Chemical hints of Population III stars from silicon abundances in massive galaxies

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Calle Vía Láctea S/N E-38205 La Laguna Tenerife, Spain
² Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna Tenerife, Spain
³ Leiden Observatory, 2300 RA, PO Box 9513 Leiden, The Netherlands
⁴ Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, John Street Hawthorn VIC 3122, Australia
⁵ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, sal. Moiariello 16 I-80131 Napoli, Italy

^★ Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 16 April 2026
Accepted: 4 June 2026

Abstract

The formation of massive galaxies remains a fundamental question in astrophysics, with recent JWST observations suggesting that intense star formation occurred earlier than previously expected. We used the prototypical massive relic galaxy NGC 1277 as a fossil record to probe the chemical signatures of early star formation. With a stellar mass of 1.2 ± 0.4 × 10¹¹ M_⊙ and a compact structure (half-light radius of 1.2 kpc), NGC 1277 is representative of massive relic galaxies – systems that formed rapidly at high redshifts (‘red nuggets’ at z > 2) and have since undergone largely passive evolution, preserving the imprint of their earliest stellar populations. Using deep near-infrared spectroscopy, we identified unusually strong silicon (Si) absorption features in this galaxy. We measure [Si/Fe] = 1.05^+0.45_−0.27 and [Mg/Fe] = 0.36^+0.27_−0.24, corresponding to a significantly enhanced silicon-to-magnesium ratio ([Si/Mg] = 0.67^+0.45_−0.27), which cannot be reproduced by current stellar population models or typical core-collapse supernova yields. This enhancement suggests a contribution from very massive, metal-poor progenitors during the earliest phases of star formation. Such conditions are consistent with nucleosynthetic yields from pair-instability supernovae or other enrichment channels associated with extremely massive stars, whose chemical signatures are expected to remain less diluted in systems like NGC 1277 due to their rapid formation timescales and minimal late-time accretion. This result provides rare chemical evidence of early massive-star enrichment preserved in a local relic galaxy and opens a new observational window into the chemical evolution of the Universe.