51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú

Skip to main content
Department Of Physics text logo
  • Research
    • Our research
    • Our research groups
    • Our research in action
    • Research funding support
    • Summer internships for undergraduates
  • 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú
    • Undergraduates
    • Postgraduates
  • Engage
    • For young people
    • For teachers
    • For the public
    • For alumni
    • For business
  • Support
Menu
Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At Oxford we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Dr Aayush Saxena

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Research theme

  • Astronomy and astrophysics

Sub department

  • Astrophysics

Research groups

  • Cosmology
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
aayush.saxena@physics.ox.ac.uk
Denys Wilkinson Building, room 558
  • About
  • Publications

MIGHTEE/COSMOS-3D: the discovery of three spectroscopically confirmed radio-selected star-forming galaxies at z = 4.9–5.6

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 547:4 (2026) stag473

Authors:

RG Varadaraj, A Saxena, S Fakiolas, IH Whittam, MJ Jarvis, RA Meyer, CL Hale, K Kakiichi, M Li, JB Champagne, B Jin, ZJ Li, M Shuntov

Abstract:

Radio observations offer a dust-independent probe of star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, but sufficiently deep data are required to access the cross-over luminosity between these processes at high redshift (). We present three spectroscopically confirmed high-redshift radio sources (HzRSs) detected at 1.3 GHz at –5.6, with radio luminosities spanning –. These sources were first identified as high-redshift candidates through spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of archival Hubble, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRCam + MIRI, and ground-based photometry, and then spectroscopically confirmed via the emission line using wide-field slitless spectroscopy from JWST COSMOS-3D. The star formation rates (SFRs) measured from SED fitting, the flux, and the 1.3 GHz luminosity, span –, demonstrating broad agreement between these SFR tracers. We find that these three sources lie either on or 0.5–1.0 dex above the star-forming main sequence at –6 and have undergone a recent burst of star formation. The sources have extended rest-ultraviolet (UV)/optical morphologies with no evidence for a dominant point source component, indicating that an AGN is unlikely to dominate their rest-UV and optical emission. Two of the sources have complex, multicomponent rest-frame UV/optical morphologies, suggesting that their starbursts may be triggered by merging activity. These HzRSs open up a new window towards probing radio emission powered by star formation alone at , representing a remarkable opportunity to begin tracing star formation, independent of dust, in the early Universe.

MEGATRON: disentangling physical processes and observational bias in the multi-phase ISM of high-redshift galaxies

(2026)

Authors:

Nicholas Choustikov, Harley Katz, Alex Cameron, Aayush Saxena, Julien Devriendt, Adrianne Slyz, Martin P Rey, Corentin Cadiou, Jeremy Blaizot, Taysun Kimm, Isaac Laseter, Kosei Matsumoto, Joki Rosdahl

Overview of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES)

The Astrophysical Journal: Supplement Series American Astronomical Society 283:1 (2026) 6

Authors:

Daniel J Eisenstein, Chris Willott, Stacey Alberts, Santiago Arribas, Nina Bonaventura, Andrew J Bunker, Alex J Cameron, Stefano Carniani, Stephane Charlot, Emma Curtis-Lake, Francesco D’Eugenio, Pierre Ferruit, Giovanna Giardino, Kevin Hainline, Ryan Hausen, Peter Jakobsen, Benjamin D Johnson, Roberto Maiolino, Bernard J Rauscher, Marcia Rieke, George Rieke, Hans-Walter Rix, Brant Robertson, Daniel P Stark, Jacopo Chevallard, Gareth C Jones

Abstract:

We present an overview of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), an ambitious program of infrared imaging and spectroscopy in the GOODS-S and GOODS-N deep fields, designed to study galaxy evolution from high redshift to cosmic noon. JADES uses about 770 hr of Cycle 1 guaranteed time largely from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument teams. In GOODS-S, in and around the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and Chandra Deep Field South, JADES produces a deep imaging region of ∼42 arcmin2 with over 100 hr of exposure time spread over nine NIRCam filters, including two medium-band filters. This is extended at medium depth in GOODS-S and GOODS-N with NIRCam imaging of ∼167 arcmin2, averaging 25 hr of exposure over 8–10 filters. In both fields, we conduct extensive NIRSpec multiobject spectroscopy, including two deep pointings of 55 hr exposure time, 14 medium pointings of ∼12 hr, and 15 shallower pointings of ∼4 hr, targeting over 5000 Hubble Space Telescope– and JWST-detected faint sources with five low-, medium-, and high-resolution dispersers covering 0.6–5.3 μm. Finally, JADES extends redward via coordinated parallels with the JWST Mid-Infrared Instrument, featuring ∼10 arcmin2 with 43 hr of exposure at 7.7 μm and thrice that area with 1.4–6.8 hr of exposure at 12.8 and 15 μm. For nearly 30 yr, the GOODS-S and GOODS-N fields have been developed as the premier deep fields on the sky; JADES is now providing a compelling start on JWST's legacy in these fields.

JADES: the chemical enrichment pattern of distant galaxies – α enhancement, silicon depletion, and iron enhancement

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 547:3 (2026) stag123

Authors:

Yuki Isobe, Roberto Maiolino, Xihan Ji, Francesco D’Eugenio, Charlotte Simmonds, Jan Scholtz, Ignas Juodžbalis, Aayush Saxena, Joris Witstok, Chiaki Kobayashi, Irene Vanni, Stefania Salvadori, Kuria Watanabe, Stephanie Monty, Vasily Belokurov, Anna Feltre, William McClymont, Sandro Tacchella, Mirko Curti, Hannah Übler, Stéphane Charlot, Andrew J Bunker, Jacopo Chevallard, Emma Curtis-Lake, Nimisha Kumari

Abstract:

We present gas-phase abundances of carbon (C), -elements (O, Ne, Si, and Ar), and iron (Fe) obtained from stacked spectra of high-z star-forming galaxies with the deep Near Infrared Spectrograph medium-resolution data from the James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey. Our 564 sources at –7 have a median stellar mass of and a median star-formation rate of , placing them close to the star-formation main sequence. We find that the stacked spectrum of all our 564 sources has relatively low , moderate , and low values at a low gas-phase metallicity of (), suggesting dominant yields of core-collapse supernovae evolved from massive stars. The detection of a weak [Si iii] emission line in our stacked spectrum provides a silicon-to-oxygen abundance ratio of , which is lower than that of stars in the Milky Way disc and lower than expected by chemical evolution models, suggesting silicon depletion on to dust grains. Likewise, this Si/O value is lower than that we newly derive for two individual galaxies (GN-z11 and RXCJ2248) with negligible dust attenuation. By performing spectral stacking in bins of , star-formation rate (SFR), specific SFR (sSFR), and ultraviolet continuum slope , we identify [Fe iii] line detections in the high-sSFR bin and the blue- bin, both of which exhibit supersolar Fe/O ratios, while their C/O, Ar/O, and Si/O ratios are comparable to those of the all-sources stack. Our findings support a chemically young gas composition with rapid dust depletion in the general population of high-z star-forming galaxies, while raising the possibility of anomalous, selective Fe/O enhancement at the very early epoch of star formation.

On the origins of oxygen: ALMA and JWST characterise the multi-phase, metal-enriched, star-bursting medium within a ‘normal’ z > 11 galaxy

The Open Journal of Astrophysics Maynooth University 9 (2026)

Authors:

Joris Witstok, Renske Smit, William M Baker, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Kevin N Hainline, Hiddo SB Algera, Santiago Arribas, Tom JLC Bakx, Andrew J Bunker, Stefano Carniani, Stéphane Charlot, Jacopo Chevallard, Mirko Curti, Emma Curtis-Lake, Daniel J Eisenstein, Kasper E Heintz, Jakob M Helton, Gareth C Jones, Roberto Maiolino, Michael V Maseda, Pablo G Pérez-González, Clara L Pollock, Brant E Robertson, Aayush Saxena, Jan Scholtz, Irene Shivaei, Fengwu Sun, Sandro Tacchella, Hannah Übler, Darach Watson, Chris J Willott, Zihao Wu

Abstract:

The unexpectedly high abundance of galaxies at z > 11 revealed by JWST has sparked a debate on the nature of early galaxies and the physical mechanisms regulating their formation. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has begun to provide vital insights on their gas and dust content, but so far only for extreme ‘blue monsters’. Here we present new, deep ALMA observations of JADES-GS-z11-0, a more typical (sub- L * ) z > 11 galaxy that bridges the discovery space of JWST and the Hubble Space Telescope. These data confirm the presence of the [O III] 88 μ m line at 4.5 σ significance, precisely at the redshift of several faint emission lines previously seen with JWST/NIRSpec, while the underlying dust continuum remains undetected ( F ν < 9.0 μ J y ), implying an obscured star formation rate (SFR) of SFR IR ≲ 6 M ⊙ y r − 1 and dust mass of M dust ≲ 1.0 × 10 6 M ⊙ (all 3 σ ). The accurate ALMA redshift of z [O III] = 11.1221 ± 0.0006 ( ≳ 5 × refined over NIRSpec) helps confirm that redshifts measured purely from the Lyman- α break, even spectroscopically, should properly take into account the effects of potential damped Lyman- α absorption (DLA) systems to avoid systematic overestimates of up to Δ z ≈ 0.5 . The [O III] 88 μ m luminosity of L [O III] = ( 1.1 ± 0.3 ) × 10 8 L ⊙ , meanwhile, agrees well with the scaling relation for local metal-poor dwarfs given the SFR measured by NIRCam, NIRSpec, and MIRI. The spatially resolved MIRI and ALMA emission also underscores that JADES-GS-z11-0 is likely to consist of two low-mass components that are undergoing strong bursts of star formation yet are already pre-enriched in oxygen ( ∼ 30 % solar), only 400 Myr after the Big Bang.

Pagination

  • First page First
  • Previous page Prev
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Current page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • …
  • Next page Next
  • Last page Last

Footer Menu

  • Contact us
  • Giving to the Dept of Physics
  • Work with us
  • Media

User account menu

  • Log in

Follow us

FIND US

Clarendon Laboratory,

Parks Road,

Oxford,

OX1 3PU

CONTACT US

Tel: +44(0)1865272200

Department Of Physics text logo

© University of Oxford - Department of Physics

Cookies | Privacy policy | Accessibility statement

  • Home
  • Research
  • 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú
  • Engage
  • Our people
  • News & Comment
  • Events
  • Our facilities & services
  • 51ÁÔÆæÈë¿Ú
  • Giving to Physics