Early Results from GLASS-JWST. VII. Evidence for Lensed, Gravitationally Bound Protoglobular Clusters at z = 4 in the Hubble Frontier Field A2744*

Abstract

We investigate the blue and optical rest-frame sizes ( λ ≃ 2300–4000 Å) of three compact star-forming regions in a galaxy at z = 4 strongly lensed (×30, ×45, and ×100) by the Hubble Frontier Field galaxy cluster A2744 using GLASS-ERS James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRISS imaging at 1.15 μm, 1.50 μm, and 2.0 μm with a point-spread function ≲0.″1. In particular, the Balmer break is probed in detail for all multiply imaged sources of the system. With ages of a few tens of Myr, stellar masses in the range (0.7–4.0) ×10 ⁶ M _⊙ and optical/ultraviolet effective radii spanning the interval 3 < R _eff < 20 pc, such objects are currently the highest-redshift (spectroscopically confirmed) gravitationally bound young massive star clusters (YMCs), with stellar mass surface densities resembling those of local globular clusters. Optical (4000 Å, JWST-based) and ultraviolet (1600 Å, Hubble Space Telescope–based) sizes are fully compatible. The contribution to the ultraviolet underlying continuum emission (1600 Å) is ∼30%, which decreases by a factor of 2 in the optical for two of the YMCs (∼4000 Å rest-frame), reflecting the young ages (<30 Myr) inferred from the spectral energy distribution fitting and supported by the presence of high-ionization lines secured with the Very Large Telescope/MUSE. Such bursty forming regions enhance the specific star formation rate of the galaxy, which is ≃10 Gyr ⁻¹. This galaxy would be among the extreme analogs observed in the local universe having a high star formation rate surface density and a high occurrence of massive stellar clusters in formation.