Evidence of Extreme Ionization Conditions and Low Metallicity in GHZ2/GLASS-Z12 from a Combined Analysis of NIRSpec and MIRI Observations

Abstract

GHZ2/GLASS-z12, one of the most distant galaxies found in JWST observations, has been recently observed with both the NIRSpec and MIRI spectrographs, establishing a spectroscopic redshift z _spec = 12.34 and making it the first system at z > 10 with complete spectroscopic coverage from rest-frame UV to optical wavelengths. This galaxy is identified as a strong C IV _λ1549 emitter (EW = 46 Å) with many other detected emission lines, such as N IV] _λ1488, He II _λ1640, O III] _{λ λ1661,1666}, N III] _λ1750, C III] _{λ λ1907,1909}, [O II] _{λ λ3726,3729}, [Ne III] _λ3869, [O III] _{λ λ4959,5007}, and Hα, including a remarkable detection of the O III Bowen fluorescence line at rest frame λ = 3133 Å. We analyze in this paper the joint NIRSpec + MIRI spectral data set. Combining six optical strong-line diagnostics (namely R2, R3, R23, O32, Ne3O2, and Ne3O2Hd), we find extreme-ionization conditions, with log₁₀ ([O III] _{λ λ4959,5007}/[O II] _{λ λ3726,3729}) = 1.39 ± 0.19 and log₁₀ ([Ne III] _λ3869/[O II] _{λ λ3726,3729}) = 0.37 ± 0.18 in stark excess compared to typical values in the interstellar medium (ISM) at lower redshifts. These line properties are compatible either with an active galactic nucleus (AGN) or with a compact, very dense star-forming environment (Σ_SFR ≃ 10²–10³ M _⊙ yr^‑1 kpc^‑2 and ΣM* ≃ 10⁴–10⁵ M _⊙ pc^‑2), with a high ionization parameter (log₁₀(U) =‑1.75 ± 0.16), a high ionizing photon production efficiency log(ξion)=25.7‑0.1+0.3 , and a low gas-phase metallicity (also confirmed by the direct, T _e method) ranging between 4% and 11% Z _⊙, indicating a rapid chemical enrichment of the ISM in the past few megayears. These properties also suggest that a substantial amount of ionizing photons (∼10%) are leaking outside of GHZ2 and starting to reionize the surrounding intergalactic medium, possibly due to strong radiation-driven winds. The general lessons learned from GHZ2 are the following: (i) the UV-to-optical combined nebular indicators are broadly in agreement with UV-only or optical-only indicators; (ii) UV+optical diagnostics fail to discriminate between an AGN and star formation in a low-metallicity, high-density, and extreme-ionization environment; and (iii) comparing the nebular line ratios with local analogs may be approaching its limits at z ≳ 10, as this approach is potentially challenged by the unique conditions of star formation experienced by galaxies at these extreme redshifts.