TY - JOUR
T1 - No [C II] or dust detection in two Little Red Dots at zspec > 7
AU - Xiao, Mengyuan
AU - Oesch, Pascal A.
AU - Bing, Longji
AU - Elbaz, David
AU - Matthee, Jorryt
AU - Fudamoto, Yoshinobu
AU - Fujimoto, Seiji
AU - Marques-Chaves, Rui
AU - Williams, Christina C.
AU - Dessauges-Zavadsky, Miroslava
AU - Valentino, Francesco
AU - Brammer, Gabriel
AU - Covelo-Paz, Alba
AU - Daddi, Emanuele
AU - Fynbo, Johan P.U.
AU - Gillman, Steven
AU - Ginolfi, Michele
AU - Giovinazzo, Emma
AU - Greene, Jenny E.
AU - Gu, Qiusheng
AU - Illingworth, Garth
AU - Inayoshi, Kohei
AU - Kokorev, Vasily
AU - Meyer, Romain A.
AU - Naidu, Rohan P.
AU - Reddy, Naveen A.
AU - Schaerer, Daniel
AU - Shapley, Alice
AU - Stefanon, Mauro
AU - Steinhardt, Charles L.
AU - Setton, David J.
AU - Vestergaard, Marianne
AU - Wang, Tao
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors 2025.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Little Red Dots (LRDs) are compact, point-like sources characterized by their red color and broad Balmer lines; it is a matter of debate whether they are dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). Here we report two LRDs (ID9094 and ID2756) at zspec > 7 recently discovered in the JWST FRESCO GOODS-North field. Both satisfy the “v-shaped” color and compactness criteria for LRDs and are identified as Type-I AGN candidates based on their broad Hβ emission lines (full width at half maximum: 2280 ± 490 km s-1 for ID9094 and 1070 ± 240 km s-1 for ID2756) and narrow [O III] lines (≃300-400 km s-1). To investigate their nature, we conducted deep NOEMA follow-up observations targeting the [C II] 158 µm emission line and the 1.3 mm dust continuum. We do not detect [C II] or 1.3 mm continuum emission for either source. If the two LRDs were DSFGs, we would expect significant detections: >16σ for [C II] and >3σ for the 1.3 mm continuum of ID9094, and >5σ for the [C II] of ID2756. Using the 3σ upper limits of [C II] and 1.3 mm, we performed two analyses: (1) UV-to-far-infrared spectral energy distribution fitting with and without AGN components, and (2) comparison of their properties with the L[C II]–SFRtot empirical relation. Both analyses are consistent with a scenario in which AGN activity contributes to the observed properties, though a dusty star-forming origin cannot be fully ruled out. Our results highlight the importance of far-infrared observations for studying LRDs, a regime that remains largely unexplored.
AB - Little Red Dots (LRDs) are compact, point-like sources characterized by their red color and broad Balmer lines; it is a matter of debate whether they are dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) or dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). Here we report two LRDs (ID9094 and ID2756) at zspec > 7 recently discovered in the JWST FRESCO GOODS-North field. Both satisfy the “v-shaped” color and compactness criteria for LRDs and are identified as Type-I AGN candidates based on their broad Hβ emission lines (full width at half maximum: 2280 ± 490 km s-1 for ID9094 and 1070 ± 240 km s-1 for ID2756) and narrow [O III] lines (≃300-400 km s-1). To investigate their nature, we conducted deep NOEMA follow-up observations targeting the [C II] 158 µm emission line and the 1.3 mm dust continuum. We do not detect [C II] or 1.3 mm continuum emission for either source. If the two LRDs were DSFGs, we would expect significant detections: >16σ for [C II] and >3σ for the 1.3 mm continuum of ID9094, and >5σ for the [C II] of ID2756. Using the 3σ upper limits of [C II] and 1.3 mm, we performed two analyses: (1) UV-to-far-infrared spectral energy distribution fitting with and without AGN components, and (2) comparison of their properties with the L[C II]–SFRtot empirical relation. Both analyses are consistent with a scenario in which AGN activity contributes to the observed properties, though a dusty star-forming origin cannot be fully ruled out. Our results highlight the importance of far-infrared observations for studying LRDs, a regime that remains largely unexplored.
KW - Galaxies: active
KW - Galaxies: high-redshift
KW - Galaxies: photometry
KW - Galaxies: star formation
KW - Submillimeter: galaxies
U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/202554361
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/202554361
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:105014739443
SN - 0004-6361
VL - 700
JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics
M1 - A231
ER -