Evolution of the UV LF from z ∼15 to z ∼8 using new JWST NIRCam medium-band observations over the HUDF/XDF

We present the first constraints on the prevalence of z > 10 galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) leveraging new NIRCam observations from JEMS (JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey). These NIRCam observations probe redward of 1.6 μm, beyond the wavelength limit of HST, allowing us to s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bouwens, Rychard, Stefanon, Mauro, Brammer, Gabriel, Oesch, Pascal A., Herard-Demanche, Thomas, Illingworth, Garth, Matthee, Jorryt, Naidu, Rohan P., Dokkum, Pieter van, Leeuwen, Ivana F. van
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/335265
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/335265
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Galaxies: evolution
Galaxies: high-redshift
Cosmology: dark ages
First stars
Reionization
Descripción
Sumario:We present the first constraints on the prevalence of z > 10 galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) leveraging new NIRCam observations from JEMS (JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey). These NIRCam observations probe redward of 1.6 μm, beyond the wavelength limit of HST, allowing us to search for galaxies to z > 10. These observations indicate that the highest redshift candidate identified in the HUDF09 data with HST, UDFj-39546284, has a redshift of z > 11.5, as had been suggested in analyses of the HUDF12/XDF data. This has now been confirmed with JWST NIRSpec. This source is thus the most distant galaxy discovered by HST in its >30 yr of operation. Additionally, we identify nine other z ∼ 8–13 candidate galaxies over the HUDF, two of which are new discoveries that appear to lie at z ∼ 11–12. We use these results to characterize the evolution of the UV luminosity function (LF) from z ∼ 15 to z ∼ 8.7. While our LF results at z ∼ 8.7 and z ∼ 10.5 are consistent with previous findings over the HUDF, our new LF estimates at z ∼ 12.6 are higher than other results in the literature, potentially pointing to a milder evolution in the UV luminosity density from z ∼ 12.6. We emphasize that our LF results are uncertain given the small number of z ∼ 12.6 sources and limited volume probed. The new NIRCam data also indicate that the faint z ∼ 8–13 galaxies in the HUDF/XDF show blue UV-continuum slopes β ∼ −2.7, high specific star formation rates ∼24.5 Gyr−1, and high EW (∼1300 Å) [O III] + H β emission, with two z ∼ 8.5 sources showing [O III] + H β EWs of ∼2300 Å.