Dusty-wind-clear JWST Super-early Galaxies

Abstract

The JWST discovery of a number of super-early (redshift z > 10) blue galaxies requires these systems to be essentially dust free in spite of their large stellar masses. A possible explanation is that dust is evacuated by radiatively driven outflows. We test this hypothesis by deriving the Eddington ratio λ E = L bol / L E , where L bol is the bolometric luminosity produced by star formation and possible black hole accretion, for 134 galaxies at 6.5 < z < 16. We find a strong anticorrelation between λ E and dust UV optical depth, τ 1500 ∝ λ E − 0.63 ; also, λ E increases with redshift. We confirm that galaxies exceeding a specific star formation rate sSFR > 13 Gyr −1 develop powerful outflows clearing the galaxy from its dust. This result is supported by ALMA dust continuum nondetections in three super-early systems.