\/a>. The models assume plane-parallel geometry, constant density, and a single-phase slab illuminated by an external radiation field. We explored a broad range of ionization parameters, gas densities and total hydrogen column densities, focusing on reproducing the observed N(C\u2009II)\/N(C\u2009IV) ratios. Matching the observed values requires ionization parameters of \\(\\mathrm{log}U\\,\\approx \\,\\text{minus1.9}\\) to \u22122.0 across a wide range of densities. These models are intended to provide qualitative guidance only; our main conclusions do not depend on the details of the photoionization modelling and instead rest on the overlapping kinematics and coexistence of low- and high-ionization absorption.<\/p>\n<p>Relative abundance ratios<\/p>\n<p>We also compute approximate coordinates in the [Si\/O]\u2013[C\/O] plane (Extended Data Fig. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-track-action=\"figure anchor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#Fig9\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">5<\/a>) using the neutral transition O I \u03bb1302 and the low-ionization transitions C II \u03bb1334 and Si II \u03bb1260. For each line, we adopt the model rest-frame EW W0,model obtained from the best-fitting Voigt profile and convert to an optically thin column density using the linear curve-of-growth relation. Solar abundance ratios are taken from ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 80\" title=\"Asplund, M., Grevesse, N., Sauval, A. J. &amp; Scott, P. The chemical composition of the Sun. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 47, 481&#x2013;522 (2009).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR80\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4407\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">80<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the spectral resolution of these data, the low-ionization transitions are strong and probably affected by unresolved saturation and non-uniform covering fractions. In this regime, modest changes in optical depth or ionization corrections can lead to substantial shifts in inferred column densities. The resulting [Si\/O] and [C\/O] values should therefore be interpreted as empirical line-strength ratios mapped onto abundance space for rough comparison.<\/p>\n<p>For reference, we compare these systems to quasar-selected absorbers from the XQR-30 compilation<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 76\" title=\"Sodini, A. et al. Evidence of Pop III stars&#x2019; chemical signature in neutral gas at z ~ 6. A study based on the E-XQR-30 spectroscopic sample. Astron. Astrophys. 687, A314 (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR76\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4417\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">76<\/a> and to representative chemical-evolution model regions from ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 81\" title=\"Vanni, I., Salvadori, S., D&#x2019;Odorico, V., Becker, G. D. &amp; Cupani, G. Chemical diagnostics to unveil environments enriched by first stars. Astrophys. J. 967, L22 (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR81\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4421\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">81<\/a>, as implemented by ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 76\" title=\"Sodini, A. et al. Evidence of Pop III stars&#x2019; chemical signature in neutral gas at z ~ 6. A study based on the E-XQR-30 spectroscopic sample. Astron. Astrophys. 687, A314 (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR76\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4425\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">76<\/a>. The inner model regions represent negligible Population III contributions and use Population II nucleosynthetic yields from ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 82\" title=\"Limongi, M. &amp; Chieffi, A. Presupernova evolution and explosive nucleosynthesis of rotating massive stars in the metallicity range &#x2212;3 &#x2264; [Fe\/H] &#x2264; 0. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 237, 13 (2018).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR82\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4429\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">82<\/a> and ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 83\" title=\"Woosley, S. E. &amp; Weaver, T. A. The evolution and explosion of massive stars. II. Explosive hydrodynamics and nucleosynthesis. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 101, 181 (1995).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR83\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4433\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">83<\/a>, while the enclosing region permits a non-dominant Population III contribution. We also add quasar-selected absorbers from JWST\/NIRSpec observations in ref. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 69\" title=\"Christensen, L. et al. Metal enrichment and evolution in four z &gt; 6.5 quasar sightlines observed with JWST\/NIRSpec. Astron. Astrophys. 680, A82 (2023).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR69\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4438\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">69<\/a> for reference. We do not attempt to infer nucleosynthetic channels or stellar populations from these comparisons. Instead, we use the diagram as a qualitative consistency check: all three galaxies occupy regions overlapping previously studied high-redshift absorbers and do not exhibit extreme offsets relative to lower-redshift systems. Within the systematic uncertainties described above, the line ratios are therefore consistent with enrichment patterns commonly observed in metal-bearing gas at later cosmic times.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the presence of chemically enriched gas associated with galaxies by z \u2248 9 places strong constraints on the timescale and efficiency of early metal production<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 10\" title=\"Kim, J. -h et al. High-redshift galaxy formation with self-consistently modeled stars and massive black holes: stellar feedback and quasar growth. Astrophys. J. 887, 120 (2019).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR10\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4448\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">10<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Wise, J. H., Turk, M. J., Norman, M. L. &amp; Abel, T. The birth of a galaxy: primordial metal enrichment and stellar populations. Astrophys. J. 745, 50 (2012).\" href=\"#ref-CR84\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4451\">84<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" title=\"Wise, J. H. et al. The birth of a galaxy &#x2013; III. Propelling reionization with the faintest galaxies. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 442, 2560&#x2013;2579 (2014).\" href=\"#ref-CR85\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4451_1\">85<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 86\" title=\"Hafen, Z. et al. The origins of the circumgalactic medium in the FIRE simulations. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 488, 1248&#x2013;1272 (2019).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR86\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4454\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">86<\/a>. These observations suggest that substantial carbon and oxygen enrichment can arise extremely rapidly, as illustrated by Galaxy A at z = 9.3 in this work and by the detection of strong rest-frame optical C and O emission lines in galaxies at z &gt; 14 (refs. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 3\" title=\"Naidu, R. P. et al. A cosmic miracle: a remarkably luminous galaxy at zspec = 14.44 confirmed with JWST. Open J. Astrophys. 9, 56033 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR3\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4464\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 87\" title=\"Carniani, S. et al. The eventful life of a luminous galaxy at z = 14: metal enrichment, feedback, and low gas fraction? Astron. Astrophys. 696, A87 (2025).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR87\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4467\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">87<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 88\" title=\"Helton, J. M. et al. Ionizing photon production efficiencies and chemical abundances at Cosmic Dawn revealed by ultradeep rest-frame optical spectroscopy of JADES-GS-z14-0. Astrophys. J. 1004, L30 (2026).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR88\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4470\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">88<\/a>). Recent models show that such rapid enrichment does not require a dominant Population III contribution: Population II star formation with an upper stellar mass cutoff of ~200\u2013300\u2009M\u2299 can efficiently reproduce high metal yields on short timescales<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 33\" title=\"Liu, B. et al. Impact of initial mass function on the chemical evolution of high-redshift galaxies. Preprint at &#010;                https:\/\/doi.org\/10.48550\/arXiv.2506.06139&#010;                &#010;               (2025).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR33\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4479\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">33<\/a>. Similar very massive, low-metallicity stars have been invoked to explain the high ultraviolet luminosities of galaxies at z \u2273 10 (refs. <a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 34\" title=\"Jeong, T. B., Jeon, M., Song, H. &amp; Bromm, V. Simulating high-redshift galaxies: enhancing UV luminosity with star formation efficiency and a top-heavy IMF. Astrophys. J. 980, 10 (2025).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR34\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4486\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">34<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 35\" title=\"Trinca, A. et al. Exploring the nature of UV-bright z &#x2273; 10 galaxies detected by JWST: star formation, black hole accretion, or a non-universal IMF? Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 529, 3563&#x2013;3581 (2024).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR35\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4489\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">35<\/a>), consistent with theoretical expectations that the maximum stellar mass increases at low metallicity owing to reduced opacity and enhanced radiative transparency<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 36\" title=\"Fukushima, H. et al. Formation of massive stars under protostellar radiation feedback: very metal-poor stars. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 497, 829&#x2013;845 (2020).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR36\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4493\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">36<\/a>,<a data-track=\"click\" data-track-action=\"reference anchor\" data-track-label=\"link\" data-test=\"citation-ref\" aria-label=\"Reference 89\" title=\"Omukai, K. Low-metallicity star formation: the characteristic mass and upper mass limit. Proc. Int. Astron. Union 255, 49&#x2013;55 (2008).\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41550-026-02988-2#ref-CR89\" id=\"ref-link-section-d33141325e4496\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">89<\/a>. In this sense, while the relative-abundance measurements presented here do not obviously require exotic enrichment channels, they are consistent with an early onset of baryon cycling driven by highly efficient star formation in the first galaxies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Observations and data reduction The data analysed in this work were obtained as part of the JWST Cycle&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[908,23205,6409,13706,1437,61,60,248,82],"class_list":["post-634961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-physics","tag-astronomy","tag-astrophysics-and-cosmology","tag-early-universe","tag-galaxies-and-clusters","tag-general","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-physics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}