Rest-frame UV spectroscopy of extreme O iii emitters at 1.3 z 3.7: toward a high-redshift UV reference sample for JWST

ABSTRACT Deep spectroscopy of galaxies in the reionization era has revealed intense C iii] and C iv line emission (equivalent width, EW 15–20 Å). In order to interpret the nebular emission emerging at z 6, we have begun targeting rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) emission lines in galaxies with large specific star formation rates (sSFRs) at 1.3 z 3.7. We find that C iii] reaches the EWs seen at z 6 only in large sSFR galaxies with O iii+Hβ EW 1500 Å. In contrast to previous studies, we find that many galaxies with intense O iii have weak C iii] emission (EW = 5–8 Å), suggesting that the radiation field associated with young stellar populations is not sufficient to power strong C iii]. Photoionization models demonstrate that the spread in C iii] among systems with large sSFRs (O iii+Hβ EW 1500 Å) is driven by variations in metallicity, a result of the extreme sensitivity of C iii] to electron temperature. We find that the strong C iii] emission seen at z 6 (EW 15 Å) requires metal-poor gas (≃ 0.1 Z⊙), whereas the weaker C iii] emission in our sample tends to be found at moderate metallicities (≃ 0.3 Z⊙). The luminosity distribution of the C iii] emitters in our z ≃ 1–3 sample presents a consistent picture, with stronger emission generally linked to low-luminosity systems (MUV −19.5) where low metallicities are more likely. We quantify the fraction of strong C iii] and C iv emitters at z ≃ 1–3, providing a baseline for comparison against z 6 samples. We suggest that the first UV line detections at z 6 can be explained if a significant fraction of the early galaxy population is found at large sSFR (200 Gyr−1) and low metallicity ( 0.1 Z⊙).