Citation Network

Citation Network Papers

This collection of papers is derived from the citation network of Little Red Dots (LRD) literature. These papers may not explicitly mention “Little Red Dots” in their abstracts, but are frequently cited by LRD publications, indicating their importance to the field.

Our collection process (implemented in kick_off_papers.py) analyzes citation patterns to identify influential papers that:

The bibtex type is article
Are referenced by multiple LRD publications (>=10)
Are published in 2022 or later to avoid very foundational papers

This citation-based approach helps identify key literature that might otherwise be missed by keyword searches, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the field.

2025

Environmental Evidence for Overly Massive Black Holes in Low-mass Galaxies and a Black Hole–Halo Mass Relation at z \ensuremath∼ 5

Jorryt Matthee, Rohan P. Naidu, Gauri Kotiwale, and 14 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Aug 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST observations have unveiled faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at high redshift that provide insights into the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). However, disentangling their stellar from AGN light is challenging. Here, we use an empirical approach to infer the average stellar mass of five faint broad- line (BL) H\ensuremathα emitters at z = 4–5 with BH masses \ensuremath≈6 \texttimes 10^6 M_\ensuremath⊙, with a method independent of their spectral energy distribution (SED). We use the deep JWST/NIRcam grism survey “All the Little Things” to measure the overdensities around BL-H\ensuremathα emitters and around a spectroscopic reference sample of \ensuremath∼300 galaxies. In our reference sample, we find that megaparsec-scale overdensity correlates with stellar mass. Their large-scale environments suggest that BL-H\ensuremathα emitters are hosted by galaxies with stellar masses \ensuremath≈5 \texttimes 10^7 M_\ensuremath⊙, \ensuremath≈40 times lower than those inferred from galaxy-only SED fits. Adding measurements around more luminous z \ensuremath≈ 6 AGNs, we find tentative correlations between line width, BH mass, and the overdensity, suggestive of a steep BH to halo mass relation. The main implications are (1) when BH masses are taken at face value, we confirm extremely high BH to stellar mass ratios of \ensuremath≈10%, (2) the galaxies of low stellar mass that host growing SMBHs are in tension with typical hydrodynamical simulations, except those without feedback, (3) a 1% duty cycle implied by the host mass hints at super-Eddington accretion, (4) the masses are at odds with an interpretation of the line broadening in terms of high stellar density, (5) our results imply a luminosity-dependent diversity of galaxy masses, environments, and SEDs among AGN samples.

@article{2025ApJ...988..246M, author = {{Matthee}, Jorryt and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Kotiwale}, Gauri and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Kramarenko}, Ivan and {Mackenzie}, Ruari and {Greene}, Jenny and {Adamo}, Angela and {Bouwens}, Rychard J. and {Di Cesare}, Claudia and {Eilers}, Anna-Christina and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Heintz}, Kasper E. and {Kashino}, Daichi and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Torralba}, Alberto}, title = {{Environmental Evidence for Overly Massive Black Holes in Low-mass Galaxies and a Black Hole{\textendash}Halo Mass Relation at z {\ensuremath{\sim}} 5}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {AGN host galaxies, High-redshift galaxies, Early universe, Quasars, Emission line galaxies, Galaxies, 2017, 734, 435, 1319, 459, 573, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = aug, volume = {988}, number = {2}, eid = {246}, pages = {246}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ade886}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2412.02846}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...988..246M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {16}, month_numeric = {8} }

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Narrow-line AGN selection in CEERS: Spectroscopic selection, physical properties, and X-ray and radio analysis

Giovanni Mazzolari, Jan Scholtz, Roberto Maiolino, and 11 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Aug 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The transformative era opened by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on the high-z Universe allows us to investigate the early stages of supermassive black hole (SMBH) evolution, with the first results showing a greater than expected number of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at very early times. In this work, we spectroscopically select narrow-line AGNs (NLAGNs) among the \ensuremath∼300 publicly available medium-resolution spectra of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS). Using both traditional and newly identified emission line NLAGN diagnostics diagrams, we identified 52 NLAGNs at 2 \ensuremath≲ z \ensuremath≲ 9, on which we performed a detailed multiwavelength analysis. We also identified four new z \ensuremath≲ 2 broad-line AGNs (BLAGNs), in addition to the eight previously reported z > 4.5 BLAGNs. We found that the traditional BPT diagnostic diagrams are not suited to identifying high-z AGNs, while most of the high-z NLAGN were selected using the recently proposed AGN diagnostic diagrams based on the [O III] \ensuremathλ4363 auroral line or high-ionization emission lines. We compared the emission line velocity dispersion and the obscuration levels of the sample of NLAGNs with those of the parent sample without finding significant differences between the two distributions, suggesting a population of AGNs heavily buried and not significantly impacting the host galaxies’ physical properties, as was further confirmed by spectral energy distribution fitting. The bolometric luminosities of the high-z NLAGNs selected in this work are \ensuremath∼1.5 dex below the ones sampled by surveys before JWST, potentially explaining the weak impact of these AGNs. Finally, we investigated the X-ray properties of the selected NLAGNs and of the sample of high-z BLAGNs. We found that all but four NLAGNs are undetected in the deep X-ray image of the field, as well as all the high-z BLAGNs. We did not obtain a detection even by stacking the undetected sources, resulting in an X-ray weakness of \ensuremath∼1 ‑ 2 dex from what was expected based on their bolometric luminosities. To discriminate between a heavily obscured AGN scenario or an intrinsic X-ray weakness of these sources, we performed a radio (1.4GHz) stacking analysis, which did not reveal any detection and left open the questions about the origin of the X-ray weakness.

@article{2025A&A...700A..12M, author = {{Mazzolari}, Giovanni and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Gilli}, Roberto and {Traina}, Alberto and {L{\'o}pez}, Ivan E. and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Trefoloni}, Bartolomeo and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Ji}, Xihan and {Mignoli}, Marco and {Vito}, Fabio and {Vignali}, Cristian and {Brusa}, Marcella}, title = {{Narrow-line AGN selection in CEERS: Spectroscopic selection, physical properties, and X-ray and radio analysis}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {galaxies: active, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: ISM, Astrophysics of Galaxies, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2025}, month = aug, volume = {700}, eid = {A12}, pages = {A12}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202451860}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2408.15615}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025A\&A...700A..12M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {166780198}, lrdindex = {11}, month_numeric = {8} }

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JADES: A large population of obscured, narrow-line active galactic nuclei at high redshift

Jan Scholtz, Roberto Maiolino, Francesco D’Eugenio, and 35 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, May 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the identification of 41 narrow-line active galactic nuclei (type-2 AGN) candidates in the two deepest observations of the JADES spectroscopic survey with JWST/NIRSpec. The spectral coverage and the depth of our observations allowed us to select narrow-line AGN based on both rest-frame optical and UV emission lines up to z = 10. Due to the metallicity decrease of galaxies, at z > 3, the standard optical diagnostic diagrams (N2-BPT or S2-VO87) become unable to distinguish many AGN from other sources of photoionisation. Therefore, we also used high ionisation lines, such as He II\ensuremathλ4686, He II\ensuremathλ1640, [Ne IV] \ensuremathλ2422, [Ne V] \ensuremathλ3420, and N V \ensuremathλ1240, also in combination with other UV transitions, to trace the presence of AGN. Out of a parent sample of 209 galaxies, we identified 42 type-2 AGN (although ten of them are tentative), making the fraction of galaxies in JADES hosting type-2 AGN about 20 \ensuremath\pm 5%, which does not evolve significantly in the redshift range between 2 and 10. The selected type-2 AGN have estimated bolometric luminosities of 10^41.3 ‑ 44.9 erg s^‑1 and host-galaxy stellar masses of 10^7.2 ‑ 9.3 M_\ensuremath⊙. The star formation rates of the selected AGN host galaxies are consistent with those of the star-forming main sequence. The AGN host galaxies at z = 4 ‑ 6 contribute \ensuremath∼18–30% to the UV luminosity function across different UV luminosity bins, increasing slightly with UV luminosity.

@article{2025A&A...697A.175S, author = {{Scholtz}, Jan and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Curti}, Mirko and {Silcock}, Maddie S. and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Baker}, William and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Circosta}, Chiara and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Hainline}, Kevin and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Ji}, Xihan and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Looser}, Tobias J. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Parlanti}, Eleonora and {Perna}, Michele and {Rieke}, Marcia and {Robertson}, Brant and {Del Pino}, Bruno Rodr{\'\i}guez and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Venturi}, Giacomo and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Willott}, Chris and {Witstok}, Joris}, title = {{JADES: A large population of obscured, narrow-line active galactic nuclei at high redshift}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {galaxies: evolution, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: ISM, quasars: supermassive black holes}, year = {2025}, month = may, volume = {697}, eid = {A175}, pages = {A175}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202348804}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025A\&A...697A.175S}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {157629878}, lrdindex = {24}, eprint = {2311.18731}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, month_numeric = {5} }

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RUBIES: A complete census of the bright and red distant Universe with JWST/NIRSpec

Anna de Graaff, Gabriel Brammer, Andrea Weibel, and 25 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, May 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the Red Unknowns: Bright Infrared Extragalactic Survey (RUBIES) providing JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy of red sources selected across \ensuremath∼150 arcmin^2 from public JWST/NIRCam imaging in the UDS and EGS fields. The novel observing strategy of RUBIES offers a well-quantified selection function. The survey has been optimised to reach high (>70%) spectroscopic completeness for bright and red (F150W‑F444W>2) sources that are very rare. To place these rare sources in context, we simultaneously observed a reference sample of the 23 using only the G395M disperser. The RUBIES data reveal a highly diverse population of red sources that span a broad redshift range (z_spec\ensuremath∼1‑9), with photometric redshift scatter and an outlier fraction that are three times higher than for similarly bright sources that are less red. This diversity is not apparent from the photometric spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Only spectroscopy reveals that the SEDs encompass a mixture of galaxies with dust-obscured star formation, extreme line emission, a lack of star formation indicating early quenching, and luminous active galactic nuclei. As a first demonstration of our broader selection function we compared the stellar masses and rest-frame U‑V colours of the red sources and our reference sample. We find that the red sources are typically more massive (M_*\ensuremath∼10^10‑11.5 M_\ensuremath⊙) across all redshifts. However, we also find that the most massive systems span a wide range in U‑V colour. We describe our data reduction procedure and data quality, and we publicly release the reduced RUBIES data and vetted spectroscopic redshifts of the first half of the survey through the DAWN JWST Archive.

@article{2025A&A...697A.189D, author = {{de Graaff}, Anna and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Weibel}, Andrea and {Lewis}, Zach and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Boogaard}, Leindert A. and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Cooper}, Olivia R. and {Gottumukkala}, Rashmi and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Hviding}, Raphael E. and {Katz}, Harley and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Leja}, Joel and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {McConachie}, Ian and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Rix}, Hans-Walter and {Setton}, David J. and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Williams}, Christina C.}, title = {{RUBIES: A complete census of the bright and red distant Universe with JWST/NIRSpec}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {surveys, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation, galaxies: high-redshift}, year = {2025}, month = may, volume = {697}, eid = {A189}, pages = {A189}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202452186}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025A\&A...697A.189D}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {167174322}, lrdindex = {29}, eprint = {2409.05948}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, month_numeric = {5} }

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The Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS)

Steven L. Finkelstein, Micaela B. Bagley, Pablo Arrabal Haro, and 102 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Apr 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, a 77.2 hr Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science Program. CEERS demonstrates, tests, and validates efficient extragalactic surveys using coordinated, overlapping parallel observations with the JWST instrument suite, including NIRCam and MIRI imaging, NIRSpec low- (R \ensuremath∼ 100) and medium- (R \ensuremath∼ 1000) resolution spectroscopy, and NIRCam slitless grism (R \ensuremath∼ 1500) spectroscopy. CEERS targets the Hubble Space Telescope–observed region of the Extended Groth Strip field, supported by a rich set of multiwavelength data. CEERS facilitated immediate community science in both of the extragalactic core JWST science drivers “First Light” and “Galaxy Assembly,” including: (1) the discovery and characterization of large samples of galaxies at z \ensuremath≳ 10 from \ensuremath∼90 arcmin^2 of NIRCam imaging, constraining their abundance and physical nature; (2) deep spectra of >1000 galaxies, including dozens of galaxies at 6 3; and (4) characterizing galaxy mid-IR emission with MIRI to study dust- obscured star formation and supermassive black hole growth at z \ensuremath∼ 1–3. As a legacy product for the community, the CEERS team has provided several data releases, accompanied by detailed notes on the data reduction procedures and notebooks to aid in reproducibility. In addition to an overview of the survey and the quality of the data, we provide science highlights from the first two years with CEERS data.

@article{2025ApJ...983L...4F, author = {{Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Bagley}, Micaela B. and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Ferguson}, Henry C. and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Kocevski}, Dale D. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Lotz}, Jennifer M. and {Papovich}, Casey and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Somerville}, Rachel S. and {Trump}, Jonathan R. and {Yang}, Guang and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron and {Fontana}, Adriano and {Grazian}, Andrea and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Kewley}, Lisa J. and {Kirkpatrick}, Allison and {Larson}, Rebecca L. and {Pentericci}, Laura and {Ravindranath}, Swara and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {Almaini}, Omar and {Amor{\'\i}n}, Ricardo O. and {Barro}, Guillermo and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Bisigello}, Laura and {Brooks}, Madisyn and {Buat}, V{\'e}ronique and {Buitrago}, Fernando and {Burgarella}, Denis and {Calabr{\`o}}, Antonello and {Castellano}, Marco and {Cheng}, Yingjie and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Cole}, Justin W. and {Cooper}, M. C. and {Cooper}, Olivia R. and {Costantin}, Luca and {Cox}, Isa G. and {Croton}, Darren and {Daddi}, Emanuele and {Davis}, Kelcey and {Dekel}, Avishai and {Elbaz}, David and {Fern{\'a}ndez}, Vital and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Gandolfi}, Giovanni and {Gardner}, Jonathan P. and {Gawiser}, Eric and {Giavalisco}, Mauro and {G{\'o}mez-Guijarro}, Carlos and {Guo}, Yuchen and {Gupta}, Ansh R. and {Hathi}, Nimish P. and {Harish}, Santosh and {Henry}, Aur{\'e}lien and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Hu}, Weida and {Hutchison}, Taylor A. and {Iyer}, Kartheik G. and {Jaskot}, Anne E. and {Jha}, Saurabh W. and {Jung}, Intae and {Kassin}, Susan A. and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Kurczynski}, Peter and {Leung}, Gene C. K. and {Llerena}, Mario and {Long}, Arianna S. and {Lucas}, Ray A. and {Lu}, Shiying and {McGrath}, Elizabeth J. and {McIntosh}, Daniel H. and {Merlin}, Emiliano and {Mobasher}, Bahram and {Morales}, Alexa M. and {Napolitano}, Lorenzo and {Pacucci}, Fabio and {Pandya}, Viraj and {Rafelski}, Marc and {Rodighiero}, Giulia and {Rose}, Caitlin and {Santini}, Paola and {Seill{\'e}}, Lise-Marie and {Simons}, Raymond C. and {Shen}, Lu and {Straughn}, Amber N. and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Taylor}, Anthony J. and {Vanderhoof}, Brittany N. and {Vega-Ferrero}, Jes{\'u}s and {Weiner}, Benjamin J. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Zhu}, Peixin and {Bell}, Eric F. and {Wuyts}, Stijn and {Holwerda}, Benne W. and {Wang}, Xin and {Wang}, Weichen and {Zavala}, Jorge A. and {CEERS Collaboration}}, title = {{The Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS)}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, Surveys, Galaxy formation, Supermassive black holes, 594, 1671, 595, 1663, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = apr, volume = {983}, number = {1}, eid = {L4}, pages = {L4}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/adbbd3}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2501.04085}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...983L...4F}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {175908613}, lrdindex = {10}, month_numeric = {4} }

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JWST meets Chandra: a large population of Compton thick, feedback-free, and intrinsically X-ray weak AGN, with a sprinkle of SNe

Roberto Maiolino, Guido Risaliti, Matilde Signorini, and 22 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Apr 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We investigate the X-ray properties of a sample of 71 broad- and narrow- line active galactic nucleus (AGN) at 2$z11 discovered by JWST in the GOODS (Great Observatory Origins Deep Survey) fields, which have the deepest Chandra observations ever obtained. Despite the widespread presence of AGN signatures in their rest-optical and -ultraviolet spectra, the vast majority of them is X-ray undetected. The stacked X-ray data of the non- detected sources also results in a non-detection. The upper limit on the X-ray emission for many of these AGN is one or even two orders of magnitude lower than expected from a standard AGN Spectral Energy Distribution (SED). X-ray absorption by clouds with large (Compton-thick) column density and low dust content, such as the broad-line region (BLR) clouds, can explain the X-ray weakness. In this scenario, the BLR covering factor should be much larger than in low-z AGN or luminous quasars; this is supported by the larger equivalent width of the broad component of Hα$ in JWST- selected AGN. We also find that the JWST-discovered AGN lack prominent, fast outflows, suggesting that, in JWST-selected AGN, dense gas lingers in the nuclear region, resulting in large covering factors. We also note that a large fraction of JWST- selected AGN matches the definition of narrow-line Seyfert 1, typically accreting at high rates and characterized by a steep X-ray spectrum - this can further contribute to their observed weakness at high-z. Finally, we discuss that the broad Balmer lines used to identify type 1 AGN cannot be ascribed to very massive stars or supernovae, although we show that some of the faintest broad lines could potentially be associated with superluminous SNe.

@article{2025MNRAS.538.1921M, author = {{Maiolino}, Roberto and {Risaliti}, Guido and {Signorini}, Matilde and {Trefoloni}, Bartolomeo and {Juod{\v{z}}balis}, Ignas and {Scholtz}, Jan and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Fabian}, Andy and {Ji}, Xihan and {Mazzolari}, Giovanni and {Bertola}, Elena and {Brusa}, Marcella and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Comastri}, Andrea and {Cresci}, Giovanni and {DeCoursey}, Christa Noel and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Fiore}, Fabrizio and {Gilli}, Roberto and {Perna}, Michele and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Venturi}, Giacomo}, title = {{JWST meets Chandra: a large population of Compton thick, feedback-free, and intrinsically X-ray weak AGN, with a sprinkle of SNe}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2025}, month = apr, volume = {538}, number = {3}, pages = {1921-1943}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/staf359}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2405.00504}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025MNRAS.538.1921M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {78}, altmetric = {175018233}, month_numeric = {4} }

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RUBIES Reveals a Massive Quiescent Galaxy at z = 7.3

Andrea Weibel, Anna de Graaff, David J. Setton, and 26 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Apr 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We report the spectroscopic discovery of a massive quiescent galaxy at z_spec = 7.29 \ensuremath\pm 0.01, just \ensuremath∼700 Myr after the big bang. RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 was selected from public JWST/NIRCam and MIRI imaging from the PRIMER survey and observed with JWST/NIRSpec as part of RUBIES. The NIRSpec/PRISM spectrum reveals one of the strongest Balmer breaks observed thus far at z > 6, with no emission lines but tentative Balmer and Ca absorption features, as well as a Lyman break. Simultaneous modeling of the NIRSpec/PRISM spectrum and NIRCam and MIRI photometry (spanning 0.9–18 \ensuremathμm) shows that the galaxy formed a stellar mass of log before z \ensuremath∼ 8 and ceased forming stars 50–100 Myr prior to the time of observation, resulting in . We measure a small physical size of , which implies a high stellar-mass surface density within the effective radius of , comparable to the highest densities measured in quiescent galaxies at z \ensuremath∼ 2–5. The 3D stellar-mass density profile of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 is remarkably similar to the central densities of local massive ellipticals, suggesting that at least some of their cores may have already been in place at z > 7. The discovery of RUBIES-UDS-QG-z7 has strong implications for galaxy formation models: the estimated number density of quiescent galaxies at z \ensuremath∼ 7 is >100 \texttimes larger than predicted from any model to date, indicating that quiescent galaxies have formed earlier than previously expected.

@article{2025ApJ...983...11W, author = {{Weibel}, Andrea and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Setton}, David J. and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Lagos}, Claudia D. P. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Baggen}, Josephine F. W. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Boogaard}, Leindert A. and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Hviding}, Raphael E. and {Kuruvanthodi}, Adarsh and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Leja}, Joel and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {McConachie}, Ian and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Roberts-Borsani}, Guido and {Schaerer}, Daniel and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Valentino}, Francesco and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Wang}, Bingjie}, title = {{RUBIES Reveals a Massive Quiescent Galaxy at z = 7.3}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, Galaxy spectroscopy, Galaxy properties, Post-starburst galaxies, Quenched galaxies, Galaxy quenching, James Webb Space Telescope, Galaxy photometry, Spectral energy distribution, 594, 2171, 615, 2176, 2016, 2040, 2291, 611, 2129, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = apr, volume = {983}, number = {1}, eid = {11}, pages = {11}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/adab7a}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2409.03829}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...983...11W}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {175750572}, lrdindex = {14}, month_numeric = {4} }

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JADES Data Release 3: NIRSpec/Microshutter Assembly Spectroscopy for 4000 Galaxies in the GOODS Fields

Francesco D’Eugenio, Alex J. Cameron, Jan Scholtz, and 51 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Mar 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the third data release of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), providing both imaging and spectroscopy in the two GOODS fields. Spectroscopy consists of medium-depth and deep NIRSpec/microshutter assembly spectra of 4000 targets, covering the spectral range 0.6–5.3 \ensuremathμm and observed with both the low-dispersion prism (R = 30–300) and all three medium-resolution gratings (R = 500–1500). We describe the observations, data reduction, sample selection, and target allocation. We measured 2375 redshifts (2053 from multiple emission lines); our targets span the range from z = 0.5 up to z = 13, including 404 at z > 5. The data release includes 2D and 1D fully reduced spectra, with slit-loss corrections and background subtraction optimized for point sources. We also provide redshifts and signal-to-noise ratio > 5 emission-line flux catalogs for the prism and grating spectra, and concise guidelines on how to use these data products. Alongside spectroscopy, we are also publishing fully calibrated NIRCam imaging, which enables studying the JADES sample with the combined power of imaging and spectroscopy. Together, these data provide the largest statistical sample to date to characterize the properties of galaxy populations in the first billion years after the Big Bang.

@article{2025ApJS..277....4D, author = {{D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Cameron}, Alex J. and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Willott}, Chris J. and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Parlanti}, Eleonora and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Jakobsen}, Peter and {Robertson}, Brant E. and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Cargile}, Phillip A. and {Rawle}, Tim and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Curti}, Mirko and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Looser}, Tobias J. and {Rieke}, Marcia J. and {Rodr{\'\i}guez Del Pino}, Bruno and {Saxena}, Aayush and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Venturi}, Giacomo and {Witstok}, Joris and {Baker}, William M. and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Bonaventura}, Nina and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Danhaive}, A. Lola and {Hainline}, Kevin N. and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Ji}, Xihan and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Juod{\v{z}}balis}, Ignas and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Perna}, Michele and {Pusk{\'a}s}, D{\'a}vid and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Silcock}, Maddie S. and {Simmonds}, Charlotte and {Smit}, Renske and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Villanueva}, Natalia C. and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Zhu}, Yongda}, title = {{JADES Data Release 3: NIRSpec/Microshutter Assembly Spectroscopy for 4000 Galaxies in the GOODS Fields}}, journal = {\apjs}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, Reionization, Early universe, Surveys, 594, 595, 1383, 435, 1671, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = mar, volume = {277}, number = {1}, eid = {4}, pages = {4}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4365/ada148}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2404.06531}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJS..277....4D}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {22}, month_numeric = {3} }

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Tip of the Iceberg: Overmassive Black Holes at 4 < z < 7 Found by JWST Are Not Inconsistent with the Local Relation

Junyao Li, John D. Silverman, Yue Shen, and 8 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST is revealing a remarkable new population of high-redshift (z \ensuremath≳ 4), low-luminosity active galactic nuclei in deep surveys and detecting the host galaxy’s stellar light in the most luminous and massive quasars at z \ensuremath∼ 6 for the first time. Recent findings claim that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in these systems are significantly more massive than predicted by the local black hole (BH) mass–stellar mass ( ) relation and that this is not due to sample selection effects. Through detailed statistical modeling, we demonstrate that the coupled effects of selection biases (i.e., finite detection limit and requirements for detecting broad lines) and measurement uncertainties can largely explain the reported offset and flattening in the observed relation toward the upper envelope of the local relation, even for those at . We further investigate the possible evolution of the relation at z \ensuremath≳ 4 with careful treatment of observational biases and consideration of the degeneracy between intrinsic evolution and dispersion in this relation. The bias-corrected intrinsic relation in the low-mass regime ( ) suggests a large population of low-mass BHs ( ), possibly originating from lighter seeds, may remain undetected or unidentified. These results underscore the importance of forward modeling observational biases to better understand BH seeding and SMBH–galaxy coevolution mechanisms in the early universe, even with the deepest JWST surveys.

@article{2025ApJ...981...19L, author = {{Li}, Junyao and {Silverman}, John D. and {Shen}, Yue and {Volonteri}, Marta and {Jahnke}, Knud and {Zhuang}, Ming-Yang and {Scoggins}, Matthew T. and {Ding}, Xuheng and {Harikane}, Yuichi and {Onoue}, Masafusa and {Tanaka}, Takumi S.}, title = {{Tip of the Iceberg: Overmassive Black Holes at 4 < z < 7 Found by JWST Are Not Inconsistent with the Local Relation}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, Quasars, Supermassive black holes, Galaxy evolution, Early universe, Active galaxies, 16, 1319, 1663, 594, 435, 17, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = mar, volume = {981}, number = {1}, eid = {19}, pages = {19}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ada603}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2403.00074}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...981...19L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {18}, month_numeric = {3} }

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The UNCOVER Survey: First Release of Ultradeep JWST/NIRSpec PRISM Spectra for \ensuremath∼700 Galaxies from z \ensuremath∼ 0.3–13 in A2744

Sedona H. Price, Rachel Bezanson, Ivo Labbe, and 38 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the design and observations of low-resolution JWST/NIRSpec PRISM spectroscopy from the Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) Cycle 1 JWST Treasury program. Targets are selected using JWST/NIRCam photometry from UNCOVER and other programs, and cover a wide range of categories and redshifts to ensure the legacy value of the survey. These categories include the first galaxies at z \ensuremath≳ 10, faint galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization (z \ensuremath∼ 6‑8), high-redshift active galactic nuclei (z \ensuremath≳ 6), Population III star candidates, distant quiescent and dusty galaxies (1 \ensuremath≲ z \ensuremath≲ 6), and filler galaxies sampling redshift–color–magnitude space from z \ensuremath∼ 0.1‑13. Seven NIRSpec microshutter array masks across the extended A2744 cluster were observed, along with NIRCam parallel imaging in nine filters (F090W, F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, F410M, F444W, and F480M) over a total area of \ensuremath∼26 arcmin^2, overlapping existing Hubble Space Telescope coverage from programs including the Hubble Frontier Fields and BUFFALO. We successfully observed 553 objects down to m_F444W \ensuremath∼ 30 AB, and by leveraging mask overlaps, we reach total on-target exposure times ranging from 2.4 to 16.7 hr. We demonstrate the success rate and distribution of the confirmed redshifts, and also highlight the rich information revealed by these ultradeep spectra for a subset of our targets. An updated lens model of A2744 is also presented, including 14 additional spectroscopic redshifts and finding a total cluster mass of M_SL = (2.1 \ensuremath\pm 0.3) \texttimes 10^15 M_\ensuremath⊙. We publicly release reduced 1D and 2D spectra for all objects observed in summer 2023 along with a spectroscopic redshift catalog and the updated lens model of the cluster (https://jwst-uncover.github.io/DR4.html).

@article{2025ApJ...982...51P, author = {{Price}, Sedona H. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Setton}, David J. and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Leja}, Joel and {Pan}, Richard and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Burgasser}, Adam J. and {Chemerynska}, Iryna and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Feldmann}, Robert and {F{\"o}rster Schreiber}, Natascha M. and {Fudamoto}, Yoshinobu and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Glazebrook}, Karl and {Goulding}, Andy D. and {Khullar}, Gourav and {Kriek}, Mariska and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Muzzin}, Adam and {Nanayakkara}, Themiya and {Nelson}, Erica and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Shipley}, Heath and {Smit}, Renske and {Taylor}, Edward N. and {Dokkum}, Pieter van and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Zitrin}, Adi}, title = {{The UNCOVER Survey: First Release of Ultradeep JWST/NIRSpec PRISM Spectra for {\ensuremath{\sim}}700 Galaxies from z {\ensuremath{\sim}} 0.3{\textendash}13 in A2744}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, High-redshift galaxies, 594, 595, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = mar, volume = {982}, number = {1}, eid = {51}, pages = {51}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/adaec1}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2408.03920}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...982...51P}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {3} }

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The nature of low-luminosity AGNs discovered by JWST based on clustering analysis: progenitors of low-z quasars?

Junya Arita, Nobunari Kashikawa, Masafusa Onoue, and 4 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Feb 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST has discovered many faint AGNs at high-z by detecting their broad Balmer lines. However, their high number density, lack of X-ray emission, and overly high black hole masses with respect to their host stellar masses suggest that they are a distinct population from general type-1 quasars. Here, we present clustering analysis of 27 low-luminosity broad-line AGNs found by JWST (JWST AGNs) at based on cross-correlation analysis with 679 photometrically-selected galaxies to characterize their host dark matter halo (DMH) masses. From the angular and projected cross-correlation functions, we find that their typical DMH mass is and , respectively. This result implies that the host DMHs of these AGNs are dex smaller than those of luminous quasars. The DMHs of the JWST AGNs at are predicted to grow to at , which is comparable to that of a more luminous quasar at the same epoch. Applying the empirical stellar-to-halo mass ratio to the measured DMH mass, we evaluate their host stellar mass as and , which are higher than some of those estimated by the SED fitting. We also evaluate their duty cycle as per cent, corresponding to yr as the lifetime of the JWST AGNs. While we cannot exclude the possibility that the JWST AGNs are simply low-mass type-1 quasars, these results suggest that the JWST AGNs are a different population from type-1 quasars and the progenitors of quasars at .

@article{2025MNRAS.536.3677A, author = {{Arita}, Junya and {Kashikawa}, Nobunari and {Onoue}, Masafusa and {Yoshioka}, Takehiro and {Takeda}, Yoshihiro and {Hoshi}, Hiroki and {Shimizu}, Shunta}, title = {{The nature of low-luminosity AGNs discovered by JWST based on clustering analysis: progenitors of low-z quasars?}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = feb, volume = {536}, number = {4}, pages = {3677-3688}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stae2765}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2410.08707}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025MNRAS.536.3677A}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {10}, month_numeric = {2} }

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Physical Pathways for JWST-observed Supermassive Black Holes in the Early Universe

Junehyoung Jeon, Volker Bromm, Boyuan Liu, and 1 more author

The Astrophysical Journal, Feb 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed active galactic nuclei (AGN) powered by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with estimated masses of 10^7–10^8 M_\ensuremath⊙ at redshifts z \ensuremath∼ 7–9. Some reside in overmassive systems with higher AGN to stellar mass ratios than locally. Understanding how massive black holes could form so early in cosmic history and affect their environment to establish the observed relations today are some of the major open questions in astrophysics and cosmology. One model to create these massive objects is through direct collapse black holes (DCBHs) that provide massive seeds (\ensuremath∼10^5–10^6 M_\ensuremath⊙), able to reach high masses in the limited time available. We use the cosmological simulation code GIZMO to study the formation and growth of DCBH seeds in the early Universe. To grow the DCBHs, we implement a gas swallowing model set to match the Eddington accretion rate as long as the nearby gaseous environment, affected by stellar and accretion disk feedback, provides sufficient fuel. We find that to create massive AGN in overmassive systems at high redshifts, massive seeds accreting more efficiently than the fiducial Bondi–Hoyle model are needed. We assess whether the conditions for such enhanced accretion rates are realistic by considering limits on plausible transport mechanisms. We also examine various DCBH growth histories and find that mass growth is more sustained in overdense cosmological environments, where high gas densities are achieved locally. We discuss the exciting prospect to directly probe the assembly history of the first SMBHs with upcoming, ultradeep JWST surveys.

@article{2025ApJ...979..127J, author = {{Jeon}, Junehyoung and {Bromm}, Volker and {Liu}, Boyuan and {Finkelstein}, Steven L.}, title = {{Physical Pathways for JWST-observed Supermassive Black Holes in the Early Universe}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Early universe, Galaxy formation, Supermassive black holes, Active galactic nuclei, Theoretical models, 435, 595, 1663, 16, 2107, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2025}, month = feb, volume = {979}, number = {2}, eid = {127}, pages = {127}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad9f3a}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2402.18773}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025ApJ...979..127J}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {11}, month_numeric = {2} }

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Efficient formation of a massive quiescent galaxy at redshift 4.9

Anna de Graaff, David J. Setton, Gabriel Brammer, and 23 more authors

Nature Astronomy, Feb 2025

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Within the established framework of structure formation, galaxies start as systems of low stellar mass and gradually grow into far more massive galaxies. The existence of massive galaxies in the first billion years of the Universe, as suggested by recent observations, seems to challenge this model, as such galaxies would require highly efficient conversion of baryons into stars. An even greater challenge in this epoch is the existence of massive galaxies that have already ceased forming stars. However, robust detections of early massive quiescent galaxies have been challenging due to the coarse wavelength sampling of photometric surveys. Here we report the spectroscopic confirmation with the James Webb Space Telescope of the quiescent galaxy RUBIES-EGS-QG-1 at redshift z = 4.90, 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. Deep stellar absorption features in the spectrum reveal that the stellar mass of the galaxy of 10^11 M_\ensuremath⊙ formed in a short 200 Myr burst of star formation, after which star formation activity dropped rapidly and persistently. According to current galaxy formation models, systems with such rapid stellar mass growth and early quenching are too rare to plausibly occur in the small area probed spectroscopically with JWST. Instead, the discovery of RUBIES-EGS-QG-1 implies that early massive quiescent galaxies can be quenched earlier or exhaust gas available for star formation more efficiently than assumed at present.

@article{2025NatAs...9..280D, author = {{de Graaff}, Anna and {Setton}, David J. and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Cutler}, Sam and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Leja}, Joel and {Weibel}, Andrea and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Boogaard}, Leindert A. and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {De Lucia}, Gabriella and {Franx}, Marijn and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {McConachie}, Ian and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Rix}, Hans-Walter and {Valentino}, Francesco and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Williams}, Christina C.}, title = {{Efficient formation of a massive quiescent galaxy at redshift 4.9}}, journal = {Nature Astronomy}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2025}, month = feb, volume = {9}, pages = {280-292}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-024-02424-3}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2404.05683}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025NatAs...9..280D}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {171235333}, lrdindex = {14}, month_numeric = {2} }

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2024

SMILES Initial Data Release: Unveiling the Obscured Universe with MIRI Multiband Imaging

Stacey Alberts, Jianwei Lyu, Irene Shivaei, and 12 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Dec 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The James Webb Space Telescope is revolutionizing our view of the Universe through unprecedented sensitivity and resolution in the infrared, with some of the largest gains realized at its longest wavelengths. We present the Systematic Mid-infrared Instrument (MIRI) Legacy Extragalactic Survey (SMILES), an eight-band MIRI survey with Near-Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopic follow-up in the GOODS-S/HUDF region. SMILES takes full advantage of MIRI’s continuous coverage from 5.6 to 25.5 \ensuremathμm over an \ensuremath∼34 arcmin^2 area to greatly expand our understanding of the obscured Universe up to cosmic noon and beyond. This work, together with a companion paper by G. Rieke et al., covers the SMILES science drivers and technical design, early results with SMILES, data reduction, photometric catalog creation, and the first data release. As part of the discussion on early results, we additionally present a high- level science demonstration on how MIRI’s wavelength coverage and resolution will advance our understanding of cosmic dust using the full range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission features from 3.3 to 18 \ensuremathμm. Using custom background subtraction, we produce robust reductions of the MIRI imaging that maximize the depths reached with our modest exposure times (\ensuremath∼0.6‑2.2 ks per filter). Included in our initial data release are (1) eight MIRI imaging mosaics reaching depths of 0.2‑18 \ensuremathμJy (5\ensuremathσ) and (2) a 5‑25.5 \ensuremathμm photometric catalog with over 3000 sources. Building upon the rich legacy of extensive photometric and spectroscopy coverage of GOODS-S/HUDF from the X-ray to the radio, SMILES greatly expands our investigative power in understanding the obscured Universe.

@article{2024ApJ...976..224A, author = {{Alberts}, Stacey and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Rieke}, George H. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Bonaventura}, Nina and {Zhu}, Yongda and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Morrison}, Jane and {Robertson}, Brant E. and {Stone}, Meredith A. and {Sun}, Yang and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A.}, title = {{SMILES Initial Data Release: Unveiling the Obscured Universe with MIRI Multiband Imaging}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Infrared astronomy, Active galactic nuclei, Galaxies, Astronomy data reduction, Infrared photometry, Luminous infrared galaxies, 786, 16, 573, 1861, 792, 946, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = dec, volume = {976}, number = {2}, eid = {224}, pages = {224}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad7396}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2405.15972}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...976..224A}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {12} }

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A dormant overmassive black hole in the early Universe

Ignas Juodžbalis, Roberto Maiolino, William M. Baker, and 25 more authors

Nature, Dec 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Recent observations have found a large number of supermassive black holes already in place in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang, many of which seem to be overmassive relative to their host galaxy stellar mass when compared with local relation^1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8–9. Several different models have been proposed to explain these findings, ranging from heavy seeds to light seeds experiencing bursts of high accretion rate^10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15–16. Yet, current datasets are unable to differentiate between these various scenarios. Here we report the detection, from the JADES survey, of broad H\ensuremathα emission in a galaxy at z = 6.68, which traces a black hole with a mass of about 4 \texttimes 10^8M_\ensuremath⊙ and accreting at a rate of only 0.02 times the Eddington limit. The black hole to host galaxy stellar mass ratio is about 0.4—that is, about 1,000 times above the local relation—whereas the system is closer to the local relations in terms of dynamical mass and velocity dispersion of the host galaxy. This object is most likely an indication of a much larger population of dormant black holes around the epoch of reionization. Its properties are consistent with scenarios in which short bursts of super-Eddington accretion have resulted in black hole overgrowth and massive gas expulsion from the accretion disk; in between bursts, black holes spend most of their life in a dormant state.

@article{2024Natur.636..594J, author = {{Juod{\v{z}}balis}, Ignas and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Baker}, William M. and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Scholtz}, Jan and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Witstok}, Joris and {Schneider}, Raffaella and {Trinca}, Alessandro and {Valiante}, Rosa and {DeCoursey}, Christa and {Curti}, Mirko and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Bennett}, Jake S. and {Bourne}, Martin A. and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Jiang}, Brian and {Koudmani}, Sophie and {Perna}, Michele and {Robertson}, Brant and {Sijacki}, Debora and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willott}, Chris}, title = {{A dormant overmassive black hole in the early Universe}}, journal = {\nat}, keywords = {Physical Sciences, Astronomical and Space Sciences, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = dec, volume = {636}, number = {8043}, pages = {594-597}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-024-08210-5}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2403.03872}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024Natur.636..594J}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {160424229}, lrdindex = {25}, month_numeric = {12} }

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X-Ray Weak Active Galactic Nuclei from Super-Eddington Accretion onto Infant Black Holes

Piero Madau and Francesco Haardt

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Dec 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

A simple model for the X-ray weakness of James Webb Space Telescope–selected broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is proposed under the assumption that the majority of these sources are fed at super-Eddington accretion rates. In these conditions, the hot inner corona above the geometrically thin disk that is responsible for the emission of X-rays in “normal” AGNs will be embedded instead in a funnel-like reflection geometry. The coronal plasma will Compton upscatter optical/UV photons from the underlying thick disk as well as the surrounding funnel walls, and the high soft-photon energy density will cool down the plasma to temperatures in the range 30–40 keV. The resulting X-ray spectra are predicted to be extremely soft, with power-law photon indices \ensuremathΓ ≃ 2.8–4.0, making high-z super-Eddington AGNs largely undetectable by Chandra.

@article{2024ApJ...976L..24M, author = {{Madau}, Piero and {Haardt}, Francesco}, title = {{X-Ray Weak Active Galactic Nuclei from Super-Eddington Accretion onto Infant Black Holes}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Accretion, James Webb Space Telescope, Active galactic nuclei, Black holes, 14, 2291, 16, 162, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2024}, month = dec, volume = {976}, number = {2}, eid = {L24}, pages = {L24}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad90e1}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2410.00417}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...976L..24M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {27}, month_numeric = {12} }

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JADES - the Rosetta stone of JWST-discovered AGN: deciphering the intriguing nature of early AGN

Ignas Juodžbalis, Xihan Ji, Roberto Maiolino, and 23 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Nov 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST has discovered a large population of active galactic nuclei (AGN) at high redshift, which are weak in the X-rays. Here we present the NIRSpec spectrum of the most extreme of these objects, GN-28074, an AGN at z=2.26 with prominent hydrogen and He I broad lines, and with the highest limit on the bolometric to X-ray luminosity ratio among all spectroscopically confirmed AGN in GOODS. This source is also characterized by a mid-IR excess, likely associated with the AGN torus’ hot dust. The high bolometric luminosity and moderate redshift of this AGN allow us to explore its properties more in depth relative to other JWST-discovered AGN. The NIRSpec spectrum reveals prominent, slightly blueshifted absorption of Hα, Hβ, and He I λ10830. The Balmer absorption lines require gas with densities of n_\rm H 10^8~\rm cm^-3, consistent with clouds in the broad-line region (BLR). This finding suggests that part of the X-ray weakness is due to high (Compton-thick) X-ray absorption by clouds in the BLR, or in its outer regions. GN-28074 is also extremely radio-weak. The radio weakness can also be explained in terms of absorption, as the inferred density of the BLR clouds makes them attenuate the radio emission through free-free absorption. Alternatively, the nuclear magnetic field may be underdeveloped, resulting both in intrinsically weak radio emission and lack of hot corona, hence intrinsic X-ray weakness. Finally, we show that recently proposed scenarios, invoking hyper-dense outflows or Raman scattering to explain the broad Hα, are ruled out.

@article{2024MNRAS.535..853J, author = {{Juod{\v{z}}balis}, Ignas and {Ji}, Xihan and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Risaliti}, Guido and {Fabian}, Andrew C. and {Mazzolari}, Giovanni and {Gilli}, Roberto and {Prandoni}, Isabella and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Hainline}, Kevin and {Parlanti}, Eleonora and {Perna}, Michele and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Robertson}, Brant and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willott}, Chris and {Witstok}, Joris}, title = {{JADES - the Rosetta stone of JWST-discovered AGN: deciphering the intriguing nature of early AGN}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = nov, volume = {535}, number = {1}, pages = {853-873}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stae2367}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2407.08643}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024MNRAS.535..853J}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {165333271}, lrdindex = {39}, month_numeric = {11} }

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JADES: The diverse population of infant black holes at 4 < z < 11: Merging, tiny, poor, but mighty

Roberto Maiolino, Jan Scholtz, Emma Curtis-Lake, and 25 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Nov 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope has opened the possibility of identifying moderate-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the early Universe, at and beyond the epoch of re-ionisation, complementing previous surveys of much more luminous (and much rarer) quasars. We present 12 new AGNs at 4 10^44 erg/s among galaxies in the redshift range of 4 10%.

@article{2024A&A...691A.145M, author = {{Maiolino}, Roberto and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Baker}, William and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Witstok}, Joris and {Curti}, Mirko and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Rawle}, Tim and {Robertson}, Brant and {Rujopakarn}, Wiphu and {Perna}, Michele and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Venturi}, Giacomo and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willott}, Chris}, title = {{JADES: The diverse population of infant black holes at 4 < z < 11: Merging, tiny, poor, but mighty}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {galaxies: active, galaxies: formation, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: nuclei, quasars: supermassive black holes, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2024}, month = nov, volume = {691}, eid = {A145}, pages = {A145}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202347640}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.01230}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024A\&A...691A.145M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {152310831}, lrdindex = {87}, month_numeric = {11} }

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Medium Bands, Mega Science: A JWST/NIRCam Medium-band Imaging Survey of A2744

Katherine A. Suess, John R. Weaver, Sedona H. Price, and 40 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Nov 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

In this paper, we describe the “Medium Bands, Mega Science” JWST Cycle 2 survey (JWST-GO-4111) and demonstrate the power of these data to reveal both the spatially integrated and spatially resolved properties of galaxies from the local Universe to the era of cosmic dawn. Executed in 2023 November, MegaScience obtained \ensuremath∼30 arcmin^2 of deep multiband NIRCam imaging centered on the z \ensuremath∼ 0.3 A2744 cluster, including 11 medium-band filters and the two shortest-wavelength broadband filters, F070W and F090W. Together, MegaScience and the UNCOVER Cycle 1 treasury program provide a complete set of deep (\ensuremath∼28–30 mag_AB) images in all NIRCam medium- and broadband filters. This unique data set allows us to precisely constrain photometric redshifts, map stellar populations and dust attenuation for large samples of distant galaxies, and examine the connection between galaxy structures and formation histories. MegaScience also includes \ensuremath∼17 arcmin^2 of NIRISS parallel imaging in two broadband and four medium-band filters from 0.9 to 4.8 \ensuremathμm, expanding the footprint where robust spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting is possible. We provide example SEDs and multiband cutouts at a variety of redshifts, and use a catalog of JWST spectroscopic redshifts to show that MegaScience improves both the scatter and catastrophic outlier rate of photometric redshifts by factors of 2–3. Additionally, we demonstrate the spatially resolved science enabled by MegaScience by presenting maps of the [O III] line emission and continuum emission in three spectroscopically confirmed z > 6 galaxies. We show that line emission in reionization-era galaxies can be clumpy, extended, and spatially offset from continuum emission, implying that galaxy assembly histories are complex even at these early epochs. We publicly release fully reduced mosaics and photometric catalogs for both the NIRCam primary and NIRISS parallel fields (jwst-uncover.github.io/megascience).

@article{2024ApJ...976..101S, author = {{Suess}, Katherine A. and {Weaver}, John R. and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Pan}, Richard and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Leja}, Joel and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Dayal}, Pratika and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Feldmann}, Robert and {Franx}, Marijn and {Fudamoto}, Yoshinobu and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Goulding}, Andy D. and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Khullar}, Gourav and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Kriek}, Mariska and {Lorenz}, Brian and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Mitsuhashi}, Ikki and {Mowla}, Lamiya A. and {Muzzin}, Adam and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Nanayakkara}, Themiya and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Setton}, David J. and {Shipley}, Heath and {Smit}, Renske and {Spilker}, Justin S. and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Zitrin}, Adi}, title = {{Medium Bands, Mega Science: A JWST/NIRCam Medium-band Imaging Survey of A2744}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, Galaxy structure, High-redshift galaxies, 594, 595, 622, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = nov, volume = {976}, number = {1}, eid = {101}, pages = {101}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad75fe}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2404.13132}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...976..101S}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {13}, month_numeric = {11} }

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The JWST UNCOVER Treasury Survey: Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam Observations before the Epoch of Reionization

Rachel Bezanson, Ivo Labbe, Katherine E. Whitaker, and 40 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Oct 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

In this paper we describe the survey design for the Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam Observations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) Cycle 1 JWST Treasury program, which executed its early imaging component in 2022 November. The UNCOVER survey includes ultradeep (\ensuremath∼29–30AB) imaging of \ensuremath∼45 arcmin^2 on and around the well-studied A2744 galaxy cluster at z = 0.308 and will follow up \ensuremath∼500 galaxies with extremely deep low- resolution spectroscopy with the NIRSpec/PRISM during the summer of 2023, with repeat visits in summer 2024. We describe the science goals, survey design, target selection, and planned data releases. We also present and characterize the depths of the first NIRCam imaging mosaic, highlighting previously unparalleled resolved and ultradeep 2–4 \ensuremathμm imaging of known objects in the field. The UNCOVER primary NIRCam mosaic spans 28.8 arcmin^2 in seven filters (F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, F410M, and F444W) and 16.8 arcmin^2 in our NIRISS parallel (F115W, F150W, F200W, F356W, and F444W). To maximize early community use of the Treasury data set, we publicly release the full reduced mosaics of public JWST imaging including 45 arcmin^2 NIRCam and 17 arcmin^2 NIRISS mosaics on and around the A2744 cluster, including the Hubble Frontier Field primary and parallel footprints.

@article{2024ApJ...974...92B, author = {{Bezanson}, Rachel and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Leja}, Joel and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Franx}, Marijn and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Zitrin}, Adi and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Weaver}, John R. and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Coe}, Dan and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Dayal}, Pratika and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Feldmann}, Robert and {F{\"o}rster Schreiber}, Natascha M. and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Geha}, Marla and {Glazebrook}, Karl and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Juneau}, St{\'e}phanie and {Kassin}, Susan and {Kriek}, Mariska and {Khullar}, Gourav and {Maseda}, Michael and {Mowla}, Lamiya A. and {Muzzin}, Adam and {Nanayakkara}, Themiya and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Pacifici}, Camilla and {Pan}, Richard and {Papovich}, Casey and {Setton}, David J. and {Shapley}, Alice E. and {Smit}, Renske and {Stefanon}, Mauro and {Taylor}, Edward N. and {Williams}, Christina C.}, title = {{The JWST UNCOVER Treasury Survey: Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam Observations before the Epoch of Reionization}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {James Webb Space Telescope, Redshift surveys, Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, Observational astronomy, Abell clusters, High-redshift galaxies, Galaxies, 2291, 1378, 594, 595, 1145, 9, 734, 573, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = oct, volume = {974}, number = {1}, eid = {92}, pages = {92}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad66cf}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2212.04026}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...974...92B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {169499054}, lrdindex = {29}, month_numeric = {10} }

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JADES NIRSpec initial data release for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Redshifts and line fluxes of distant galaxies from the deepest JWST Cycle 1 NIRSpec multi-object spectroscopy

Andrew J. Bunker, Alex J. Cameron, Emma Curtis-Lake, and 63 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Oct 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We describe the NIRSpec component of the JWST Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), and provide deep spectroscopy of 253 sources targeted with the NIRSpec micro-shutter assembly in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and surrounding GOODS-South. The multi-object spectra presented here are the deepest so far obtained with JWST, amounting to up to 28 hours in the low-dispersion (R\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde30–300) prism, and up to 7 hours in each of the three medium-resolution R \ensuremath≈ 1000 gratings and one high-dispersion grating, G395H (R \ensuremath≈ 2700). Our low- dispersion and medium-dispersion spectra cover the wavelength range 0.6–5.3 \ensuremathμm. We describe the selection of the spectroscopic targets, the strategy for the allocation of targets to micro-shutters, and the design of the observations. We present the public release of the reduced 2D and 1D spectra, and a description of the reduction and calibration process. We measure spectroscopic redshifts for 178 of the objects targeted extending up to z = 13.2. We present a catalogue of all emission lines detected at S/N > 5, and our redshift determinations for the targets. Combined with the first JADES NIRCam data release, these public JADES spectroscopic and imaging datasets provide a new foundation for discoveries of the infrared universe by the worldwide scientific community.

@article{2024A&A...690A.288B, author = {{Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Cameron}, Alex J. and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Jakobsen}, Peter and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Curti}, Mirko and {Witstok}, Joris and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Looser}, Tobias J. and {Willott}, Chris and {Bonaventura}, Nina and {Hainline}, Kevin and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Saxena}, Aayush and {Smit}, Renske and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Baker}, William M. and {Baum}, Stefi and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Bowler}, Rebecca A. A. and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Chen}, Zuyi and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Circosta}, Chiara and {DeCoursey}, Christa and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Ferruit}, Pierre and {Giardino}, Giovanna and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Hviding}, Raphael E. and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Laseter}, Isaac and {L{\"u}tzgendorf}, Nora and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Nelson}, Erica and {Parlanti}, Eleonora and {Perna}, Michele and {Rauscher}, Bernard J. and {Rawle}, Tim and {Rix}, Hans-Walter and {Rieke}, Marcia and {Robertson}, Brant and {Rodr{\'\i}guez Del Pino}, Bruno and {Sandles}, Lester and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Sharpe}, Katherine and {Skarbinski}, Maya and {Stark}, Daniel P. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Topping}, Michael W. and {Villanueva}, Natalia C. and {Wallace}, Imaan E. B. and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Woodrum}, Charity}, title = {{JADES NIRSpec initial data release for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Redshifts and line fluxes of distant galaxies from the deepest JWST Cycle 1 NIRSpec multi-object spectroscopy}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {instrumentation: spectrographs, surveys, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: high-redshift, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = oct, volume = {690}, eid = {A288}, pages = {A288}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202347094}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2306.02467}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024A\&A...690A.288B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {149666772}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {10} }

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The JWST EXCELS survey: too much, too young, too fast? Ultra-massive quiescent galaxies at 3 < z < 5

A. C. Carnall, F. Cullen, R. J. McLure, and 21 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oct 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We report ultra-deep, medium-resolution spectroscopic observations for four quiescent galaxies with log_10(M_*/\mathrmM_⊙) 11 at 3 z 5. These data were obtained with JWST NIRSpec as part of the Early eXtragalactic Continuum and Emission Line Science (EXCELS) survey, which we introduce in this work. The first two galaxies are newly selected from PRIMER UDS imaging, both at z=4.62 and separated by 860 pkpc on the sky, within a larger structure for which we confirm several other members. Both formed at z≃8-10. These systems could plausibly merge by the present day to produce a local massive elliptical galaxy. The other two ultra-massive quiescent galaxies are previously known at z=3.99 and 3.19, with the latter (ZF-UDS-7329) having been the subject of debate as potentially too old and too massive to be accommodated by the Λ-CDM halo-mass function. Both exhibit high stellar metallicities, and for ZF-UDS-7329 we are able to measure the α-enhancement, obtaining [Mg/Fe] = 0.42^+0.19_-0.17. We finally evaluate whether these four galaxies are consistent with the Λ-CDM halo-mass function using an extreme value statistics approach. We find that the z=4.62 objects and the z=3.19 object are unlikely within our area under the assumption of standard stellar fractions (f_*≃0.1-0.2). However, these objects roughly align with the most massive galaxies expected under the assumption of 100 per cent conversion of baryons to stars (f_*=1). Our results suggest extreme galaxy formation physics during the first billion years, but no conflict with Λ-CDM cosmology.

@article{2024MNRAS.534..325C, author = {{Carnall}, A. C. and {Cullen}, F. and {McLure}, R. J. and {McLeod}, D. J. and {Begley}, R. and {Donnan}, C. T. and {Dunlop}, J. S. and {Shapley}, A. E. and {Rowlands}, K. and {Almaini}, O. and {Arellano-C{\'o}rdova}, K. Z. and {Barrufet}, L. and {Cimatti}, A. and {Ellis}, R. S. and {Grogin}, N. A. and {Hamadouche}, M. L. and {Illingworth}, G. D. and {Koekemoer}, A. M. and {Leung}, H. -H. and {Lovell}, C. C. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, P. G. and {Santini}, P. and {Stanton}, T. M. and {Wild}, V.}, title = {{The JWST EXCELS survey: too much, too young, too fast? Ultra-massive quiescent galaxies at 3 < z < 5}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = oct, volume = {534}, number = {1}, pages = {325-348}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stae2092}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2405.02242}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024MNRAS.534..325C}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {10} }

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A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Broad-line AGN at z = 4‑5 Revealed by JWST/NIRCam WFSS

Xiaojing Lin, Feige Wang, Xiaohui Fan, and 33 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Oct 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with low-mass black holes (BHs) in the early universe are fundamental to understanding the BH growth and their coevolution with the host galaxies. Utilizing JWST NIRCam Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy, we perform a systematic search for broad-line H\ensuremathα emitters (BHAEs) at z \ensuremath≈ 4–5 in 25 fields of the A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE) project, covering a total area of 275 arcmin^2. We identify 16 BHAEs with FWHM of the broad components spanning from \ensuremath∼1000 to 3000 km s^‑1. Assuming that the broad line widths arise as a result of Doppler broadening around BHs, the implied BH masses range from 10^7 to 10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙, with broad H\ensuremathα-converted bolometric luminosities of 10^44.5–10^45.5 erg s^‑1 and Eddington ratios of 0.07–0.47. The spatially extended structure of the F200W stacked image may trace the stellar light from the host galaxies. The H\ensuremathα luminosity function indicates an increasing AGN fraction toward the higher H\ensuremathα luminosities. We find possible evidence for clustering of BHAEs: two sources are at the same redshift with a projected separation of 519 kpc; one BHAE appears as a composite system residing in an overdense region with three close companion H\ensuremathα emitters. Three BHAEs exhibit blueshifted absorption troughs indicative of the presence of high column density gas. We find that the broad- line-selected and photometrically selected BHAE samples exhibit different distributions in the optical continuum slopes, which can be attributed to their different selection methods. The ASPIRE broad-line H\ensuremathα sample provides a good database for future studies of faint AGN populations at high redshift.

@article{2024ApJ...974..147L, author = {{Lin}, Xiaojing and {Wang}, Feige and {Fan}, Xiaohui and {Cai}, Zheng and {Champagne}, Jaclyn B. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Volonteri}, Marta and {Yang}, Jinyi and {Hennawi}, Joseph F. and {Ba{\textasciitilde n}ados}, Eduardo and {Barth}, Aaron and {Eilers}, Anna-Christina and {Farina}, Emanuele Paolo and {Liu}, Weizhe and {Jin}, Xiangyu and {Jun}, Hyunsung D. and {Lupi}, Alessandro and {Kakiichi}, Koki and {Mazzucchelli}, Chiara and {Onoue}, Masafusa and {Pan}, Zhiwei and {Pizzati}, Elia and {Rojas-Ruiz}, Sof{\'\i}a and {Schindler}, Jan-Torge and {Trakhtenbrot}, Benny and {Shen}, Yue and {Trebitsch}, Maxime and {Zhuang}, Ming-Yang and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Meyer}, Romain A. and {Li}, Zihao and {Li}, Mingyu and {Pudoka}, Maria and {Tee}, Wei Leong and {Wu}, Yunjing and {Zhang}, Haowen}, title = {{A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Broad-line AGN at z = 4‑5 Revealed by JWST/NIRCam WFSS}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {High-redshift galaxies, Active galactic nuclei, 734, 16, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2024}, month = oct, volume = {974}, number = {1}, eid = {147}, pages = {147}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad6565}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2407.17570}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...974..147L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {29}, month_numeric = {10} }

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Size matters: are we witnessing super-Eddington accretion in high-redshift black holes from JWST?

Alessandro Lupi, Alessandro Trinca, Marta Volonteri, and 2 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Sep 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope of the Universe at z \ensuremath≳ 4 have shown that massive black holes (MBHs) appear to be extremely overmassive compared to the local correlation for active galactic nuclei. In some cases, these objects might even reach half the stellar mass inferred for the galaxy. It has become a great challenging for theoretical models to understand how these objects formed and grew to these masses. Different ideas range from heavy seed to super-Eddington accretion phases. We take a different approach and try to infer how accurate these MBH mass estimates are and whether we really need to revise our physical models. By considering how the emerging spectrum (both the continuum and the broad lines) of an accreting MBH changes close to and above the Eddington limit, we infer a much larger uncertainty in the MBH mass estimates relative to that of local counterparts. The uncertainty is up to an order of magnitude. We also infer a potential preference for lower masses and higher accretion rates, which i) moves accreting MBHs closer to the local correlations, and ii) might indicate that we witness a widespread phase of very rapid accretion for the first time.

@article{2024A&A...689A.128L, author = {{Lupi}, Alessandro and {Trinca}, Alessandro and {Volonteri}, Marta and {Dotti}, Massimo and {Mazzucchelli}, Chiara}, title = {{Size matters: are we witnessing super-Eddington accretion in high-redshift black holes from JWST?}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {accretion, accretion disks, black hole physics, galaxies: active, galaxies: high-redshift, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = sep, volume = {689}, eid = {A128}, pages = {A128}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202451249}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2406.17847}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.HE}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024A\&A...689A.128L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {164870667}, lrdindex = {17}, month_numeric = {9} }

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Testing the \ensuremathΛCDM Cosmological Model with Forthcoming Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background with SPT-3G

K. Prabhu, S. Raghunathan, M. Millea, and 100 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Sep 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We forecast constraints on cosmological parameters enabled by three surveys conducted with SPT-3G, the third-generation camera on the South Pole Telescope. The surveys cover separate regions of 1500, 2650, and 6000 deg^2 to different depths, in total observing 25% of the sky. These regions will be measured to white noise levels of roughly 2.5, 9, and 12\ensuremathμK -armin, respectively, in cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature units at 150 GHz by the end of 2024. The survey also includes measurements at 95 and 220 GHz, which have noise levels a factor of \ensuremath∼1.2 and 3.5 times higher than 150 GHz, respectively, with each band having a polarization noise level \ensuremath∼2 times higher than the temperature noise. We use a novel approach to obtain the covariance matrices for jointly and optimally estimated gravitational lensing potential band powers and unlensed CMB temperature and polarization band powers. We demonstrate the ability to test the \ensuremathΛCDM model via the consistency of cosmological parameters constrained independently from SPT-3G and Planck data, and consider the improvement in constraints on \ensuremathΛCDM extension parameters from a joint analysis of SPT-3G and Planck data. The \ensuremathΛCDM cosmological parameters are typically constrained with uncertainties up to \ensuremath∼2 times smaller with SPT-3G data, compared to Planck, with the two data sets measuring significantly different angular scales and polarization levels, providing additional tests of the standard cosmological model.

@article{2024ApJ...973....4P, author = {{Prabhu}, K. and {Raghunathan}, S. and {Millea}, M. and {Lynch}, G. P. and {Ade}, P. A. R. and {Anderes}, E. and {Anderson}, A. J. and {Ansarinejad}, B. and {Archipley}, M. and {Balkenhol}, L. and {Benabed}, K. and {Bender}, A. N. and {Benson}, B. A. and {Bianchini}, F. and {Bleem}, L. E. and {Bouchet}, F. R. and {Bryant}, L. and {Camphuis}, E. and {Carlstrom}, J. E. and {Cecil}, T. W. and {Chang}, C. L. and {Chaubal}, P. and {Chichura}, P. M. and {Chokshi}, A. and {Chou}, T. -L. and {Coerver}, A. and {Crawford}, T. M. and {Cukierman}, A. and {Daley}, C. and {de Haan}, T. and {Dibert}, K. R. and {Dobbs}, M. A. and {Doussot}, A. and {Dutcher}, D. and {Everett}, W. and {Feng}, C. and {Ferguson}, K. R. and {Fichman}, K. and {Foster}, A. and {Galli}, S. and {Gambrel}, A. E. and {Gardner}, R. W. and {Ge}, F. and {Goeckner-Wald}, N. and {Gualtieri}, R. and {Guidi}, F. and {Guns}, S. and {Halverson}, N. W. and {Hivon}, E. and {Holder}, G. P. and {Holzapfel}, W. L. and {Hood}, J. C. and {Hryciuk}, A. and {Huang}, N. and {K{\'e}ruzor{\'e}}, F. and {Knox}, L. and {Korman}, M. and {Kornoelje}, K. and {Kuo}, C. -L. and {Lee}, A. T. and {Levy}, K. and {Lowitz}, A. E. and {Lu}, C. and {Maniyar}, A. and {Menanteau}, F. and {Montgomery}, J. and {Nakato}, Y. and {Natoli}, T. and {Noble}, G. I. and {Novosad}, V. and {Omori}, Y. and {Padin}, S. and {Pan}, Z. and {Paschos}, P. and {Phadke}, K. A. and {Pollak}, A. W. and {Quan}, W. and {Rahimi}, M. and {Rahlin}, A. and {Reichardt}, C. L. and {Rouble}, M. and {Ruhl}, J. E. and {Schiappucci}, E. and {Smecher}, G. and {Sobrin}, J. A. and {Stark}, A. A. and {Stephen}, J. and {Suzuki}, A. and {Tandoi}, C. and {Thompson}, K. L. and {Thorne}, B. and {Trendafilova}, C. and {Tucker}, C. and {Umilta}, C. and {Vitrier}, A. and {Vieira}, J. D. and {Wan}, Y. and {Wang}, G. and {Whitehorn}, N. and {Wu}, W. L. K. and {Yefremenko}, V. and {Young}, M. R. and {Zebrowski}, J. A.}, title = {{Testing the {\ensuremath{\Lambda}}CDM Cosmological Model with Forthcoming Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background with SPT-3G}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Cosmic microwave background radiation, Cosmological parameters, 322, 339, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2024}, month = sep, volume = {973}, number = {1}, eid = {4}, pages = {4}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad5ff1}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2403.17925}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.CO}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...973....4P}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {17}, month_numeric = {9} }

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Galaxy build-up in the first 1.5 Gyr of cosmic history: insights from the stellar mass function at z 4-9 from JWST NIRCam observations

Andrea Weibel, Pascal A. Oesch, Laia Barrufet, and 28 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Sep 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Combining the public JWST/NIRCam imaging programs CEERS, PRIMER, and JADES, spanning a total area of ∼500 \rm arcmin^2, we obtain a sample of 30 000 galaxies at z_\rm phot∼4\!-\!9 that allows us to perform a complete, rest-optical- selected census of the galaxy population at z 3. Comparing the stellar mass M_* and the UV-slope βdistributions between JWST- and HST-selected samples, we generally find very good agreement and no significant biases. Nevertheless, JWST enables us to probe a new population of UV-red galaxies that was missing from previous HST-based Lyman-break galaxy (LBG) samples. We measure galaxy stellar mass functions (SMFs) at z∼4\!-\!9 down to limiting masses of 10^7.5\!-\!10^8.5 \rm M_⊙, finding steep low-mass slopes over the entire redshift range, reaching values of α≈-2 at zrsim 6. At the high-mass end, UV-red galaxies dominate at least out to z∼6. The implied redshift evolution of the SMF suggests a rapid build-up of massive dust-obscured or quiescent galaxies from z∼6 to z∼4 as well as an enhanced efficiency of star formation towards earlier times (zrsim 6). Finally, we show that the galaxy mass density grows by a factor ∼20\times from z∼9 to z∼4. Our results emphasize the importance of rest-frame optically selected samples in inferring accurate distributions of physical properties and studying the mass build-up of galaxies in the first 1.5 Gyr of cosmic history.

@article{2024MNRAS.533.1808W, author = {{Weibel}, Andrea and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Barrufet}, Laia and {Gottumukkala}, Rashmi and {Ellis}, Richard S. and {Santini}, Paola and {Weaver}, John R. and {Allen}, Natalie and {Bouwens}, Rychard and {Bowler}, Rebecca A. A. and {Brammer}, Gabe and {Carnall}, Adam C. and {Cullen}, Fergus and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Donnan}, Callum T. and {Dunlop}, James S. and {Giavalisco}, Mauro and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Illingworth}, Garth D. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {McLeod}, Derek J. and {McLure}, Ross J. and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Shuntov}, Marko and {Stefanon}, Mauro and {Toft}, Sune and {Xiao}, Mengyuan}, title = {{Galaxy build-up in the first 1.5 Gyr of cosmic history: insights from the stellar mass function at z 4-9 from JWST NIRCam observations}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = sep, volume = {533}, number = {2}, pages = {1808-1838}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stae1891}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2403.08872}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024MNRAS.533.1808W}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {160755920}, lrdindex = {11}, month_numeric = {9} }

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Cosmic Reionization in the JWST Era: Back to AGNs?

Piero Madau, Emanuele Giallongo, Andrea Grazian, and 1 more author

The Astrophysical Journal, Aug 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Deep surveys with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an emergent population of moderate-luminosity, broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at 4 \ensuremath≲ z \ensuremath≲ 13 powered by accretion onto early massive black holes. The high number densities reported, together with the large Lyman-continuum (LyC) production efficiency and leakiness into the intergalactic medium that are typical of UV-selected AGNs, lead us to reassess a scenario where AGNs are the sole drivers of the cosmic hydrogen/helium reionization process. Our approach is based on the assumptions, grounded in recent observations, that (a) the fraction of broad- line AGNs among galaxies is around 10%–15%; (b) the mean escape fraction of hydrogen LyC radiation is high, at \ensuremath≳80%, in AGN hosts and is negligible otherwise; and (c) internal absorption at 4 ryd or a steep ionizing EUV spectrum delay full reionization of He II until z ≃ 2.8–3.0, in agreement with observations of the He II Ly\ensuremathα forest. In our fiducial models, (1) hydrogen reionization is 99% completed by redshift z ≃ 5.3–5.5 and reaches its midpoint at z ≃ 6.5–6.7; (2) the integrated Thomson scattering optical depth to reionization is ≃0.05, consistent with constraints from cosmic microwave background anisotropy data; and (3) the abundant AGN population detected by JWST does not violate constraints on the unresolved X-ray background.

@article{2024ApJ...971...75M, author = {{Madau}, Piero and {Giallongo}, Emanuele and {Grazian}, Andrea and {Haardt}, Francesco}, title = {{Cosmic Reionization in the JWST Era: Back to AGNs?}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Reionization, Quasars, Hot intergalactic medium, High-redshift galaxies, 1383, 1319, 751, 734, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = aug, volume = {971}, number = {1}, eid = {75}, pages = {75}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad5ce8}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2406.18697}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.CO}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...971...75M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {167119706}, lrdindex = {8}, month_numeric = {8} }

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X-Ray View of Little Red Dots: Do They Host Supermassive Black Holes?

Tonima Tasnim Ananna, Ákos Bogdán, Orsolya E. Kovács, and 2 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Jul 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The discovery of Little Red Dots (LRDs)—a population of compact, high-redshift, dust-reddened galaxies—is one of the most surprising results from JWST. However, the nature of LRDs is still debated: does the near-infrared emission originate from accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), or intense star formation? In this work, we utilize ultra-deep Chandra observations and study LRDs residing behind the lensing galaxy cluster, A2744. We probe the X-ray emission from individual galaxies but find that they remain undetected and provide SMBH mass upper limits of \ensuremath≲(1.5–16) \texttimes 10^6 M _\ensuremath⊙ assuming Eddington limited accretion. To increase the signal-to-noise ratios, we conduct a stacking analysis of the full sample with a total lensed exposure time of \ensuremath≈87 Ms. We also bin the galaxies based on their stellar mass, lensing magnification, and detected broad-line H\ensuremathα emission. For the LRDs exhibiting broad-line H\ensuremathα emission, there is a hint of a stacked signal (\ensuremath∼2.6\ensuremathσ), corresponding to an SMBH mass of \ensuremath∼3.2 \texttimes 10^6 M _\ensuremath⊙. Assuming unobscured, Eddington- limited accretion, this black hole (BH) mass is at least 1.5 orders of magnitude lower than that inferred from virial mass estimates using JWST spectra. Given galaxy-dominated stellar mass estimates, our results imply that LRDs do not host overmassive SMBHs and/or accrete at a few percent of their Eddington limit. However, alternative stellar mass estimates may still support that LRDs host overmassive BHs. The significant discrepancy between the JWST and Chandra data hints that the scaling relations used to infer the SMBH mass from the H\ensuremathα line and virial relations may not be applicable for high-redshift LRDs.

@article{2024ApJ...969L..18A, author = {{Ananna}, Tonima Tasnim and {Bogd{\'a}n}, {\'A}kos and {Kov{\'a}cs}, Orsolya E. and {Natarajan}, Priyamvada and {Hickox}, Ryan C.}, title = {{X-Ray View of Little Red Dots: Do They Host Supermassive Black Holes?}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, James Webb Space Telescope, X-ray active galactic nuclei, Supermassive black holes, 16, 2291, 2035, 1663, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2024}, month = jul, volume = {969}, number = {1}, eid = {L18}, pages = {L18}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad5669}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2404.19010}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...969L..18A}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {169948328}, lrdindex = {75}, month_numeric = {7} }

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RUBIES: Evolved Stellar Populations with Extended Formation Histories at z \ensuremath∼ 7–8 in Candidate Massive Galaxies Identified with JWST/NIRSpec

Bingjie Wang, Joel Leja, Anna de Graaff, and 17 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Jul 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The identification of red, apparently massive galaxies at z > 7 in early James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) photometry suggests a strongly accelerated time line compared to standard models of galaxy growth. A major uncertainty in the interpretation is whether the red colors are caused by evolved stellar populations, dust, or other effects such as emission lines or active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Here we show that three of the massive galaxy candidates at z = 6.7–8.4 have prominent Balmer breaks in JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy from the RUBIES program. The Balmer breaks demonstrate unambiguously that stellar emission dominates at \ensuremathλ _rest = 0.4 \ensuremathμm and require formation histories extending hundreds of millions of years into the past in galaxies only 600–800 Myr after the big bang. Two of the three galaxies also show broad Balmer lines, with H\ensuremathβ FWHM > 2500 km s^‑1, suggesting that dust-reddened AGNs contribute to, or even dominate, the spectral energy distributions of these galaxies at \ensuremathλ _rest \ensuremath≳ 0.6 \ensuremathμm. All three galaxies have relatively narrow [O III] lines, seemingly ruling out a high-mass interpretation if the lines arise in dynamically relaxed, inclined disks. Yet the inferred masses also remain highly uncertain. We model the high-quality spectra using Prospector to decompose the continuum into stellar and AGN components and explore limiting cases in stellar/AGN contribution. This produces a wide range of possible stellar masses, spanning M _\ensuremath⋆ \ensuremath∼ 10^9‑10^11 M _\ensuremath⊙. Nevertheless, all fits suggest a very early and rapid formation, most of which follow with a truncation in star formation. Potential origins and evolutionary tracks for these objects are discussed, from the cores of massive galaxies to low-mass galaxies with overmassive black holes. Intriguingly, we find all of these explanations to be incomplete; deeper and redder data are needed to understand the physics of these systems.

@article{2024ApJ...969L..13W, author = {{Wang}, Bingjie and {Leja}, Joel and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Brammer}, Gabriel B. and {Weibel}, Andrea and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Baggen}, Josephine F. W. and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {McConachie}, Ian and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Nelson}, Erica and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Setton}, David J. and {Williams}, Christina C.}, title = {{RUBIES: Evolved Stellar Populations with Extended Formation Histories at z {\ensuremath{\sim}} 7{\textendash}8 in Candidate Massive Galaxies Identified with JWST/NIRSpec}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, AGN host galaxies, Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, High-redshift galaxies, Spectral energy distribution, 16, 2017, 594, 595, 734, 2129, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = jul, volume = {969}, number = {1}, eid = {L13}, pages = {L13}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad55f7}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2405.01473}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...969L..13W}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {163066410}, lrdindex = {63}, month_numeric = {7} }

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A Census of Photometrically Selected Little Red Dots at 4 < z < 9 in JWST Blank Fields

Vasily Kokorev, Karina I. Caputi, Jenny E. Greene, and 9 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Jun 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered numerous faint active galactic nuclei (AGN) at z \ensuremath∼ 5 and beyond. These objects are key to our understanding of the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), their coevolution with host galaxies, as well as the role of AGN in cosmic reionization. Using photometric colors and size measurements, we perform a search for compact red objects in an array of blank deep JWST/NIRCam fields totaling \ensuremath∼640 arcmin^2. Our careful selection yields 260 reddened AGN candidates at 4 < z _phot < 9, dominated by a point-source-like central component (\ensuremath⟨r _eff\ensuremath⟩ < 130 pc) and displaying a dichotomy in their rest-frame colors (blue UV and red optical slopes). Quasar model fitting reveals our objects to be moderately dust-extincted (A _V \ensuremath∼ 1.6), which is reflected in their inferred bolometric luminosities of L _bol = 10^44–47 erg s^‑1 and fainter UV magnitudes M _UV ≃ ‑17 to ‑22. Thanks to the large areas explored, we extend the existing dusty AGN luminosity functions to both fainter and brighter magnitudes, estimating their number densities to be \texttimes100 higher than for UV-selected quasars of similar magnitudes. At the same time, they constitute only a small fraction of all UV-selected galaxies at similar redshifts, but this percentage rises to \ensuremath∼10% for M _UV \ensuremath∼ ‑ 22 at z \ensuremath∼ 7. Finally, assuming a conservative case of accretion at the Eddington rate, we place a lower limit on the SMBH mass function at z \ensuremath∼ 5, finding it to be consistent with both theory and previous JWST observations.

@article{2024ApJ...968...38K, author = {{Kokorev}, Vasily and {Caputi}, Karina I. and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Trebitsch}, Maxime and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Iani}, Edoardo and {Navarro-Carrera}, Rafael and {Rinaldi}, Pierluigi}, title = {{A Census of Photometrically Selected Little Red Dots at 4 < z < 9 in JWST Blank Fields}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxies, High-redshift galaxies, Active galaxies, Active galactic nuclei, 573, 734, 17, 16, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = jun, volume = {968}, number = {1}, eid = {38}, pages = {38}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad4265}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2401.09981}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...968...38K}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {96}, month_numeric = {6} }

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What Is the Nature of Little Red Dots and what Is Not, MIRI SMILES Edition

Pablo G. Pérez-González, Guillermo Barro, George H. Rieke, and 20 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Jun 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We study 31 little red dots (LRD) detected by JADES/NIRCam and covered by the SMILES/MIRI survey, of which \ensuremath∼70% are detected in the two bluest MIRI bands and 40% in redder MIRI filters. The median/quartiles redshifts are z=6.95.97.7 (55% spectroscopic). The spectral slopes flatten in the rest-frame near-infrared, consistent with a 1.6 \ensuremathμm stellar bump but bluer than direct pure emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN) tori. The apparent dominance of stellar emission at these wavelengths for many LRDs expedites stellar mass estimation: the median/quartiles are logM\ensuremath⋆/M\ensuremath⊙=9.49.19.7. The number density of LRDs is 10^‑4.0\ensuremath\pm0.1 Mpc^‑3, accounting for 14% \ensuremath\pm 3% of the global population of galaxies with similar redshifts and masses. The rest-frame near-/mid-infrared (2–4 \ensuremathμm) spectral slope reveals significant amounts of warm dust (bolometric attenuation \ensuremath∼3–4 mag). Our spectral energy distribution modeling implies the presence of 10 mag. We find a wide variety in the nature of LRDs. However, the best- fitting models for many of them correspond to extremely intense and compact starburst galaxies with mass-weighted ages 5–10 Myr, very efficient in producing dust, with their global energy output dominated by the direct (in the flat rest-frame ultraviolet and optical spectral range) and dust- recycled emission from OB stars with some contribution from an obscured AGN (in the infrared).

@article{2024ApJ...968....4P, author = {{P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Barro}, Guillermo and {Rieke}, George H. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Rieke}, Marcia and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Hainline}, Kevin and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Pusk{\'a}s}, D{\'a}vid and {Annunziatella}, Marianna and {Baker}, William M. and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Robertson}, Brant and {Rodr{\'\i}guez Del Pino}, Bruno and {Rujopakarn}, Wiphu and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Willott}, Chris}, title = {{What Is the Nature of Little Red Dots and what Is Not, MIRI SMILES Edition}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy formation, Galaxy evolution, High-redshift galaxies, Galaxy stellar content, Stellar populations, Broad band photometry, Galaxy ages, James Webb Space Telescope, Active galactic nuclei, 595, 594, 734, 621, 1622, 184, 576, 2291, 16, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics}, year = {2024}, month = jun, volume = {968}, number = {1}, eid = {4}, pages = {4}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad38bb}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2401.08782}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...968....4P}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {164248376}, lrdindex = {82}, month_numeric = {6} }

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The Galaxies Missed by Hubble and ALMA: The Contribution of Extremely Red Galaxies to the Cosmic Census at 3 < z < 8

Christina C. Williams, Stacey Alberts, Zhiyuan Ji, and 35 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Jun 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Using deep JWST imaging from JADES, JEMS, and SMILES, we characterize optically faint and extremely red galaxies at z > 3 that were previously missing from galaxy census estimates. The data indicate the existence of abundant, dusty, and poststarburst- like galaxies down to 10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙, below the sensitivity limit of Spitzer and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Modeling the NIRCam and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry of these red sources can result in extremely high values for both stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR); however, including seven MIRI filters out to 21 \ensuremathμm results in decreased masses (median 0.6 dex for log10(M\ensuremath*/M\ensuremath⊙) > 10) and SFRs (median 10\texttimes for SFR > 100 M _\ensuremath⊙ yr^‑1). At z > 6, our sample includes a high fraction of “little red dots” (LRDs; NIRCam- selected dust-reddened active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates). We significantly measure older stellar populations in the LRDs out to rest-frame 3 \ensuremathμm (the stellar bump) and rule out a dominant contribution from hot dust emission, a signature of AGN contamination to stellar population measurements. This allows us to measure their contribution to the cosmic census at z > 3, below the typical detection limits of ALMA (L _IR < 10^12 L _\ensuremath⊙). We find that these sources, which are overwhelmingly missed by HST and ALMA, could effectively double the obscured fraction of the star formation rate density at 4 < z < 6 compared to some estimates, showing that prior to JWST, the obscured contribution from fainter sources could be underestimated. Finally, we identify five sources with evidence for Balmer breaks and high stellar masses at 5.5 < z < 7.7. While spectroscopy is required to determine their nature, we discuss possible measurement systematics to explore with future data.

@article{2024ApJ...968...34W, author = {{Williams}, Christina C. and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Hainline}, Kevin N. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Rieke}, George and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Florian}, Michael and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Rujopakarn}, Wiphu and {Baker}, William M. and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Cameron}, Alex J. and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {DeCoursey}, Christa and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Gibson}, Justus L. and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Rieke}, Marcia J. and {Robertson}, Brant E. and {Saxena}, Aayush and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Willott}, Chris J.}, title = {{The Galaxies Missed by Hubble and ALMA: The Contribution of Extremely Red Galaxies to the Cosmic Census at 3 < z < 8}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {High-redshift galaxies, Active galaxies, AGN host galaxies, 734, 17, 2017, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = jun, volume = {968}, number = {1}, eid = {34}, pages = {34}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad3f17}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2311.07483}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...968...34W}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {164327787}, lrdindex = {75}, month_numeric = {6} }

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GA-NIFS: JWST discovers an offset AGN 740 million years after the big bang

Hannah Übler, Roberto Maiolino, Pablo G. Pérez-González, and 24 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Jun 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

A surprising finding of recent studies is the large number of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) associated with moderately massive black holes (\rm \log (M_∙/M_⊙)∼6-8), in the first billion years after the big bang (z > 5). In this context, a relevant finding has been the large fraction of candidate dual AGN, both at large separations (several kpc) and in close pairs (less than a kpc), likely in the process of merging. Frequent black hole merging may be a route for black hole growth in the early universe; however, previous findings are still tentative and indirect. We present JWST/NIRSpec-IFU observations of a galaxy at z = 7.15 in which we find evidence for a \rm \log (M_∙/M_⊙)∼7.7 accreting black hole, as traced by a broad component of H \ensuremathβ emission, associated with the Broad Line Region (BLR) around the black hole. This BLR is offset by 620 pc in projection from the centroid of strong rest-frame optical emission, with a velocity offset of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde40 km s^-1. The latter region is also characterized by (narrow) nebular emission features typical of AGN, hence also likely hosting another accreting black hole, although obscured (Type 2, narrow-line AGN). We exclude that the offset BLR is associated with Supernovae or massive stars, and we interpret these results as two black holes in the process of merging. This finding may be relevant for estimates of the rate and properties of gravitational-wave signals from the early universe that will be detected by future observatories like LISA.

@article{2024MNRAS.531..355U, author = {{{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Perna}, Michele and {Curti}, Mirko and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Bunker}, Andrew and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Rodr{\'\i}guez Del Pino}, Bruno and {Baker}, William and {B{\"o}ker}, Torsten and {Cresci}, Giovanni and {Dunlop}, James and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Lamperti}, Isabella and {Laporte}, Nicolas and {Marshall}, Madeline A. and {Mazzolari}, Giovanni and {Parlanti}, Eleonora and {Rawle}, Tim and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Venturi}, Giacomo and {Witstok}, Joris}, title = {{GA-NIFS: JWST discovers an offset AGN 740 million years after the big bang}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = jun, volume = {531}, number = {1}, pages = {355-365}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stae943}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2312.03589}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024MNRAS.531..355U}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {163400652}, lrdindex = {16}, month_numeric = {6} }

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Active Galactic Nuclei Selection and Demographics: A New Age with JWST/MIRI

Jianwei Lyu, Stacey Alberts, George H. Rieke, and 19 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, May 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Understanding the coevolution of supermassive black holes and their host systems requires a comprehensive census of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) behavior across a wide range of redshift, luminosity, obscuration level, and galaxy properties. We report significant progress with JWST toward this goal from the Systematic Mid-infrared Instrument Legacy Extragalactic Survey (SMILES). Based on comprehensive spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis of 3273 MIRI-detected sources, we identify 217 AGN candidates over a survey area of \ensuremath∼34 arcmin^2, including a primary sample of 111 AGNs in normal massive galaxies (M _* > 10^9.5 M _☉) at z \ensuremath∼ 0–4, an extended sample of 86 AGN candidates in low-mass galaxies (M _* < 10^9.5 M _☉), and a high-z sample of 20 AGN candidates at z \ensuremath∼ 4–8.4. Notably, about 80% of our MIRI-selected AGN candidates are new discoveries despite the extensive pre-JWST AGN searches. Even among the massive galaxies where the previous AGN search is believed to be thorough, 34% of the MIRI AGN identifications are new, highlighting the impact of obscuration on previous selections. By combining our results with the efforts at other wavelengths, we build the most complete AGN sample to date and examine the relative performance of different selection techniques. We find the obscured AGN fraction increases from L _AGN,bol \ensuremath∼ 10^10 L _\ensuremath⊙ to 10^11 L _\ensuremath⊙ and then drops toward higher luminosity. Additionally, the obscured AGN fraction gradually increases from z \ensuremath∼ 0 to z \ensuremath∼ 4 with most high-z AGNs obscured. We discuss how AGN obscuration, intrinsic SED variations, galaxy contamination, survey depth, and selection techniques complicate the construction of a complete AGN sample.

@article{2024ApJ...966..229L, author = {{Lyu}, Jianwei and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Rieke}, George H. and {Shivaei}, Irene and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Hainline}, Kevin N. and {Baum}, Stefi and {Bonaventura}, Nina and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Florian}, Michael and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Morrison}, Jane and {Rieke}, Marcia and {Robertson}, Brant and {Rujopakarn}, Wiphu and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A.}, title = {{Active Galactic Nuclei Selection and Demographics: A New Age with JWST/MIRI}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, Infrared galaxies, James Webb Space Telescope, 16, 790, 2291, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2024}, month = may, volume = {966}, number = {2}, eid = {229}, pages = {229}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad3643}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2310.12330}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...966..229L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {155570492}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {5} }

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EIGER. V. Characterizing the Host Galaxies of Luminous Quasars at z \ensuremath≳ 6

Minghao Yue, Anna-Christina Eilers, Robert A. Simcoe, and 6 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, May 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We report JWST/NIRCam measurements of quasar host galaxy emissions and supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses for six quasars at 5.9 < z < 7.1 in the Emission-line galaxies and Intergalactic Gas in the Epoch of Reionization (EIGER) project. We obtain deep NIRCam imaging in the F115W, F200W, and F356W bands, as well as F356W grism spectroscopy of the quasars. We use bright unsaturated stars to construct models of the point-spread functions (PSFs) and estimate the errors of these PSFs. We then measure or constrain the fluxes and morphology of the quasar host galaxies by fitting the quasar images as a point source plus an exponential disk. We successfully detect the host galaxies of three quasars, which have host-to-quasar-flux ratios of \ensuremath∼1%–5%. Spectral energy distribution fitting suggests that these quasar host galaxies have stellar masses of M _* \ensuremath≳ 10^10 M _\ensuremath⊙. For quasars with host galaxy nondetections, we estimate the upper limits of their stellar masses. We use the grism spectra to measure the H\ensuremathβ line profile and the continuum luminosity, then estimate the SMBH masses for the quasars. Our results indicate that the positive relation between SMBH masses and host galaxy stellar masses already exists at redshift z \ensuremath≳ 6. The quasars in our sample show a high BH-to-stellar-mass ratio of M _BH/M _* \ensuremath∼ 0.15, which is about \ensuremath∼2 dex higher than local relations. We find that selection effects only contribute partially to the high M _BH/M _* ratios of high-redshift quasars. This result hints at a possible redshift evolution of the M _BH–M _* relation.

@article{2024ApJ...966..176Y, author = {{Yue}, Minghao and {Eilers}, Anna-Christina and {Simcoe}, Robert A. and {Mackenzie}, Ruari and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {Kashino}, Daichi and {Bordoloi}, Rongmon and {Lilly}, Simon J. and {Naidu}, Rohan P.}, title = {{EIGER. V. Characterizing the Host Galaxies of Luminous Quasars at z {\ensuremath{\gtrsim}} 6}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Quasars, Supermassive black holes, 1319, 1663, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = may, volume = {966}, number = {2}, eid = {176}, pages = {176}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad3914}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2309.04614}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...966..176Y}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {154059176}, lrdindex = {16}, month_numeric = {5} }

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A high black-hole-to-host mass ratio in a lensed AGN in the early Universe

Lukas J. Furtak, Ivo Labbé, Adi Zitrin, and 35 more authors

Nature, Apr 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Early JWST observations have uncovered a population of red sources that might represent a previously overlooked phase of supermassive black hole growth^1-3. One of the most intriguing examples is an extremely red, point-like object that was found to be triply imaged by the strong lensing cluster Abell 2744 (ref. ^4). Here we present deep JWST/NIRSpec observations of this object, Abell2744-QSO1. The spectroscopy confirms that the three images are of the same object, and that it is a highly reddened (A_V ≃ 3) broad emission line active galactic nucleus at a redshift of z_spec = 7.0451 \ensuremath\pm 0.0005. From the width of H\ensuremathβ (full width at half-maximum = 2,800 \ensuremath\pm 250 km s^\ensuremath-1), we derive a black hole mass of M_BH=4_\ensuremath-1^+2\texttimes1 0^7M_\ensuremath⊙ . We infer a very high ratio of black-hole-to-galaxy mass of at least 3%, an order of magnitude more than that seen in local galaxies^5 and possibly as high as 100%. The lack of strong metal lines in the spectrum together with the high bolometric luminosity (L_bol = (1.1 \ensuremath\pm 0.3) \texttimes 10^45 erg s^\ensuremath-1) indicate that we are seeing the black hole in a phase of rapid growth, accreting at 30% of the Eddington limit. The rapid growth and high black-hole-to-galaxy mass ratio of Abell2744-QSO1 suggest that it may represent the missing link between black hole seeds^6 and one of the first luminous quasars^7.

@article{2024Natur.628...57F, author = {{Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Zitrin}, Adi and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Chemerynska}, Iryna and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Goulding}, Andy D. and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Brammer}, Gabriel B. and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Leja}, Joel and {Pan}, Richard and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Bogd{\'a}n}, {\'A}kos and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Feldmann}, Robert and {Fudamoto}, Yoshinobu and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Glazebrook}, Karl and {Juneau}, St{\'e}phanie and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Maseda}, Micheal V. and {Nelson}, Erica and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Plat}, Ad{\`e}le and {Setton}, David J. and {Stark}, Daniel P. and {Williams}, Christina C.}, title = {{A high black-hole-to-host mass ratio in a lensed AGN in the early Universe}}, journal = {\nat}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = apr, volume = {628}, number = {8006}, pages = {57-61}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-024-07184-8}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.05735}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024Natur.628...57F}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {159526711}, lrdindex = {55}, month_numeric = {4} }

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A Candidate Supermassive Black Hole in a Gravitationally Lensed Galaxy at Z \ensuremath≈ 10

Orsolya E. Kovács, Ákos Bogdán, Priyamvada Natarajan, and 8 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Apr 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

While supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are widely observed in the nearby and distant Universe, their origin remains debated with two viable formation scenarios with light and heavy seeds. In the light seeding model, the seed of the first SMBHs form from the collapse of massive stars with masses of 10–100 M _\ensuremath⊙, while the heavy seeding model posits the formation of 10^4–5 M _\ensuremath⊙ seeds from direct collapse. The detection of SMBHs at redshifts z \ensuremath≳ 10, edging closer to their formation epoch, provides critical observational discrimination between these scenarios. Here, we focus on the JWST-detected galaxy, GHZ 9, at z \ensuremath≈ 10 that is lensed by the foreground cluster, A2744. Based on 2.1 Ms deep Chandra observations, we detect a candidate X-ray active galactic nucleus (AGN), which is spatially coincident with the high-redshift galaxy, GHZ 9. The SMBH candidate is inferred to have a bolometric luminosity of (1.0_-0.4^+0.5)\times 10^46 \mathrmerg\,\rms^-1 , which corresponds to a black hole (BH) mass of (8.0_-3.2^+3.7)\times 10^7 M_⊙ assuming Eddington-limited accretion. This extreme mass at such an early cosmic epoch suggests the heavy seed origin for this BH candidate. Based on the Chandra and JWST discoveries of extremely high-redshift quasars, we have constructed the first simple AGN luminosity function extending to z \ensuremath≈ 10. Comparison of this luminosity function with theoretical models indicates an overabundant z \ensuremath≈ 10 SMBH population, consistent with a higher-than-expected seed formation efficiency.

@article{2024ApJ...965L..21K, author = {{Kov{\'a}cs}, Orsolya E. and {Bogd{\'a}n}, {\'A}kos and {Natarajan}, Priyamvada and {Werner}, Norbert and {Azadi}, Mojegan and {Volonteri}, Marta and {Tremblay}, Grant R. and {Chadayammuri}, Urmila and {Forman}, William R. and {Jones}, Christine and {Kraft}, Ralph P.}, title = {{A Candidate Supermassive Black Hole in a Gravitationally Lensed Galaxy at Z {\ensuremath{\approx}} 10}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {High-redshift galaxies, X-ray active galactic nuclei, Gravitational lensing, Supermassive black holes, Galaxy clusters, 734, 2035, 670, 1663, 584, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2024}, month = apr, volume = {965}, number = {2}, eid = {L21}, pages = {L21}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad391f}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2403.14745}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...965L..21K}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {165340908}, lrdindex = {9}, month_numeric = {4} }

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The Redshift Evolution of the M _•–M _\ensuremath⋆ Relation for JWST’s Supermassive Black Holes at z > 4

Fabio Pacucci and Abraham Loeb

The Astrophysical Journal, Apr 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST has detected many overmassive galactic systems at z > 4, where the mass of the black hole, M _•, is 10–100 times larger than expected from local relations, given the host’s stellar mass, M _\ensuremath⋆. This paper presents a model to describe these overmassive systems in the high-z Universe. We suggest that the black hole mass is the main driver of high-z star formation quenching. Supermassive black holes globally impact their high-z galaxies because their hosts are physically small, and the black holes have duty cycles close to unity at z > 4. In this regime, we assume that black hole mass growth is regulated by the quasar’s output, while stellar mass growth is quenched by it and uncorrelated to the global properties of the host halo. We find that the ratio M _•/M _\ensuremath⋆ controls the average star formation efficiency: if M _•/M _\ensuremath⋆ > 8 \texttimes 10^18(n\ensuremathΛ/ f _Edd)[(\ensuremathΩ_ b M _ h )/(\ensuremathΩ_ m M _\ensuremath⋆) ‑ 1], then the galaxy is unable to form stars efficiently. Once this ratio exceeds the threshold, a runaway process brings the originally overmassive system toward the local M _•–M _\ensuremath⋆ relation. Furthermore, the M _•–M _\ensuremath⋆ relation evolves with redshift as \ensuremath∝(1 + z)^5/2. At z \ensuremath∼ 5, we find an overmassive factor of \ensuremath∼55, in excellent agreement with current JWST data and the high-z relation inferred from those. Extending the black hole horizon farther in redshift and lower in mass will test this model and improve our understanding of the early coevolution of black holes and galaxies.

@article{2024ApJ...964..154P, author = {{Pacucci}, Fabio and {Loeb}, Abraham}, title = {{The Redshift Evolution of the M $\_{{\textbullet}}${\textendash}M $\_{{\ensuremath{\star}}}$ Relation for JWST's Supermassive Black Holes at z > 4}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Active galaxies, Supermassive black holes, Galaxy evolution, Star formation, Surveys, 17, 1663, 594, 1569, 1671, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2024}, month = apr, volume = {964}, number = {2}, eid = {154}, pages = {154}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad3044}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2401.04159}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...964..154P}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {158256571}, lrdindex = {13}, month_numeric = {4} }

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Ionised gas kinematics and dynamical masses of z \ensuremath≳ 6 galaxies from JADES/NIRSpec high-resolution spectroscopy

Anna de Graaff, Hans-Walter Rix, Stefano Carniani, and 28 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Apr 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We explore the kinematic gas properties of six 5.5 1 thus far. The cold gas masses implied by the observed star formation rates are about ten times higher than the stellar masses. We find that their ionised gas is spatially resolved by JWST, with evidence for broadened lines and spatial velocity gradients. Using a simple thin-disc model, we fit these data with a novel forward- modelling software that accounts for the complex geometry, point spread function, and pixellation of the NIRSpec instrument. We find the sample to include both rotation- and dispersion- dominated structures, as we detect velocity gradients of v(r_e)\ensuremath∼100 \ensuremath- 150 km s^\ensuremath-1, and we find velocity dispersions of \ensuremathσ_0 \ensuremath∼ 30 \ensuremath- 70 km s^\ensuremath-1 that are comparable to those at cosmic noon. The dynamical masses implied by these models (M_dyn \ensuremath∼ 10^9 \ensuremath- 10 M_\ensuremath⊙) are higher than the stellar masses by up to a factor 40, and they are higher than the total baryonic mass (gas + stars) by a factor of \ensuremath∼3. Qualitatively, this result is robust even if the observed velocity gradients reflect ongoing mergers rather than rotating discs. Unless the observed emission line kinematics is dominated by outflows, this implies that the centres of these galaxies are dominated by dark matter or that star formation is three times less efficient, leading to higher inferred gas masses.

@article{2024A&A...684A..87D, author = {{de Graaff}, Anna and {Rix}, Hans-Walter and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Baker}, William M. and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Cameron}, Alex J. and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Curti}, Mirko and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Franx}, Marijn and {Hainline}, Kevin and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Nelson}, Erica and {Parlanti}, Eleonora and {Rawle}, Tim and {Robertson}, Brant and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Willott}, Chris}, title = {{Ionised gas kinematics and dynamical masses of z {\ensuremath{\gtrsim}} 6 galaxies from JADES/NIRSpec high-resolution spectroscopy}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {galaxies: evolution, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, galaxies: structure, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = apr, volume = {684}, eid = {A87}, pages = {A87}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202347755}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.09742}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024A\&A...684A..87D}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {18}, month_numeric = {4} }

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Extremely Red Galaxies at z = 5–9 with MIRI and NIRSpec: Dusty Galaxies or Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei?

Guillermo Barro, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Dale D. Kocevski, and 31 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We study a new population of extremely red objects (EROs) recently discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) based on their NIRCam colors F277W ‑ F444W > 1.5 mag. We find 37 EROs in the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS) field with F444W 7 by up to a factor \ensuremath∼60. Similarly, if they are QSOs with luminosities in the L _bol > 10^45–46 erg s^‑1 range, their number would exceed that of bright blue QSOs by more than three orders of magnitude. Additional photometry at mid-infrared wavelengths will reveal the true nature of the red continuum emission in these EROs and will place this puzzling population in the right context of galaxy evolution.

@article{2024ApJ...963..128B, author = {{Barro}, Guillermo and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Kocevski}, Dale D. and {McGrath}, Elizabeth J. and {Trump}, Jonathan R. and {Simons}, Raymond C. and {Somerville}, Rachel S. and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Akins}, Hollis B. and {Bagley}, Michaela B. and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Costantin}, Luca and {Davis}, Kelcey and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Finkelstein}, Steve L. and {Giavalisco}, Mauro and {G{\'o}mez-Guijarro}, Carlos and {Hathi}, Nimish P. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Holwerda}, Benne W. and {Huertas-Company}, Marc and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Lucas}, Ray A. and {Papovich}, Casey and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Seill{\'e}}, Lise-Marie and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Wuyts}, Stijn and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {de la Vega}, Alexander and {Yang}, Guang and {Zavala}, Jorge A.}, title = {{Extremely Red Galaxies at z = 5{\textendash}9 with MIRI and NIRSpec: Dusty Galaxies or Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei?}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy formation, Galaxy evolution, High-redshift galaxies, Stellar populations, James Webb Space Telescope, Galaxy photometry, 595, 594, 734, 1622, 2291, 611, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = mar, volume = {963}, number = {2}, eid = {128}, pages = {128}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad167e}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2305.14418}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...963..128B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {63}, month_numeric = {3} }

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UNCOVER Spectroscopy Confirms the Surprising Ubiquity of Active Galactic Nuclei in Red Sources at z > 5

Jenny E. Greene, Ivo Labbe, Andy D. Goulding, and 33 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The James Webb Space Telescope is revealing a new population of dust- reddened broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) at redshifts z \ensuremath≳ 5. Here we present deep NIRSpec/Prism spectroscopy from the Cycle 1 Treasury program Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) of 15 AGN candidates selected to be compact, with red continua in the rest-frame optical but with blue slopes in the UV. From NIRCam photometry alone, they could have been dominated by dusty star formation or an AGN. Here we show that the majority of the compact red sources in UNCOVER are dust-reddened AGN: 60% show definitive evidence for broad-line H\ensuremathα with a FWHM > 2000 km s ^‑1, 20% of the current data are inconclusive, and 20% are brown dwarf stars. We propose an updated photometric criterion to select red z > 5 AGN that excludes brown dwarfs and is expected to yield >80% AGN. Remarkably, among all z _phot > 5 galaxies with F277W – F444W > 1 in UNCOVER at least 33% are AGN regardless of compactness, climbing to at least 80% AGN for sources with F277W – F444W > 1.6. The confirmed AGN have black hole masses of 10^7–10^9 M _\ensuremath⊙. While their UV luminosities (‑16 > M _UV > ‑20 AB mag) are low compared to UV-selected AGN at these epochs, consistent with percent-level scattered AGN light or low levels of unobscured star formation, the inferred bolometric luminosities are typical of 10^7–10^9 M _\ensuremath⊙ black holes radiating at \ensuremath∼10%–40% the Eddington limit. The number densities are surprisingly high at \ensuremath∼10^‑5 Mpc^‑3 mag^‑1, 100 times more common than the faintest UV-selected quasars, while accounting for \ensuremath∼1% of the UV-selected galaxies. While their UV faintness suggests they may not contribute strongly to reionization, their ubiquity poses challenges to models of black hole growth.

@article{2024ApJ...964...39G, author = {{Greene}, Jenny E. and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Goulding}, Andy D. and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Chemerynska}, Iryna and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Volonteri}, Marta and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Setton}, David J. and {Burgasser}, Adam J. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Atek}, Hakim and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Feldmann}, Robert and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Glazebrook}, Karl and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Khullar}, Gourav and {Leja}, Joel and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Nanayakkara}, Themiya and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Pan}, Richard and {Papovich}, Casey and {Price}, Sedona H. and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Zitrin}, Adi}, title = {{UNCOVER Spectroscopy Confirms the Surprising Ubiquity of Active Galactic Nuclei in Red Sources at z > 5}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, High-redshift galaxies, 16, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = mar, volume = {964}, number = {1}, eid = {39}, pages = {39}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad1e5f}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2309.05714}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...964...39G}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {161374764}, lrdindex = {129}, month_numeric = {3} }

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Brown Dwarf Candidates in the JADES and CEERS Extragalactic Surveys

Kevin N. Hainline, Jakob M. Helton, Benjamin D. Johnson, and 13 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

By combining the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRCam JADES and CEERS extragalactic data sets, we have uncovered a sample of 21 T and Y brown dwarf candidates at best-fit distances between 0.1 and 4.2 kpc. These sources were selected by targeting the blue 1–2.5 \ensuremathμm colors and red 3–4.5 \ensuremathμm colors that arise from molecular absorption in the atmospheres of T _eff < 1300 K brown dwarfs. We fit these sources using multiple models of substellar atmospheres and present the resulting fluxes, sizes, effective temperatures, and other derived properties for the sample. If confirmed, these fits place the majority of the sources in the Milky Way thick disk and halo. We observe proper motions for seven of the candidate brown dwarfs, with directions in agreement with the plane of our Galaxy, providing evidence that they are not extragalactic in nature. We demonstrate how the colors of these sources differ from selected high-redshift galaxies, and explore the selection of these sources in planned large-area JWST NIRCam surveys. Deep imaging with JWST/NIRCam presents an an excellent opportunity for finding and understanding these ultracool dwarfs at kiloparsec distances.

@article{2024ApJ...964...66H, author = {{Hainline}, Kevin N. and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Topping}, Michael W. and {Leisenring}, Jarron M. and {Baker}, William M. and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Hviding}, Raphael E. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Robertson}, Brant and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Roellig}, Thomas L.}, title = {{Brown Dwarf Candidates in the JADES and CEERS Extragalactic Surveys}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Brown dwarfs, T dwarfs, T subdwarfs, Y dwarfs, Halo stars, James Webb Space Telescope, 185, 1679, 1680, 1827, 699, 2291, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = mar, volume = {964}, number = {1}, eid = {66}, pages = {66}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad20d1}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2309.03250}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.SR}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...964...66H}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {160806921}, lrdindex = {8}, month_numeric = {3} }

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The Cosmos in Its Infancy: JADES Galaxy Candidates at z > 8 in GOODS-S and GOODS-N

Kevin N. Hainline, Benjamin D. Johnson, Brant Robertson, and 43 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present a catalog of 717 candidate galaxies at z > 8 selected from 125 square arcmin of NIRCam imaging as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We combine the full JADES imaging data set with data from the JWST Extragalactic Medium Survey and First Reionization Epoch Spectroscopic COmplete Survey (FRESCO) along with extremely deep existing observations from Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) for a final filter set that includes 15 JWST/NIRCam filters and five HST/ACS filters. The high-redshift galaxy candidates were selected from their estimated photometric redshifts calculated using a template-fitting approach, followed by visual inspection from seven independent reviewers. We explore these candidates in detail, highlighting interesting resolved or extended sources, sources with very red long- wavelength slopes, and our highest-redshift candidates, which extend to z _phot \ensuremath∼ 18. Over 93% of the sources are newly identified from our deep JADES imaging, including 31 new galaxy candidates at z _phot > 12. We also investigate potential contamination by stellar objects, and do not find strong evidence from spectral energy distribution fitting that these faint high-redshift galaxy candidates are low-mass stars. Using 42 sources in our sample with measured spectroscopic redshifts from NIRSpec and FRESCO, we find excellent agreement to our photometric redshift estimates, with no catastrophic outliers and an average difference of = 0.26. These sources comprise one of the most robust samples for probing the early buildup of galaxies within the first few hundred million years of the Universe’s history.

@article{2024ApJ...964...71H, author = {{Hainline}, Kevin N. and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Robertson}, Brant and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Simmonds}, Charlotte and {Topping}, Michael W. and {Whitler}, Lily and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Rieke}, Marcia and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Hviding}, Raphael E. and {Cameron}, Alex J. and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Baker}, William M. and {Baum}, Stefi and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Bonaventura}, Nina and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Chen}, Zuyi and {Curti}, Mirko and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Looser}, Tobias J. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Nelson}, Erica and {Pusk{\'a}s}, D{\'a}vid and {Rawle}, Tim and {Sandles}, Lester and {Saxena}, Aayush and {Smit}, Renske and {Stark}, Daniel P. and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willott}, Chris and {Witstok}, Joris}, title = {{The Cosmos in Its Infancy: JADES Galaxy Candidates at z > 8 in GOODS-S and GOODS-N}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Extragalactic astronomy, Redshift surveys, James Webb Space Telescope, High-redshift galaxies, Galaxies, 506, 1378, 2291, 734, 573, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = mar, volume = {964}, number = {1}, eid = {71}, pages = {71}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad1ee4}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2306.02468}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...964...71H}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {8}, month_numeric = {3} }

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A small and vigorous black hole in the early Universe

Roberto Maiolino, Jan Scholtz, Joris Witstok, and 36 more authors

Nature, Mar 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Several theories have been proposed to describe the formation of black hole seeds in the early Universe and to explain the emergence of very massive black holes observed in the first thousand million years after the Big Bang^1-3. Models consider different seeding and accretion scenarios^4-7, which require the detection and characterization of black holes in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang to be validated. Here we present an extensive analysis of the JWST-NIRSpec spectrum of GN-z11, an exceptionally luminous galaxy at z = 10.6, revealing the detection of the [NeIV]\ensuremathλ2423 and CII*\ensuremathλ1335 transitions (typical of active galactic nuclei), as well as semi-forbidden nebular lines tracing gas densities higher than 10^9 cm^\ensuremath-3, typical of the broad line region of active galactic nuclei. These spectral features indicate that GN-z11 hosts an accreting black hole. The spectrum also reveals a deep and blueshifted CIV\ensuremathλ1549 absorption trough, tracing an outflow with velocity 800\ensuremath-1,000 km s^\ensuremath-1, probably driven by the active galactic nucleus. Assuming local virial relations, we derive a black hole mass of log (M_BH/M_\ensuremath⊙ ) =6.2 \ensuremath\pm0.3 , accreting at about five times the Eddington rate. These properties are consistent with both heavy seeds scenarios and scenarios considering intermediate and light seeds experiencing episodic super-Eddington phases. Our finding explains the high luminosity of GN-z11 and can also provide an explanation for its exceptionally high nitrogen abundance.

@article{2024Natur.627...59M, author = {{Maiolino}, Roberto and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Witstok}, Joris and {Carniani}, Stefano and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {de Graaff}, Anna and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Bunker}, Andrew and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Curti}, Mirko and {Looser}, Tobias J. and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Rawle}, Timothy D. and {Rodr{\'\i}guez del Pino}, Bruno and {Willott}, Chris J. and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Hainline}, Kevin N. and {Robertson}, Brant and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Baker}, William M. and {Boyett}, Kristan and {DeCoursey}, Christa and {Fabian}, Andrew C. and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Laporte}, Nicolas and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Perna}, Michele and {Sandles}, Lester and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Sun}, Fengwu}, title = {{A small and vigorous black hole in the early Universe}}, journal = {\nat}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2024}, month = mar, volume = {627}, number = {8002}, pages = {59-63}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-024-07052-5}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2305.12492}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024Natur.627...59M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {158445866}, lrdindex = {30}, month_numeric = {3} }

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Little Red Dots: An Abundant Population of Faint Active Galactic Nuclei at z \ensuremath∼ 5 Revealed by the EIGER and FRESCO JWST Surveys

Jorryt Matthee, Rohan P. Naidu, Gabriel Brammer, and 25 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Characterizing the prevalence and properties of faint active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the early Universe is key for understanding the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and determining their role in cosmic reionization. We perform a spectroscopic search for broad H\ensuremathα emitters at z \ensuremath≈ 4–6 using deep JWST/NIRCam imaging and wide field slitless spectroscopy from the EIGER and FRESCO surveys. We identify 20 H\ensuremathα lines at z = 4.2–5.5 that have broad components with line widths from \ensuremath∼1200–3700 km s^‑1, contributing \ensuremath∼30%–90% of the total line flux. We interpret these broad components as being powered by accretion onto SMBHs with implied masses \ensuremath∼10^7–8 M _\ensuremath⊙. In the UV luminosity range M _UV,AGN+host = ‑21 to ‑18, we measure number densities of \ensuremath≈10^‑5 cMpc^‑3. This is an order of magnitude higher than expected from extrapolating quasar UV luminosity functions (LFs). Yet, such AGN are found in only <1% of star-forming galaxies at z \ensuremath∼ 5. The number density discrepancy is much lower when compared to the broad H\ensuremathα LF. The SMBH mass function agrees with large cosmological simulations. In two objects, we detect complex H\ensuremathα profiles that we tentatively interpret as caused by absorption signatures from dense gas fueling SMBH growth and outflows. We may be witnessing early AGN feedback that will clear dust-free pathways through which more massive blue quasars are seen. We uncover a strong correlation between reddening and the fraction of total galaxy luminosity arising from faint AGN. This implies that early SMBH growth is highly obscured and that faint AGN are only minor contributors to cosmic reionization.

@article{2024ApJ...963..129M, author = {{Matthee}, Jorryt and {Naidu}, Rohan P. and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Chisholm}, John and {Eilers}, Anna-Christina and {Goulding}, Andy and {Greene}, Jenny and {Kashino}, Daichi and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Lilly}, Simon J. and {Mackenzie}, Ruari and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Weibel}, Andrea and {Wuyts}, Stijn and {Xiao}, Mengyuan and {Bordoloi}, Rongmon and {Bouwens}, Rychard and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Illingworth}, Garth and {Kramarenko}, Ivan and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Mason}, Charlotte and {Meyer}, Romain A. and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Reddy}, Naveen A. and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Simcoe}, Robert A. and {Yue}, Minghao}, title = {{Little Red Dots: An Abundant Population of Faint Active Galactic Nuclei at z {\ensuremath{\sim}} 5 Revealed by the EIGER and FRESCO JWST Surveys}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {High-redshift galaxies, Quasars, Active galactic nuclei, Reionization, 734, 1319, 16, 1383, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2024}, month = mar, volume = {963}, number = {2}, eid = {129}, pages = {129}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad2345}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2306.05448}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...963..129M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {160435591}, lrdindex = {143}, month_numeric = {3} }

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Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z \ensuremath∼ 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST

Meredith A. Stone, Jianwei Lyu, George H. Rieke, and 2 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We measure host galaxy stellar masses for a sample of five luminous quasars at z \ensuremath∼ 5–7. Using JWST/NIRCam medium-band images of nearby point-spread function reference stars, we carefully subtract the contribution from the quasar light to place upper and lower limits on the flux of each host galaxy. We find that the members of our sample of quasar host galaxies have mass upper limits of 10^9.7–10^10.8 M _\ensuremath⊙, significantly less than expected from their supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses and the local M _BH–M _* relation. We additionally obtain JWST/NIRSpec integral field unit spectra of three of our quasars to calculate black hole masses, which we find are consistent with those in the literature, and to search for the presence of bright but compact galaxies via a Balmer break, for which we do not find evidence. We discuss the potential effects of dust extinction on our measured fluxes and the impact of selection effects on high- redshift quasar samples. We conclude that the masses of the SMBHs relative to the host galaxy stellar masses have a much larger scatter than locally, large enough that these selection effects cannot be responsible. This result is reinforced by other studies. Finally, we explore the potential implications of these results on the picture of SMBH–galaxy coeval growth in the early Universe.

@article{2024ApJ...964...90S, author = {{Stone}, Meredith A. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Rieke}, George H. and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Hainline}, Kevin N.}, title = {{Undermassive Host Galaxies of Five z {\ensuremath{\sim}} 6 Luminous Quasars Detected with JWST}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Quasars, AGN host galaxies, James Webb Space Telescope, 1319, 2017, 2291, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = mar, volume = {964}, number = {1}, eid = {90}, pages = {90}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad2a57}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2310.18395}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...964...90S}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {10}, month_numeric = {3} }

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UNCOVER: JWST Spectroscopy of Three Cold Brown Dwarfs at Kiloparsec-scale Distances

Adam J. Burgasser, Rachel Bezanson, Ivo Labbe, and 19 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Feb 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We report JWST/NIRSpec spectra of three distant T-type brown dwarfs identified in the Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) survey of the Abell 2744 lensing field. One source was previously reported as a candidate T dwarf on the basis of NIRCam photometry, while two sources were initially identified as candidate active galactic nuclei. Low-resolution 1–5 \ensuremathμm spectra confirm the presence of molecular features consistent with T dwarf atmospheres, and comparison to spectral standards infers classifications of sdT1, T6, and T8–T9. The warmest source, UNCOVER-BD-1, shows evidence of subsolar metallicity, and atmosphere model fits indicate T _eff = 1300 K and [M/H] \ensuremath∼ ‑1.0, making this one of the few spectroscopically confirmed T subdwarfs known. The coldest source, UNCOVER-BD-3, is near the T/Y dwarf boundary with T _eff = 550 K, and our analysis indicates the presence of PH_3 in the 3–5 \ensuremathμm region, favored over CO_2 and a possible indicator of subsolar metallicity. We estimate distances of 0.9–4.5 kpc from the Galactic midplane, making these the most distant brown dwarfs with spectroscopic confirmation. Population simulations indicate high probabilities of membership in the Galactic thick disk for two of these brown dwarfs, and potential halo membership for UNCOVER-BD-1. Our simulations indicate that there are approximately 5 T dwarfs and 1–2 L dwarfs in the Abell 2744 field down to F444W = 30 AB mag, roughly one-third of which are thick disk members. These results highlight the utility of deep JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy for identifying and characterizing the oldest metal-poor brown dwarfs in the Milky Way.

@article{2024ApJ...962..177B, author = {{Burgasser}, Adam J. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Gerasimov}, Roman and {Leja}, Joel and {Pan}, Richard and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Nanayakkara}, Themiya and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Zitrin}, Adi and {van Dokkum}, Pieter}, title = {{UNCOVER: JWST Spectroscopy of Three Cold Brown Dwarfs at Kiloparsec-scale Distances}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Brown dwarfs, T dwarfs, T subdwarfs, Milky Way stellar halo, Sky surveys, 185, 1679, 1680, 1060, 1464, Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = feb, volume = {962}, number = {2}, eid = {177}, pages = {177}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad206f}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.12107}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.SR}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...962..177B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {160112441}, lrdindex = {7}, month_numeric = {2} }

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Evidence for heavy-seed origin of early supermassive black holes from a z \ensuremath≈ 10 X-ray quasar

Ákos Bogdán, Andy D. Goulding, Priyamvada Natarajan, and 9 more authors

Nature Astronomy, Jan 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Observations of quasars reveal that many supermassive black holes (BHs) were in place less than 700 Myr after the Big Bang. However, the origin of the first BHs remains a mystery. Seeds of the first BHs are postulated to be either light (that is, 10‑100 M_\ensuremath⊙), remnants of the first stars, or heavy (that is, 10‑10^5 M_\ensuremath⊙), originating from the direct collapse of gas clouds. Here, harnessing recent data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we report the detection of an X-ray-luminous massive BH in a gravitationally lensed galaxy identified by the James Webb Space Telescope at redshift z \ensuremath≈ 10.3 behind the cluster lens Abell 2744. This heavily obscured quasar with a bolometric luminosity of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde5 \texttimes 10^45 erg s^‑1 harbours an \raisebox-0.5ex~10^7‑10^8 M_\ensuremath⊙ BH assuming accretion at the Eddington limit. This mass is comparable to the inferred stellar mass of its host galaxy, in contrast to what is found in the local Universe wherein the BH mass is \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde0.1% of the host galaxy’s stellar mass. The combination of such a high BH mass and large BH-to-galaxy stellar mass ratio just \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde500 Myr after the Big Bang was theoretically predicted and is consistent with a picture wherein BHs originated from heavy seeds.

@article{2024NatAs...8..126B, author = {{Bogd{\'a}n}, {\'A}kos and {Goulding}, Andy D. and {Natarajan}, Priyamvada and {Kov{\'a}cs}, Orsolya E. and {Tremblay}, Grant R. and {Chadayammuri}, Urmila and {Volonteri}, Marta and {Kraft}, Ralph P. and {Forman}, William R. and {Jones}, Christine and {Churazov}, Eugene and {Zhuravleva}, Irina}, title = {{Evidence for heavy-seed origin of early supermassive black holes from a z {\ensuremath{\approx}} 10 X-ray quasar}}, journal = {Nature Astronomy}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2024}, month = jan, volume = {8}, number = {1}, pages = {126-133}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-023-02111-9}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2305.15458}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024NatAs...8..126B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {156218682}, lrdindex = {32}, month_numeric = {1} }

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First Detection of an Overmassive Black Hole Galaxy UHZ1: Evidence for Heavy Black Hole Seed Formation from Direct Collapse

Priyamvada Natarajan, Fabio Pacucci, Angelo Ricarte, and 3 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Jan 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The recent Chandra-JWST discovery of a quasar in the z \ensuremath≈ 10.1 galaxy UHZ1 reveals that accreting supermassive black holes were already in place 470 million years after the Big Bang. The Chandra X-ray source detected in UHZ1 is a Compton-thick quasar with a bolometric luminosity of L _bol \raisebox-0.5ex~5 \texttimes 10^45 erg s^-1, which corresponds to an estimated black hole (BH) mass of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde4 \texttimes 10^7 M _\ensuremath⊙, assuming accretion at the Eddington rate. JWST NIRCAM and NIRSpec data yield a stellar mass estimate for UHZ1 comparable to its BH mass. These characteristics are in excellent agreement with prior theoretical predictions for a unique class of transient, high-redshift objects, overmassive black hole galaxies (OBGs) by Natarajan et al., that harbor a heavy initial black hole seed that likely formed from the direct collapse of the gas. Given the excellent agreement between the observed multiwavelength properties of UHZ1 and theoretical model template predictions, we suggest that UHZ1 is the first detected OBG candidate. Our assertion rests on multiple lines of concordant evidence between model predictions and the following observed properties of UHZ1: its X-ray detection and the estimated ratio of the X-ray flux to the IR flux, which is consistent with theoretical expectations for a heavy initial BH seed; its high measured redshift of z \ensuremath≈ 10.1, as predicted for the transient OBG stage (9 < z < 12); the amplitude and shape of the detected JWST spectral energy distribution (SED) between 1 and 5 \ensuremathμm, which is in very good agreement with simulated template SEDs for OBGs; and the extended JWST morphology of UHZ1, which is suggestive of a recent merge and is also expected for the formation of transient OBGs. As the first OBG candidate, UHZ1 provides compelling evidence for the formation of heavy initial seeds from direct collapse in the early Universe.

@article{2024ApJ...960L...1N, author = {{Natarajan}, Priyamvada and {Pacucci}, Fabio and {Ricarte}, Angelo and {Bogd{\'a}n}, {\'A}kos and {Goulding}, Andy D. and {Cappelluti}, Nico}, title = {{First Detection of an Overmassive Black Hole Galaxy UHZ1: Evidence for Heavy Black Hole Seed Formation from Direct Collapse}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Black holes, Quasars, Astrophysical black holes, Supermassive black holes, 162, 1319, 98, 1663, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = jan, volume = {960}, number = {1}, eid = {L1}, pages = {L1}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad0e76}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.02654}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.HE}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ...960L...1N}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {158209265}, lrdindex = {16}, month_numeric = {1} }

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The UNCOVER Survey: A First-look HST + JWST Catalog of 60,000 Galaxies near A2744 and beyond

John R. Weaver, Sam E. Cutler, Richard Pan, and 43 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Jan 2024

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

In 2022 November, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) returned deep near-infrared images of A2744-a powerful lensing cluster capable of magnifying distant, incipient galaxies beyond it. Together with existing Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, this publicly available data set opens a fundamentally new discovery space to understand the remaining mysteries of the formation and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. In this work, we detect and measure some 60,000 objects across the 49 arcmin^2 JWST footprint down to a 5\ensuremathσ limiting magnitude of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde30 mag in 0.″32 apertures. Photometry is performed using circular apertures on images matched to the point-spread function (PSF) of the reddest NIRCam broad band, F444W, and cleaned of bright cluster galaxies and the related intracluster light. To give an impression of the photometric performance, we measure photometric redshifts and achieve a \ensuremathσ _NMAD \ensuremath≈ 0.03 based on known, but relatively small, spectroscopic samples. With this paper, we publicly release our HST and JWST PSF-matched photometric catalog with optimally assigned aperture sizes for easy use, along with single aperture catalogs, photometric redshifts, rest-frame colors, and individual magnification estimates. These catalogs will set the stage for efficient and deep spectroscopic follow up of some of the first JWST-selected samples in summer of 2023.

@article{2024ApJS..270....7W, author = {{Weaver}, John R. and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Pan}, Richard and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Leja}, Joel and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Zitrin}, Adi and {Atek}, Hakim and {Chemerynska}, Iryna and {Coe}, Dan and {Dayal}, Pratika and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Feldmann}, Robert and {F{\"o}rster Schreiber}, Natascha M. and {Franx}, Marijn and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Fudamoto}, Yoshinobu and {Glazebrook}, Karl and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Juneau}, St{\'e}phanie and {Kassin}, Susan and {Kriek}, Mariska and {Khullar}, Gourav and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Mowla}, Lamiya A. and {Muzzin}, Adam and {Nanayakkara}, Themiya and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Pacifici}, Camilla and {Papovich}, Casey and {Setton}, David J. and {Shapley}, Alice E. and {Shipley}, Heath V. and {Smit}, Renske and {Stefanon}, Mauro and {Taylor}, Edward N. and {Weibel}, Andrea and {Williams}, Christina C.}, title = {{The UNCOVER Survey: A First-look HST + JWST Catalog of 60,000 Galaxies near A2744 and beyond}}, journal = {\apjs}, keywords = {Catalogs, Abell clusters, Photometry, James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Astronomical methods, 205, 9, 1234, 2291, 761, 1043, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2024}, month = jan, volume = {270}, number = {1}, eid = {7}, pages = {7}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4365/ad07e0}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2301.02671}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJS..270....7W}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {13}, month_numeric = {1} }

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2023

A JWST/NIRSpec First Census of Broad-line AGNs at z = 4-7: Detection of 10 Faint AGNs with M _BH 10^6-10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙ and Their Host Galaxy Properties

Yuichi Harikane, Yechi Zhang, Kimihiko Nakajima, and 6 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Dec 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the first statistical sample of faint type 1 AGNs at z > 4 identified by JWST/NIRSpec deep spectroscopy. Among the 185 galaxies at z _spec = 3.8-8.9 confirmed with NIRSpec, our systematic search for broad-line emission reveals 10 type 1 AGNs at z = 4.015-6.936 whose broad component is only seen in the permitted H\ensuremathα line and not in the forbidden [O III]\ensuremathλ5007 line that is detected with greater significance than H\ensuremathα. The broad H\ensuremathα line widths of FWHM ≃ 1000-6000 km s^-1 suggest that the AGNs have low-mass black holes with M _BH \raisebox-0.5ex~10^6-10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙, remarkably lower than those of low- luminosity quasars previously identified at z > 4 with ground- based telescopes. JWST and Hubble Space Telescope high- resolution images reveal that the majority of them show extended morphologies indicating significant contribution to the total lights from their host galaxies, except for three compact objects two of which show red spectral energy distributions, probably in a transition phase from faint AGNs to low luminosity quasars. Careful AGN-host decomposition analyses show that their host’s stellar masses are systematically lower than the local relation between the black hole mass and the stellar mass, implying a fast black hole growth consistent with predictions from theoretical simulations. A high fraction of the broad-line AGNs (\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde5%), higher than z \raisebox-0.5ex~0, indicates that the number density of such faint AGNs is higher than an extrapolation of the quasar luminosity function, implying a large population of AGNs in the early universe. Such faint AGNs contribute to cosmic reionization, while the total contribution is not large, up to \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde50% at z \raisebox-0.5ex~6, because of their faint nature.

@article{2023ApJ...959...39H, author = {{Harikane}, Yuichi and {Zhang}, Yechi and {Nakajima}, Kimihiko and {Ouchi}, Masami and {Isobe}, Yuki and {Ono}, Yoshiaki and {Hatano}, Shun and {Xu}, Yi and {Umeda}, Hiroya}, title = {{A JWST/NIRSpec First Census of Broad-line AGNs at z = 4-7: Detection of 10 Faint AGNs with M $\_{BH}$ {}10$^{6}$-{}10$^{8}$ M $\_{{\ensuremath{\odot}}}$ and Their Host Galaxy Properties}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy formation, Galaxy evolution, AGN host galaxies, Active galactic nuclei, 595, 594, 2017, 16, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = dec, volume = {959}, number = {1}, eid = {39}, pages = {39}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ad029e}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2303.11946}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...959...39H}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {157275826}, lrdindex = {90}, month_numeric = {12} }

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Spectral Templates Optimal for Selecting Galaxies at z > 8 with the JWST

Rebecca L. Larson, Taylor A. Hutchison, Micaela Bagley, and 9 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Dec 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The selection of high-redshift galaxies often involves spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to photometric data, an expectation for contamination levels, and measurement of sample completeness-all vetted through comparison to spectroscopic redshift measurements of a sub-sample. The first JWST data are now being taken over several extragalactic fields to different depths and across various areas, which will be ideal for the discovery and classification of galaxies out to distances previously uncharted. As spectroscopic redshift measurements for sources in this epoch will not be initially available to compare with the first photometric measurements of z > 8 galaxies, robust photometric redshifts are of the utmost importance. Galaxies at z > 8 are expected to have bluer rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) colors than typically used model SED templates, which could lead to catastrophic photometric redshift failures. We use a combination of BPASS and CLOUDY models to create a supporting set of templates that match the predicted rest-UV colors of z > 8 simulated galaxies. We test these new templates by fitting simulated galaxies in a mock catalog, Yung et al., which mimic expected field depths and areas of the JWST Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (m _5\ensuremathσ \raisebox-0.5ex~28.6 over \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde100 arcmin^2). We use EAZY to highlight the improvements in redshift recovery with the inclusion of our new template set and suggest criteria for selecting galaxies at 8 < z < 10 with the JWST, providing an important test case for observers venturing into this new era of astronomy.

@article{2023ApJ...958..141L, author = {{Larson}, Rebecca L. and {Hutchison}, Taylor A. and {Bagley}, Micaela and {Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron and {Somerville}, Rachel S. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Holwerda}, Benne W. and {Papovich}, Casey and {Morales}, Alexa M. and {Wilkins}, Stephen M.}, title = {{Spectral Templates Optimal for Selecting Galaxies at z > 8 with the JWST}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxies, Spectral energy distribution, Astronomical simulations, 573, 2129, 1857, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = dec, volume = {958}, number = {2}, eid = {141}, pages = {141}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/acfed4}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2211.10035}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...958..141L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {138696730}, lrdindex = {9}, month_numeric = {12} }

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Similarity between Compact Extremely Red Objects Discovered with JWST in Cosmic Dawn and Blue-excess Dust-obscured Galaxies Known in Cosmic Noon

Akatoki Noboriguchi, Akio K. Inoue, Tohru Nagao, and 2 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Dec 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Spatially compact objects with extremely red color in the rest-frame optical to near-infrared (0.4-1 \ensuremathμm) and blue color in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV; 0.2-0.4 \ensuremathμm) have been discovered at 5 < z < 9 using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). These extremely red objects (JWST-EROs) exhibit spectral energy distributions (SEDs) that are difficult to explain using a single component of either star-forming galaxies or quasars, leading to two-component models in which the blue UV and extremely red optical are explained using less-dusty and dusty spectra of galaxies or quasars, respectively. Here, we report the remarkable similarity in SEDs between JWST-EROs and blue-excess dust-obscured galaxies (BluDOGs) identified at 2 < z < 3. BluDOGs are a population of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with black hole masses of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde10^8-9 M _\ensuremath⊙, which are 1 order of magnitude larger than those in some JWST-EROs. The Eddington ratios of BluDOGs are 1 or higher, whereas those of JWST-EROs are in the range of 0.1-1. Therefore, JWST-EROs are less massive, less active, and more common counterparts in higher-z of BluDOGs in cosmic noon. Conversely, JWST-EROs have a significantly higher fraction of those with blue excess than DOGs. We present the average UV spectra of BluDOGs as a comparison to JWST-EROs and discuss a coherent evolutionary scenario for dusty AGN populations.

@article{2023ApJ...959L..14N, author = {{Noboriguchi}, Akatoki and {Inoue}, Akio K. and {Nagao}, Tohru and {Toba}, Yoshiki and {Misawa}, Toru}, title = {{Similarity between Compact Extremely Red Objects Discovered with JWST in Cosmic Dawn and Blue-excess Dust-obscured Galaxies Known in Cosmic Noon}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, Galaxy evolution, 16, 594, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = dec, volume = {959}, number = {2}, eid = {L14}, pages = {L14}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad0e00}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2309.00955}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...959L..14N}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {157484141}, lrdindex = {9}, month_numeric = {12} }

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UNCOVER: A NIRSpec Identification of a Broad-line AGN at z = 8.50

Vasily Kokorev, Seiji Fujimoto, Ivo Labbe, and 29 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Nov 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Deep observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an emerging population of red pointlike sources that could provide a link between the postulated supermassive black hole seeds and observed quasars. In this work, we present a JWST/NIRSpec spectrum from the JWST Cycle 1 UNCOVER Treasury survey of a massive accreting black hole at z = 8.50 displaying a clear broad-line component as inferred from the H\ensuremathβ line with FWHM = 3439 \ensuremath\pm 413 km s^-1, typical of the broad-line region of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The AGN nature of this object is further supported by high ionization, as inferred from emission lines, and a point-source morphology. We compute a black hole mass of \mathrmlog_10(M_\mathrmBH/M_⊙)=8.17\pm 0.42 and a bolometric luminosity of L _bol \raisebox-0.5ex~6.6 \texttimes 10^45 erg s^-1. These values imply that our object is accreting at \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde40% of the Eddington limit. Detailed modeling of the spectral energy distribution in the optical and near-infrared, together with constraints from ALMA, indicate an upper limit on the stellar mass of \mathrmlog_10(M_* /M_⊙) 8.7 , which would lead to an unprecedented ratio of black hole to host mass of at least \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde30%. This is orders of magnitude higher compared to the local QSOs but consistent with recent AGN studies at high redshift with JWST. This finding suggests that a nonnegligible fraction of supermassive black holes either started out from massive seeds and/or grew at a super-Eddington rate at high redshift. Given the predicted number densities of high-z faint AGN, future NIRSpec observations of larger samples will allow us to further investigate galaxy-black hole coevolution in the early Universe.

@article{2023ApJ...957L...7K, author = {{Kokorev}, Vasily and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Caputi}, Karina I. and {Chemerynska}, Iryna and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Feldmann}, Robert and {Fudamoto}, Yoshinobu and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Goulding}, Andy D. and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Leja}, Joel and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Nanayakkara}, Themiya and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Pan}, Richard and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Setton}, David J. and {Smit}, Renske and {Stefanon}, Mauro and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Zitrin}, Adi}, title = {{UNCOVER: A NIRSpec Identification of a Broad-line AGN at z = 8.50}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, High-redshift galaxies, Early universe, 16, 734, 435, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = nov, volume = {957}, number = {1}, eid = {L7}, pages = {L7}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad037a}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.11610}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...957L...7K}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {156283037}, lrdindex = {50}, month_numeric = {11} }

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Little Red Dots or Brown Dwarfs? NIRSpec Discovery of Three Distant Brown Dwarfs Masquerading as NIRCam-selected Highly Reddened Active Galactic Nuclei

Danial Langeroodi and Jens Hjorth

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Nov 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Cold, substellar objects such as brown dwarfs have long been recognized as contaminants in color-selected samples of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In particular, their near- to mid-infrared colors (1-5 \ensuremathμm) can closely resemble the V-shaped (f _ \ensuremathλ ) spectra of highly reddened accreting supermassive black holes (“little red dots”), especially at 6 < z < 7. Recently, a NIRCam-selected sample of little red dots over 45 arcmin^2 has been followed up with deep NIRSpec multiobject prism spectroscopy through the UNCOVER program. By investigating the acquired spectra, we identify 3 of the 14 followed-up objects as T/Y dwarfs with temperatures between 650 and 1300 K and distances between 0.8 and 4.8 kpc. At 4.8_-0.1^+0.6 kpc, A2744-BD1 is the most distant brown dwarf discovered to date. We identify the remaining 11 objects as extragalactic sources at z _spec \ensuremath≳ 5. Given that three of these sources are strongly lensed images of the same AGN (A2744-QSO1), we derive a brown dwarf contamination fraction of 25% in this NIRCam selection of little red dots. We find that in the near-infrared filters, brown dwarfs appear much bluer than the highly reddened AGN, providing an avenue for distinguishing the two and compiling cleaner samples of photometrically selected highly reddened AGN.

@article{2023ApJ...957L..27L, author = {{Langeroodi}, Danial and {Hjorth}, Jens}, title = {{Little Red Dots or Brown Dwarfs? NIRSpec Discovery of Three Distant Brown Dwarfs Masquerading as NIRCam-selected Highly Reddened Active Galactic Nuclei}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Brown dwarfs, T dwarfs, Y dwarfs, Active galactic nuclei, 185, 1679, 1827, 16, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = nov, volume = {957}, number = {2}, eid = {L27}, pages = {L27}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acfeec}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.10900}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...957L..27L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {153246385}, lrdindex = {11}, month_numeric = {11} }

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JWST CEERS and JADES Active Galaxies at z = 4-7 Violate the Local M _•-M _\ensuremath⋆ Relation at >3\ensuremathσ: Implications for Low-mass Black Holes and Seeding Models

Fabio Pacucci, Bao Nguyen, Stefano Carniani, and 2 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Nov 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST is revolutionizing our understanding of the high-z Universe by expanding the black hole horizon, looking farther and to smaller masses, and revealing the stellar light of their hosts. By examining JWST galaxies at z = 4-7 that host H\ensuremathα-detected black holes, we investigate (i) the high-z M _•-M _\ensuremath⋆ relation and (ii) the black hole mass distribution, especially in its low-mass range (M _• \ensuremath≲ 10^6.5 M _\ensuremath⊙). With a detailed statistical analysis, our findings conclusively reveal a high-z M _•-M _\ensuremath⋆ relation that deviates at >3\ensuremathσ confidence level from the local relation. The high-z relation is \mathrmlog(M_∙/\,M_⊙)=-2.43_-0.83^+0 .83+1.06_-0.09^+0.09\mathrmlog(M_⋆/\,M_⊙) . Black holes are overmassive by \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde10-100\texttimes compared to their low-z counterparts in galactic hosts of the same stellar mass. This fact is not due to a selection effect in surveys. Moreover, our analysis predicts the possibility of detecting in high-z JWST surveys 5-15\texttimes more black holes with M _• \ensuremath≲ 10^6.5 M _\ensuremath⊙, and 10-30\texttimes more with M _• \ensuremath≲ 10^8.5 M _\ensuremath⊙, compared to local relation’s predictions. The lighter black holes preferentially occupy galaxies with a stellar mass of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde10^7.5-10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙. We have yet to detect these sources because (i) they may be inactive (duty cycles 1%-10%), (ii) the host overshines the active galactic nucleus (AGN), or (iii) the AGN is obscured and not immediately recognizable by line diagnostics. A search of low-mass black holes in existing JWST surveys will further test the M _•-M _\ensuremath⋆ relation. Current JWST fields represent a treasure trove of black hole systems at z = 4-7; their detection will provide crucial insights into their early evolution and coevolution with their galactic hosts.

@article{2023ApJ...957L...3P, author = {{Pacucci}, Fabio and {Nguyen}, Bao and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Fan}, Xiaohui}, title = {{JWST CEERS and JADES Active Galaxies at z = 4-7 Violate the Local M $\_{{\textbullet}}$-M $\_{{\ensuremath{\star}}}$ Relation at >3{\ensuremath{\sigma}}: Implications for Low-mass Black Holes and Seeding Models}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Active galaxies, Supermassive black holes, Galaxy evolution, Surveys, Early universe, 17, 1663, 594, 1671, 435, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2023}, month = nov, volume = {957}, number = {1}, eid = {L3}, pages = {L3}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ad0158}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.12331}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...957L...3P}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {153292721}, lrdindex = {44}, month_numeric = {11} }

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JADES Initial Data Release for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Revealing the Faint Infrared Sky with Deep JWST NIRCam Imaging

Marcia J. Rieke, Brant Robertson, Sandro Tacchella, and 56 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Nov 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST has revolutionized the field of extragalactic astronomy with its sensitive and high-resolution infrared view of the distant Universe. Adding to the new legacy of JWST observations, we present the first NIRCam imaging data release from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), providing nine filters of infrared imaging of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde25 arcmin^2 covering the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and portions of Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey South. Utilizing 87 on-sky dual-filter hours of exposure time, these images reveal the deepest ever near- infrared view of this iconic field. We supply carefully constructed nine-band mosaics of the JADES bands, as well as matching reductions of five additional bands from the JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey. Combining with existing Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we provide 23-band space-based photometric catalogs and photometric redshifts for \ensuremath≈47,500 sources. To promote broad engagement with JADES, we have created an interactive FitsMap website to provide an interface for professional researchers and the public to experience these JWST data sets. Combined with the first JADES NIRSpec data release, these public JADES imaging and spectroscopic data sets provide a new foundation for discoveries of the infrared Universe by the worldwide scientific community.

@article{2023ApJS..269...16R, author = {{Rieke}, Marcia J. and {Robertson}, Brant and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Hainline}, Kevin and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Pusk{\'a}s}, D{\'a}vid and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Baker}, William M. and {Baum}, Stefi and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Bonaventura}, Nina and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Cameron}, Alex J. and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Chen}, Zuyi and {Curti}, Mirko and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Danhaive}, A. Lola and {DeCoursey}, Christa and {Dressler}, Alan and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Hviding}, Raphael E. and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Looser}, Tobias J. and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Rieke}, George and {Rix}, Hans-Walter and {Sandles}, Lester and {Saxena}, Aayush and {Sharpe}, Katherine and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Skarbinski}, Maya and {Smit}, Renske and {Stark}, Daniel P. and {Stone}, Meredith and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Topping}, Michael and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Villanueva}, Natalia C. and {Wallace}, Imaan E. B. and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willott}, Chris and {Whitler}, Lily and {Witstok}, Joris and {Woodrum}, Charity}, title = {{JADES Initial Data Release for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Revealing the Faint Infrared Sky with Deep JWST NIRCam Imaging}}, journal = {\apjs}, keywords = {High-redshift galaxies, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2023}, month = nov, volume = {269}, number = {1}, eid = {16}, pages = {16}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4365/acf44d}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2306.02466}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJS..269...16R}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {12}, altmetric = {155845778}, month_numeric = {11} }

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Two Massive, Compact, and Dust-obscured Candidate z ≃ 8 Galaxies Discovered by JWST

Hollis B. Akins, Caitlin M. Casey, Natalie Allen, and 58 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Oct 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present a search for extremely red, dust-obscured, z > 7 galaxies with JWST/NIRCam+MIRI imaging over the first 20 arcmin^2 of publicly available Cycle 1 data from the COSMOS-Web, CEERS, and PRIMER surveys. Based on their red color in F277W-F444W (\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde2.5 mag) and detection in MIRI/F770W (\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde25 mag), we identify two galaxies, COS-z8M1 and CEERS-z7M1, that have best-fit photometric redshifts of z=8.4_-0.4^+0.3 and 7.6_-0.1^+0.1 , respectively. We perform spectral energy distribution fitting with a variety of codes (including BAGPIPES, PROSPECTOR, BEAGLE, and CIGALE) and find a >95% probability that these indeed lie at z > 7. Both sources are compact (R _eff \ensuremath≲ 200 pc) and highly obscured (A _ V \raisebox-0.5ex~1.5-2.5) and, at our best-fit redshift estimates, likely have strong [O III]+H\ensuremathβ emission contributing to their 4.4 \ensuremathμm photometry. We estimate stellar masses of \raisebox-0.5ex~10^10 M _\ensuremath⊙ for both sources; by virtue of detection in MIRI at 7.7 \ensuremathμm, these measurements are robust to the inclusion of bright emission lines, for example, from an active galactic nucleus. We identify a marginal (2.9\ensuremathσ) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array detection at 2 mm within 0.″5 of COS-z8M1, which, if real, would suggest a remarkably high IR luminosity of \raisebox-0.5ex~10^12 L _\ensuremath⊙. These two galaxies, if confirmed at z \raisebox-0.5ex~8, would be extreme in their stellar and dust masses and may be representative of a substantial population of highly dust-obscured galaxies at cosmic dawn.

@article{2023ApJ...956...61A, author = {{Akins}, Hollis B. and {Casey}, Caitlin M. and {Allen}, Natalie and {Bagley}, Micaela B. and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Franco}, Maximilien and {Harish}, Santosh and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Ilbert}, Olivier and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Liu}, Daizhong and {Long}, Arianna S. and {McCracken}, Henry Joy and {Paquereau}, Louise and {Papovich}, Casey and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Rhodes}, Jason and {Robertson}, Brant E. and {Shuntov}, Marko and {Toft}, Sune and {Yang}, Guang and {Barro}, Guillermo and {Bisigello}, Laura and {Buat}, V{\'e}ronique and {Champagne}, Jaclyn B. and {Cooper}, Olivia and {Costantin}, Luca and {de La Vega}, Alexander and {Drakos}, Nicole E. and {Faisst}, Andreas and {Fontana}, Adriano and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Gillman}, Steven and {G{\'o}mez-Guijarro}, Carlos and {Gozaliasl}, Ghassem and {Hathi}, Nimish P. and {Hayward}, Christopher C. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Holwerda}, Benne W. and {Jin}, Shuowen and {Kocevski}, Dale D. and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Lambrides}, Erini and {Lucas}, Ray A. and {Magdis}, Georgios E. and {Magnelli}, Benjamin and {McKinney}, Jed and {Mobasher}, Bahram and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Rich}, R. Michael and {Seill{\'e}}, Lise-Marie and {Talia}, Margherita and {Urry}, C. Megan and {Valentino}, Francesco and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron and {Zavala}, Jorge and {Cosmos-Web Team} and {Ceers Team}}, title = {{Two Massive, Compact, and Dust-obscured Candidate z ≃ 8 Galaxies Discovered by JWST}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, High-redshift galaxies, Galaxies, 594, 595, 734, 573, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = oct, volume = {956}, number = {1}, eid = {61}, pages = {61}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/acef21}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2304.12347}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...956...61A}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {31}, month_numeric = {10} }

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The JWST FRESCO survey: legacy NIRCam/grism spectroscopy and imaging in the two GOODS fields

P. A. Oesch, G. Brammer, R. P. Naidu, and 38 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oct 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the JWST cycle 1 53.8 h medium program FRESCO, short for ’First Reionization Epoch Spectroscopically Complete Observations’. FRESCO covers 62 arcmin^2 in each of the two GOODS/CANDELS fields for a total area of 124 arcmin^2 exploiting JWST’s powerful new grism spectroscopic capabilities at near-infrared wavelengths. By obtaining \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde2 h deep NIRCam/grism observations with the F444W filter, FRESCO yields unprecedented spectra at R \raisebox-0.5ex~1600 covering 3.8-5.0 \textmum for most galaxies in the NIRCam field of view. This setup enables emission line measurements over most of cosmic history, from strong PAH lines at z \raisebox-0.5ex~0.2-0.5, to Pa \ensuremathα and Pa \ensuremathβ at z \raisebox-0.5ex~1-3, He I and [S III] at z \raisebox-0.5ex~2.5-4.5, H \ensuremathα and [N II] at z \raisebox-0.5ex~5-6.5, up to [O III] and H \ensuremathβ for z \raisebox-0.5ex~7-9 galaxies. FRESCO’s grism observations provide total line fluxes for accurately estimating galaxy stellar masses and calibrating slit-loss corrections of NIRSpec/MSA spectra in the same field. Additionally, FRESCO results in a mosaic of F182M, F210M, and F444W imaging in the same fields to a depth of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde28.2 mag (5\ensuremathσ in 0_.^\prime\prime32 diameter apertures). Here, we describe the overall survey design and the key science goals that can be addressed with FRESCO. We also highlight several, early science results, including: spectroscopic redshifts of Lyman break galaxies that were identified almost 20 yr ago, the discovery of broad-line active galactic nuclei at z > 4, and resolved Pa \ensuremathα maps of galaxies at z \raisebox-0.5ex~1.4. These results demonstrate the enormous power for serendipitous discovery of NIRCam/grism observations.

@article{2023MNRAS.525.2864O, author = {{Oesch}, P. A. and {Brammer}, G. and {Naidu}, R. P. and {Bouwens}, R. J. and {Chisholm}, J. and {Illingworth}, G. D. and {Matthee}, J. and {Nelson}, E. and {Qin}, Y. and {Reddy}, N. and {Shapley}, A. and {Shivaei}, I. and {van Dokkum}, P. and {Weibel}, A. and {Whitaker}, K. and {Wuyts}, S. and {Covelo-Paz}, A. and {Endsley}, R. and {Fudamoto}, Y. and {Giovinazzo}, E. and {Herard-Demanche}, T. and {Kerutt}, J. and {Kramarenko}, I. and {Labbe}, I. and {Leonova}, E. and {Lin}, J. and {Magee}, D. and {Marchesini}, D. and {Maseda}, M. and {Mason}, C. and {Matharu}, J. and {Meyer}, R. A. and {Neufeld}, C. and {Prieto Lyon}, G. and {Schaerer}, D. and {Sharma}, R. and {Shuntov}, M. and {Smit}, R. and {Stefanon}, M. and {Wyithe}, J. S. B. and {Xiao}, M.}, title = {{The JWST FRESCO survey: legacy NIRCam/grism spectroscopy and imaging in the two GOODS fields}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {surveys, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation, galaxies: high-redshift, dark ages, reionization, first stars, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = oct, volume = {525}, number = {2}, pages = {2864-2874}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stad2411}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2304.02026}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023MNRAS.525.2864O}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {153151954}, lrdindex = {18}, month_numeric = {10} }

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JEMS: A Deep Medium-band Imaging Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with JWST NIRCam and NIRISS

Christina C. Williams, Sandro Tacchella, Michael V. Maseda, and 32 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Oct 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey, the first public medium-band imaging survey carried out using JWST/NIRCam and NIRISS. These observations use \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde2 and \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde4 \ensuremathμm medium-band filters (NIRCam F182M, F210M, F430M, F460M, F480M; and NIRISS F430M and F480M in parallel) over 15.6 arcmin^2 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF), thereby building on the deepest multiwavelength public data sets available anywhere on the sky. We describe our science goals, survey design, NIRCam and NIRISS image reduction methods, and describe our first data release of the science-ready mosaics, which reach 5\ensuremathσ point-source limits (AB mag) of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde29.3-29.4 in 2 \ensuremathμm filters and \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde28.2-28.7 at 4 \ensuremathμm. Our chosen filters create a JWST imaging survey in the UDF that enables novel analysis of a range of spectral features potentially across the redshift range of 0.3 1 mag) across redshifts 1.5 < z < 9.3, most prominently H\ensuremathα+[N II] and [O III]+H\ensuremathβ. We present our first data release including science-ready mosaics of each medium-band image available to the community, adding to the legacy value of past and future surveys in the UDF. This survey demonstrates the power of medium-band imaging with JWST, informing future extragalactic survey strategies using JWST observations.

@article{2023ApJS..268...64W, author = {{Williams}, Christina C. and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Robertson}, Brant E. and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Willott}, Chris J. and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Hainline}, Kevin N. and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Baum}, Stefi and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Franx}, Marijn and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Rieke}, Marcia J. and {Sandles}, Lester and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Simmonds}, Charlotte and {Smit}, Renske and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Witstok}, Joris}, title = {{JEMS: A Deep Medium-band Imaging Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with JWST NIRCam and NIRISS}}, journal = {\apjs}, keywords = {Emission line galaxies, High-redshift galaxies, Redshift surveys, Extragalactic astronomy, 459, 734, 1378, 506, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = oct, volume = {268}, number = {2}, eid = {64}, pages = {64}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4365/acf130}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2301.09780}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJS..268...64W}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, lrdindex = {10}, month_numeric = {10} }

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Sizes and Mass Profiles of Candidate Massive Galaxies Discovered by JWST at 7 < z < 9: Evidence for Very Early Formation of the Central 100 pc of Present-day Ellipticals

Josephine F. W. Baggen, Pieter van Dokkum, Ivo Labbé, and 8 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The first JWST data revealed an unexpected population of red galaxies that appear to have redshifts of z \raisebox-0.5ex~7-9 and high masses of M _* \ensuremath≳ 10^10 M _☉. Here we fit Sérsic profiles to the F200W NIRCam images of the 13 massive galaxy candidates of Labbé et al., to determine their structural parameters. Satisfactory fits were obtained for nine galaxies. We find that their effective radii are extremely small, ranging from r _e \raisebox-0.5ex~80 pc to r _e \raisebox-0.5ex~300 pc, with a mean of \ensuremath≈ 150 pc. For their apparent stellar masses, the galaxies are smaller than any other galaxy population that has been observed at any other redshift. We use the fits to derive circularized three-dimensional stellar mass profiles of the galaxies, and compare these to the mass profiles of massive quiescent galaxies at z \raisebox-0.5ex~2.3 and nearby elliptical galaxies. Despite the fact that the high-redshift galaxies have 10-20 times smaller half-light radii than their putative descendants, the central stellar densities are very similar. The most straightforward interpretation is that the dense compact inner regions of the most massive ellipticals today were already in place \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde600 Myr after the Big Bang. We caution that the redshifts and masses of the galaxies remain to be confirmed, and that the complex NIRCam point-spread function is not yet fully characterized.

@article{2023ApJ...955L..12B, author = {{Baggen}, Josephine F. W. and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Leja}, Joel and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Nelson}, Erica J.}, title = {{Sizes and Mass Profiles of Candidate Massive Galaxies Discovered by JWST at 7 < z < 9: Evidence for Very Early Formation of the Central 100 pc of Present-day Ellipticals}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, High-redshift galaxies, James Webb Space Telescope, 594, 734, 2291, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {955}, number = {1}, eid = {L12}, pages = {L12}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acf5ef}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2305.17162}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...955L..12B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {158007211}, lrdindex = {26}, month_numeric = {9} }

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JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Lyman-\ensuremathα emission and possible enhanced nitrogen abundance in a z = 10.60 luminous galaxy

Andrew J. Bunker, Aayush Saxena, Alex J. Cameron, and 60 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present JADES JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy of GN-z11, the most luminous candidate z > 10 Lyman break galaxy in the GOODS-North field with M_UV = \ensuremath-21.5. We derive a redshift of z = 10.603 (lower than previous determinations) based on multiple emission lines in our low and medium resolution spectra over 0.7 \ensuremath- 5.3 \ensuremathμm. We significantly detect the continuum and measure a blue rest-UV spectral slope of \ensuremathβ = \ensuremath-2.4. Remarkably, we see spatially extended Lyman-\ensuremathα in emission (despite the highly neutral intergalactic medium expected at this early epoch), offset 555 km s^\ensuremath-1 redwards of the systemic redshift. From our measurements of collisionally excited lines of both low and high ionisation (including [O II] \ensuremathλ3727, [Ne III] \ensuremathλ3869, and C III] \ensuremathλ1909), we infer a high ionisation parameter (log U \ensuremath∼ \ensuremath-2). We detect the rarely seen N IV] \ensuremathλ1486 and N III] \ensuremathλ1748 lines in both our low and medium resolution spectra, with other high ionisation lines seen in the low resolution spectrum, such as He II (blended with O III]) and C IV (with a possible P-Cygni profile). Based on the observed rest-UV line ratios, we cannot conclusively rule out photoionisation from an active galactic nucleus (AGN), although the high C III]/He II and N III]/He II ratios are compatible with a star formation explanation. If the observed emission lines are powered by star formation, then the strong N III] \ensuremathλ1748 observed may imply an unusually high N/O abundance. Balmer emission lines (H\ensuremathγ, H\ensuremathδ) are also detected, and if powered by star formation rather than an AGN, we infer a star formation rate of \ensuremath∼20 \ensuremath- 30 M_\ensuremath⊙ yr^\ensuremath-1 (depending on the initial mass function) and low dust attenuation. Our NIRSpec spectroscopy confirms that GN-z11 is a remarkable galaxy with extreme properties seen 430 Myr after the Big Bang.

@article{2023A&A...677A..88B, author = {{Bunker}, Andrew J. and {Saxena}, Aayush and {Cameron}, Alex J. and {Willott}, Chris J. and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Jakobsen}, Peter and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Smit}, Renske and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Witstok}, Joris and {Curti}, Mirko and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Ferruit}, Pierre and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Charlot}, Stephane and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Giardino}, Giovanna and {de Graaff}, Anna and {Looser}, Tobias J. and {L{\"u}tzgendorf}, Nora and {Maseda}, Michael V. and {Rawle}, Tim and {Rix}, Hans-Walter and {Del Pino}, Bruno Rodr{\'\i}guez and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Hainline}, Kevin and {Hausen}, Ryan and {Johnson}, Benjamin D. and {Rieke}, George and {Rieke}, Marcia and {Robertson}, Brant E. and {Shivaei}, Irene and {Stark}, Daniel P. and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Tang}, Mengtao and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Baker}, William M. and {Baum}, Stefi and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Bowler}, Rebecca and {Boyett}, Kristan and {Chen}, Zuyi and {Circosta}, Chiara and {Helton}, Jakob M. and {Ji}, Zhiyuan and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Nelson}, Erica and {Parlanti}, Eleonora and {Perna}, Michele and {Sandles}, Lester and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Topping}, Michael W. and {{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Wallace}, Imaan E. B. and {Whitler}, Lily}, title = {{JADES NIRSpec Spectroscopy of GN-z11: Lyman-{\ensuremath{\alpha}} emission and possible enhanced nitrogen abundance in a z = 10.60 luminous galaxy}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: groups: individual: GN-z11, galaxies: abundances, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {677}, eid = {A88}, pages = {A88}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202346159}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2302.07256}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023A\&A...677A..88B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {142552507}, lrdindex = {17}, month_numeric = {9} }

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COSMOS-Web: An Overview of the JWST Cosmic Origins Survey

Caitlin M. Casey, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Nicole E. Drakos, and 83 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the survey design, implementation, and outlook for COSMOS- Web, a 255 hr treasury program conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope in its first cycle of observations. COSMOS-Web is a contiguous 0.54 deg^2 NIRCam imaging survey in four filters (F115W, F150W, F277W, and F444W) that will reach 5\ensuremathσ point-source depths ranging \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde27.5-28.2 mag. In parallel, we will obtain 0.19 deg^2 of MIRI imaging in one filter (F770W) reaching 5\ensuremathσ point-source depths of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde25.3-26.0 mag. COSMOS-Web will build on the rich heritage of multiwavelength observations and data products available in the COSMOS field. The design of COSMOS-Web is motivated by three primary science goals: (1) to discover thousands of galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (6 \ensuremath≲ z \ensuremath≲ 11) and map reionization’s spatial distribution, environments, and drivers on scales sufficiently large to mitigate cosmic variance, (2) to identify hundreds of rare quiescent galaxies at z > 4 and place constraints on the formation of the universe’s most-massive galaxies (M _\ensuremath⋆ > 10^10 M _\ensuremath⊙), and (3) directly measure the evolution of the stellar-mass-to-halo-mass relation using weak gravitational lensing out to z \raisebox-0.5ex~2.5 and measure its variance with galaxies’ star formation histories and morphologies. In addition, we anticipate COSMOS- Web’s legacy value to reach far beyond these scientific goals, touching many other areas of astrophysics, such as the identification of the first direct collapse black hole candidates, ultracool subdwarf stars in the Galactic halo, and possibly the identification of z > 10 pair-instability supernovae. In this paper we provide an overview of the survey’s key measurements, specifications, goals, and prospects for new discovery.

@article{2023ApJ...954...31C, author = {{Casey}, Caitlin M. and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Drakos}, Nicole E. and {Franco}, Maximilien and {Harish}, Santosh and {Paquereau}, Louise and {Ilbert}, Olivier and {Rose}, Caitlin and {Cox}, Isabella G. and {Nightingale}, James W. and {Robertson}, Brant E. and {Silverman}, John D. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Massey}, Richard and {McCracken}, Henry Joy and {Rhodes}, Jason and {Akins}, Hollis B. and {Allen}, Natalie and {Amvrosiadis}, Aristeidis and {Arango-Toro}, Rafael C. and {Bagley}, Micaela B. and {Bongiorno}, Angela and {Capak}, Peter L. and {Champagne}, Jaclyn B. and {Chartab}, Nima and {Ch{\'a}vez Ortiz}, {\'O}scar A. and {Chworowsky}, Katherine and {Cooke}, Kevin C. and {Cooper}, Olivia R. and {Darvish}, Behnam and {Ding}, Xuheng and {Faisst}, Andreas L. and {Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Gentile}, Fabrizio and {Gillman}, Steven and {Gould}, Katriona M. L. and {Gozaliasl}, Ghassem and {Hayward}, Christopher C. and {He}, Qiuhan and {Hemmati}, Shoubaneh and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Jahnke}, Knud and {Jin}, Shuowen and {Khostovan}, Ali Ahmad and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Lambrides}, Erini and {Laigle}, Clotilde and {Larson}, Rebecca L. and {Leung}, Gene C. K. and {Liu}, Daizhong and {Liaudat}, Tobias and {Long}, Arianna S. and {Magdis}, Georgios and {Mahler}, Guillaume and {Mainieri}, Vincenzo and {Manning}, Sinclaire M. and {Maraston}, Claudia and {Martin}, Crystal L. and {McCleary}, Jacqueline E. and {McKinney}, Jed and {McPartland}, Conor J. R. and {Mobasher}, Bahram and {Pattnaik}, Rohan and {Renzini}, Alvio and {Rich}, R. Michael and {Sanders}, David B. and {Sattari}, Zahra and {Scognamiglio}, Diana and {Scoville}, Nick and {Sheth}, Kartik and {Shuntov}, Marko and {Sparre}, Martin and {Suzuki}, Tomoko L. and {Talia}, Margherita and {Toft}, Sune and {Trakhtenbrot}, Benny and {Urry}, C. Megan and {Valentino}, Francesco and {Vanderhoof}, Brittany N. and {Vardoulaki}, Eleni and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {Yang}, Lilan and {Zavala}, Jorge A.}, title = {{COSMOS-Web: An Overview of the JWST Cosmic Origins Survey}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Sky surveys, Large-scale structure of the universe, Galaxy evolution, Reionization, Weak gravitational lensing, 1464, 902, 594, 1383, 1797, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {954}, number = {1}, eid = {31}, pages = {31}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/acc2bc}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2211.07865}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...954...31C}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {153908380}, lrdindex = {25}, month_numeric = {9} }

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Detection of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at redshifts above 6

Xuheng Ding, Masafusa Onoue, John D. Silverman, and 41 more authors

Nature, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The detection of starlight from the host galaxies of quasars during the reionization epoch (z > 6) has been elusive, even with deep Hubble Space Telescope observations^1,2. The current highest redshift quasar host detected^3, at z = 4.5, required the magnifying effect of a foreground lensing galaxy. Low-luminosity quasars^4-6 from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP)^7 mitigate the challenge of detecting their underlying, previously undetected host galaxies. Here we report rest-frame optical images and spectroscopy of two HSC-SSP quasars at z > 6 with the JWST. Using near-infrared camera imaging at 3.6 and 1.5 \ensuremathμm and subtracting the light from the unresolved quasars, we find that the host galaxies are massive (stellar masses of 13 \texttimes and 3.4 \texttimes 10^10 M_\ensuremath⊙, respectively), compact and disc-like. Near-infrared spectroscopy at medium resolution shows stellar absorption lines in the more massive quasar, confirming the detection of the host. Velocity- broadened gas in the vicinity of these quasars enables measurements of their black hole masses (1.4 \texttimes 10^9 and 2.0 \texttimes 10^8 M_\ensuremath⊙, respectively). Their location in the black hole mass-stellar mass plane is consistent with the distribution at low redshift, suggesting that the relation between black holes and their host galaxies was already in place less than a billion years after the Big Bang.

@article{2023Natur.621...51D, author = {{Ding}, Xuheng and {Onoue}, Masafusa and {Silverman}, John D. and {Matsuoka}, Yoshiki and {Izumi}, Takuma and {Strauss}, Michael A. and {Jahnke}, Knud and {Phillips}, Camryn L. and {Li}, Junyao and {Volonteri}, Marta and {Haiman}, Zoltan and {Andika}, Irham Taufik and {Aoki}, Kentaro and {Baba}, Shunsuke and {Bieri}, Rebekka and {Bosman}, Sarah E. I. and {Bottrell}, Connor and {Eilers}, Anna-Christina and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Habouzit}, Melanie and {Imanishi}, Masatoshi and {Inayoshi}, Kohei and {Iwasawa}, Kazushi and {Kashikawa}, Nobunari and {Kawaguchi}, Toshihiro and {Kohno}, Kotaro and {Lee}, Chien-Hsiu and {Lupi}, Alessandro and {Lyu}, Jianwei and {Nagao}, Tohru and {Overzier}, Roderik and {Schindler}, Jan-Torge and {Schramm}, Malte and {Shimasaku}, Kazuhiro and {Toba}, Yoshiki and {Trakhtenbrot}, Benny and {Trebitsch}, Maxime and {Treu}, Tommaso and {Umehata}, Hideki and {Venemans}, Bram P. and {Vestergaard}, Marianne and {Walter}, Fabian and {Wang}, Feige and {Yang}, Jinyi}, title = {{Detection of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at redshifts above 6}}, journal = {\nat}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {621}, number = {7977}, pages = {51-55}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-023-06345-5}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2211.14329}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023Natur.621...51D}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {139253942}, lrdindex = {13}, month_numeric = {9} }

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A JWST/NIRCam study of key contributors to reionization: the star-forming and ionizing properties of UV-faint z 7-8 galaxies

Ryan Endsley, Daniel P. Stark, Lily Whitler, and 5 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) imaging has revealed that the brightest z \raisebox-0.5ex~7-8 galaxies often exhibit young ages and strong nebular line emission, hinting at high ionizing efficiency among early galaxies. However, IRAC’s limited sensitivity has long hindered efforts to study the fainter, more numerous population often thought largely responsible for reionization. Here, we use Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) JWST/NIRCam data to characterize 116 ultraviolet (UV)-faint (median M_UV = -19.5) z \raisebox-0.5ex~6.5-8 galaxies. The spectral energy distributions are typically dominated by young (\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde10-50 Myr), low-mass (M_* \raisebox-0.5ex~10^8 M_\ensuremath⊙) stellar populations, and we find no need for extremely high stellar masses (\raisebox-0.5ex~10^11 M_\ensuremath⊙). Considering previous studies of UV- bright (M_UV \raisebox-0.5ex~-22) z \raisebox-0.5ex~7-8 galaxies, we find evidence for a strong (5-10 times) increase in specific star formation rate (sSFR) toward lower luminosities (median sSFR = 103 Gyr^-1 in CEERS). The larger sSFRs imply a more dominant contribution from OB stars in the relatively numerous UV-faint population, perhaps suggesting that these galaxies are very efficient ionizing agents (median \ensuremathξ_ion = 10^25.7 erg^-1 Hz). In spite of the much larger sSFRs, we find little increase in [O III] + H \ensuremathβ equivalent widths towards fainter M_UV (median \ensuremath≈780 \mathrm\mathringA). If confirmed, this may indicate that a substantial fraction of our CEERS galaxies possess extremely low metallicities (\ensuremath≲3 per cent Z_\ensuremath⊙) where [O III] emission is suppressed. Alternatively, high ionizing photon escape fractions or bursty star formation histories can also weaken the nebular lines in a subset of our sample. While the majority of galaxies in our sample are very blue (median \ensuremathβ = -2.0), we identify a significant tail of very dusty galaxies (\ensuremathβ \raisebox-0.5ex~-1) at \ensuremath≈0.5L_\mathrmUV^∗which may contribute significantly to the z \raisebox-0.5ex~7-8 star formation rate density.

@article{2023MNRAS.524.2312E, author = {{Endsley}, Ryan and {Stark}, Daniel P. and {Whitler}, Lily and {Topping}, Michael W. and {Chen}, Zuyi and {Plat}, Ad{\`e}le and {Chisholm}, John and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane}, title = {{A JWST/NIRCam study of key contributors to reionization: the star-forming and ionizing properties of UV-faint z 7-8 galaxies}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {galaxies: evolution, galaxies: high-redshift, dark ages, reionization, first stars, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {524}, number = {2}, pages = {2312-2330}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stad1919}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2208.14999}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023MNRAS.524.2312E}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {135240434}, lrdindex = {8}, month_numeric = {9} }

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UNCOVER: The Growth of the First Massive Black Holes from JWST/NIRSpec-Spectroscopic Redshift Confirmation of an X-Ray Luminous AGN at z = 10.1

Andy D. Goulding, Jenny E. Greene, David J. Setton, and 27 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The James Webb Space Telescope is now detecting early black holes (BHs) as they transition from “seeds” to supermassive BHs. Recently, Bogdan et al. reported the detection of an X-ray luminous supermassive BH, UHZ-1, with a photometric redshift at z > 10. Such an extreme source at this very high redshift provides new insights on seeding and growth models for BHs given the short time available for formation and growth. Harnessing the exquisite sensitivity of JWST/NIRSpec, here we report the spectroscopic confirmation of UHZ-1 at z = 10.073 \ensuremath\pm 0.002. We find that the NIRSpec/Prism spectrum is typical of recently discovered z \ensuremath≈ 10 galaxies, characterized primarily by star formation features. We see no clear evidence of the powerful X-ray source in the rest-frame UV/optical spectrum, which may suggest heavy obscuration of the central BH, in line with the Compton-thick column density measured in the X-rays. We perform a stellar population fit simultaneously to the new NIRSpec spectroscopy and previously available photometry. The fit yields a stellar-mass estimate for the host galaxy that is significantly better constrained than prior photometric estimates ( M_⋆∼1.4_-0.4^+0.3\times 10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙). Given the predicted BH mass (M _BH \raisebox-0.5ex~10^7-10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙), the resulting ratio of M _BH/M _\ensuremath⋆ remains 2 to 3 orders of magnitude higher than local values, thus lending support to the heavy seeding channel for the formation of supermassive BHs within the first billion years of cosmic evolution.

@article{2023ApJ...955L..24G, author = {{Goulding}, Andy D. and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Setton}, David J. and {Labbe}, Ivo and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Miller}, Tim B. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Bogd{\'a}n}, {\'A}kos and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Chemerynska}, Iryna and {Cutler}, Sam E. and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Fudamoto}, Yoshinobu and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Khullar}, Gourav and {Leja}, Joel and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Natarajan}, Priyamvada and {Nelson}, Erica and {Oesch}, Pascal A. and {Pan}, Richard and {Papovich}, Casey and {Price}, Sedona H. and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Zitrin}, Adi}, title = {{UNCOVER: The Growth of the First Massive Black Holes from JWST/NIRSpec-Spectroscopic Redshift Confirmation of an X-Ray Luminous AGN at z = 10.1}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, Early universe, High-redshift galaxies, 16, 435, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {955}, number = {1}, eid = {L24}, pages = {L24}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acf7c5}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2308.02750}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...955L..24G}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {152652606}, lrdindex = {19}, month_numeric = {9} }

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Hidden Little Monsters: Spectroscopic Identification of Low-mass, Broad-line AGNs at z > 5 with CEERS

Dale D. Kocevski, Masafusa Onoue, Kohei Inayoshi, and 38 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We report on the discovery of two low-luminosity, broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z > 5 identified using JWST NIRSpec spectroscopy from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. We detect broad H\ensuremathα emission in the spectra of both sources, with FWHM of 2060 \ensuremath\pm 290 km s^‑1 and 1800 \ensuremath\pm 200 km s^‑1, resulting in virial black hole (BH) masses that are 1–2 dex below those of existing samples of luminous quasars at z > 5. The first source, CEERS 2782 at z = 5.242, is 2–3 dex fainter than known quasars at similar redshifts and was previously identified as a candidate low-luminosity AGN based on its morphology and rest-frame optical spectral energy distribution (SED). We measure a BH mass of M _BH = (1.3 \ensuremath\pm 0.4) \texttimes 10^7 M _\ensuremath⊙, confirming that this AGN is powered by the least massive BH known in the Universe at the end of cosmic reionization. The second source, CEERS 746 at z = 5.624, is inferred to be a heavily obscured, broad-line AGN caught in a transition phase between a dust-obscured starburst and an unobscured quasar. We estimate its BH mass to be in the range of M _BH ≃ (0.9–4.7) \texttimes 10^7 M _\ensuremath⊙, depending on the level of dust obscuration assumed. We perform SED fitting to derive host stellar masses, M _\ensuremath⋆, allowing us to place constraints on the BH–galaxy mass relationship in the lowest mass range yet probed in the early Universe. The M _BH/M _\ensuremath⋆ ratio for CEERS 2782, in particular, is consistent with or higher than the empirical relationship seen in massive galaxies at z = 0. We examine the narrow emission line ratios of both sources and find that their location on the BPT and OHNO diagrams is consistent with model predictions for moderately low metallicity AGNs with Z/Z _\ensuremath⊙ ≃ 0.2–0.4. The spectroscopic identification of low-luminosity, broad-line AGNs at z > 5 with M _BH ≃ 10^7 M _\ensuremath⊙ demonstrates the capability of JWST to push BH masses closer to the range predicted for the BH seed population and provides a unique opportunity to study the early stages of BH–galaxy assembly.

@article{2023ApJ...954L...4K, author = {{Kocevski}, Dale D. and {Onoue}, Masafusa and {Inayoshi}, Kohei and {Trump}, Jonathan R. and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Grazian}, Andrea and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Aird}, James and {Holwerda}, Benne W. and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Juneau}, St{\'e}phanie and {Amor{\'\i}n}, Ricardo O. and {Backhaus}, Bren E. and {Bagley}, Micaela B. and {Barro}, Guillermo and {Bell}, Eric F. and {Bisigello}, Laura and {Calabr{\`o}}, Antonello and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Cooper}, M. C. and {Ding}, Xuheng and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Ho}, Luis C. and {Hutchison}, Taylor A. and {Inoue}, Akio K. and {Jiang}, Linhua and {Jones}, Brenda and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Li}, Wenxiu and {Li}, Zhengrong and {McGrath}, Elizabeth J. and {Molina}, Juan and {Papovich}, Casey and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {Yang}, Guang and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron}, title = {{Hidden Little Monsters: Spectroscopic Identification of Low-mass, Broad-line AGNs at z > 5 with CEERS}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Quasars, Supermassive black holes, High-redshift galaxies, Active galactic nuclei, 1319, 1663, 734, 16, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {954}, number = {1}, eid = {L4}, pages = {L4}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ace5a0}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2302.00012}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...954L...4K}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {154472507}, lrdindex = {97}, month_numeric = {9} }

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GA-NIFS: A massive black hole in a low-metallicity AGN at z \ensuremath∼ 5.55 revealed by JWST/NIRSpec IFS

Hannah Übler, Roberto Maiolino, Emma Curtis-Lake, and 20 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, Sep 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present rest-frame optical data of the compact z = 5.55 galaxy GS_3073 obtained using the integral field spectroscopy mode of the Near-InfraRed Spectrograph on board the James Webb Space Telescope. The galaxy’s prominent broad components in several hydrogen and helium lines (though absent in the forbidden lines) and v detection of a large equivalent width of He II\ensuremathλ4686, EW(He II) \ensuremath∼20 Å, unambiguously identify it as an active galactic nucleus (AGN). We measured a gas phase metallicity of Z_gas/Z_\en suremath⊙\ensuremath∼0.21_\ensuremath-0.04 ^+0.08 , which is lower than what has been inferred for both more luminous AGN at a similar redshift and lower redshift AGN. We empirically show that classical emission line ratio diagnostic diagrams cannot be used to distinguish between the primary ionisation source (AGN or star formation) for systems with such low metallicity, though different diagnostic diagrams involving He II\ensuremathλ4686 prove very useful, independent of metallicity. We measured the central black hole mass to be log(M_BH/M_\ensuremath⊙)\ensuremath∼8.2 \ensuremath\pm 0.4 based on the luminosity and width of the broad line region of the H\ensuremathα emission. While this places GS_3073 at the lower end of known high-redshift black hole masses, it still appears to be overly massive when compared to its host galaxy’s mass properties. We detected an outflow with a projected velocity \ensuremath≳700 km s^\ensuremath-1 and inferred an ionised gas mass outflow rate of about 100 M_\ensuremath⊙ yr^\ensuremath-1, suggesting that one billion years after the Big Bang, GS_3073 is able to enrich the intergalactic medium with metals.

@article{2023A&A...677A.145U, author = {{{\"U}bler}, Hannah and {Maiolino}, Roberto and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Curti}, Mirko and {Perna}, Michele and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Marshall}, Madeline A. and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Scholtz}, Jan and {Bunker}, Andrew and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Ferruit}, Pierre and {Jakobsen}, Peter and {Rix}, Hans-Walter and {Rodr{\'\i}guez Del Pino}, Bruno and {Willott}, Chris J. and {Boeker}, Torsten and {Cresci}, Giovanni and {Jones}, Gareth C. and {Kumari}, Nimisha and {Rawle}, Tim}, title = {{GA-NIFS: A massive black hole in a low-metallicity AGN at z {\ensuremath{\sim}} 5.55 revealed by JWST/NIRSpec IFS}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {galaxies: active, galaxies: high-redshift, quasars: supermassive black holes, ISM: abundances, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = sep, volume = {677}, eid = {A145}, pages = {A145}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202346137}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2302.06647}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023A\&A...677A.145U}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {142552552}, lrdindex = {36}, month_numeric = {9} }

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Efficient formation of massive galaxies at cosmic dawn by feedback-free starbursts

Avishai Dekel, Kartick C. Sarkar, Yuval Birnboim, and 2 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Aug 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

JWST observations indicate a surprising excess of luminous galaxies at z \raisebox-0.5ex~10 and above, consistent with efficient conversion of the accreted gas into stars, unlike the suppression of star formation by feedback at later times. We show that the high densities and low metallicities at this epoch guarantee a high star formation efficiency (SFE) in the most massive dark-matter haloes. Feedback-free starbursts (FFBs) occur when the free-fall time is shorter than \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde1 \rm Myr, below the time for low-metallicity massive stars to develop winds and supernovae. This corresponds to a characteristic density of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde3\!\times \!10^3 \rm cm^-3. A comparable threshold density permits a starburst by allowing cooling to star-forming temperatures in a free-fall time. The galaxies within \raisebox-0.5ex~10^11 M_\ensuremath⊙ haloes at z \raisebox-0.5ex~10 are expected to have FFB densities. The halo masses allow efficient gas supply by cold streams in a halo crossing time \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde80 \rm Myr. The FFBs gradually turn all the accreted gas into stars in clusters of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde10^4-7 M_\ensuremath⊙ within galaxies that are rotating discs or shells. The starbursting clouds are insensitive to radiative feedback and are shielded against feedback from earlier stars. We predict high SFE above thresholds in redshift and halo mass, where the density is 10^3\!-\!4 \rm cm^-3. The z \raisebox-0.5ex~10 haloes of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde10^10.8 M_\ensuremath⊙ are predicted to host galaxies of \raisebox-0.5ex~10^10 M_\ensuremath⊙ with star formation rate \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde65\,\mathrm M_⊙ \rm yr^-1, blue colours, and sub-kpc sizes. The metallicity is \ensuremath≤0.1 Z_\ensuremath⊙ with little dust, gas, outflows, and hot circumgalactic gas, allowing a top- heavy initial mass function but not requiring it. The compact galaxies with thousands of young FFB clusters may have implications on reionization, black hole growth, and globular clusters.

@article{2023MNRAS.523.3201D, author = {{Dekel}, Avishai and {Sarkar}, Kartick C. and {Birnboim}, Yuval and {Mandelker}, Nir and {Li}, Zhaozhou}, title = {{Efficient formation of massive galaxies at cosmic dawn by feedback-free starbursts}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation, galaxies: haloes, galaxies: star clusters: general, galaxies: star formation, early Universe, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = aug, volume = {523}, number = {3}, pages = {3201-3218}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stad1557}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2303.04827}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023MNRAS.523.3201D}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {143630416}, lrdindex = {10}, month_numeric = {8} }

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Quasars and the Intergalactic Medium at Cosmic Dawn

Xiaohui Fan, Eduardo Ba~nados, and Robert A. Simcoe

Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Aug 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Quasars at cosmic dawn provide powerful probes of the formation and growth of the earliest supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the Universe, their connections to galaxy and structure formation, and the evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at the epoch of reionization (EoR). Hundreds of quasars have been discovered in the first billion years of cosmic history, with the quasar redshift frontier extended to z \ensuremath∼ 7.6. Observations of quasars at cosmic dawn show the following: ■The number density of luminous quasars declines exponentially at z > 5, suggesting that the earliest quasars emerge at z \ensuremath∼ 10; the lack of strong evolution in their average spectral energy distribution indicates a rapid buildup of the active galactic nucleus environment.■Billion-solar-mass black holes (BHs) already exist at z > 7.5; they must form and grow in less than 700 Myr, by a combination of massive early BH seeds with highly efficient and sustained accretion.■The rapid quasar growth is accompanied by strong star formation and feedback activity in their host galaxies, which show diverse morphological and kinetic properties, with typical dynamical mass lower than that implied by the local BH/galaxy scaling relations.■HI absorption in quasar spectra probes the tail end of cosmic reionization at z \ensuremath∼ 5.3-6 and indicates the EoR midpoint at 6.9 < z < 7.6, with large spatial fluctuations in IGM ionization. Observations of heavy element absorption lines suggest that the circumgalactic medium also experiences evolution in its ionization structure and metal enrichment during the EoR.

@article{2023ARA&A..61..373F, author = {{Fan}, Xiaohui and {Ba{\textasciitilde n}ados}, Eduardo and {Simcoe}, Robert A.}, title = {{Quasars and the Intergalactic Medium at Cosmic Dawn}}, journal = {\araa}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = aug, volume = {61}, pages = {373-426}, doi = {10.1146/annurev-astro-052920-102455}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2212.06907}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ARA\&A..61..373F}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {172264475}, lrdindex = {24}, month_numeric = {8} }

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JWST UNCOVER: Extremely Red and Compact Object at z _phot ≃ 7.6 Triply Imaged by A2744

Lukas J. Furtak, Adi Zitrin, Adèle Plat, and 29 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Aug 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Recent JWST/NIRCam imaging taken for the ultra-deep UNCOVER program reveals a very red dropout object at z _phot ≃ 7.6, triply imaged by the galaxy cluster A2744 (z _d = 0.308). All three images are very compact, i.e., unresolved, with a delensed size upper limit of r _ e \ensuremath≲ 35 pc. The images have apparent magnitudes of m _F444W \raisebox-0.5ex~25-26 AB, and the magnification-corrected absolute UV magnitude of the source is M _UV,1450 = -16.81 \ensuremath\pm 0.09. From the sum of observed fluxes and from a spectral energy distribution (SED) analysis, we obtain estimates of the bolometric luminosities of the source of L _bol \ensuremath≳ 10^43 erg s^-1 and L _bol \raisebox-0.5ex~10^44-10^46 erg s^-1, respectively. Based on its compact, point-like appearance, its position in color-color space, and the SED analysis, we tentatively conclude that this object is a UV-faint dust-obscured quasar-like object, i.e., an active galactic nucleus at high redshift. We also discuss other alternative origins for the object’s emission features, including a massive star cluster, Population III, supermassive, or dark stars, or a direct-collapse black hole. Although populations of red galaxies at similar photometric redshifts have been detected with JWST, this object is unique in that its high-redshift nature is corroborated geometrically by lensing, that it is unresolved despite being magnified-and thus intrinsically even more compact-and that it occupies notably distinct regions in both size-luminosity and color-color space. Planned UNCOVER JWST/NIRSpec observations, scheduled in Cycle 1, will enable a more detailed analysis of this object.

@article{2023ApJ...952..142F, author = {{Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Zitrin}, Adi and {Plat}, Ad{\`e}le and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Brammer}, Gabriel B. and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Endsley}, Ryan and {Glazebrook}, Karl and {Greene}, Jenny E. and {Leja}, Joel and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Smit}, Renske and {Stark}, Daniel P. and {Weaver}, John R. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Chevallard}, Jacopo and {Curtis-Lake}, Emma and {Dayal}, Pratika and {Feltre}, Anna and {Franx}, Marijn and {Fudamoto}, Yoshinobu and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Mowla}, Lamiya A. and {Pan}, Richard and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Vidal-Garc{\'\i}a}, Alba and {Williams}, Christina C.}, title = {{JWST UNCOVER: Extremely Red and Compact Object at z $\_{phot}$ ≃ 7.6 Triply Imaged by A2744}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {High-redshift galaxies, Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, Reionization, Strong gravitational lensing, 734, 2033, 1383, 1643, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = aug, volume = {952}, number = {2}, eid = {142}, pages = {142}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/acdc9d}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2212.10531}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...952..142F}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {140376403}, lrdindex = {42}, month_numeric = {8} }

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UNCOVERing the extended strong lensing structures of Abell 2744 with the deepest JWST imaging

Lukas J. Furtak, Adi Zitrin, John R. Weaver, and 18 more authors

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Aug 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present a new parametric lens model for the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744 based on new ultra-deep JWST imaging taken in the framework of the UNCOVER program. These observations constitute the deepest JWST images of a lensing cluster to date, adding to existing deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images and the recent JWST Early Release Science and Director’s Discretionary Time data taken for this field. The wide field of view of UNCOVER (\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde45 arcmin^2) extends beyond the cluster’s well-studied central core and reveals a spectacular wealth of prominent lensed features around two massive cluster sub-structures in the north and north-west, where no multiple images were previously known. We identify 75 new multiple images and candidates of 17 sources, 43 of which allow us, for the first time, to constrain the lensing properties and total mass distribution around these extended cluster structures using strong lensing (SL). Our model yields an effective Einstein radius of \ensuremathθ_E, main = 23.2 \ensuremath\pm 2.3 arcsec for the main cluster core (for z_s = 2), enclosing a mass of M(< \ensuremathθ_E, main) = (7.7 \ensuremath\pm 1.1) \texttimes 10^13 M_\ensuremath⊙, and \ensuremathθ_E, NW = 13.1 \ensuremath\pm 1.3 arcsec for the newly discovered north-western SL structure enclosing M(< \ensuremathθ_E, NW) = (2.2 \ensuremath\pm 0.3) \texttimes 10^13 M_\ensuremath⊙. The northern clump is somewhat less massive with \ensuremathθ_E, N = 7.4 \ensuremath\pm 0.7 arcsec enclosing M(< \ensuremathθ_E, N) = (0.8 \ensuremath\pm 0.1) \texttimes 10^13 M_\ensuremath⊙. We find the northern sub-structures of Abell 2744 to broadly agree with the findings from weak lensing analyses and align with the filamentary structure found by these previous studies. Our model in particular reveals a large area of high magnification values between the various cluster structures, which will be paramount for lensed galaxy studies in the UNCOVER field. The model is made publicly available to accompany the first UNCOVER data release.

@article{2023MNRAS.523.4568F, author = {{Furtak}, Lukas J. and {Zitrin}, Adi and {Weaver}, John R. and {Atek}, Hakim and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Leja}, Joel and {Price}, Sedona H. and {Brammer}, Gabriel B. and {Wang}, Bingjie and {Marchesini}, Danilo and {Pan}, Richard and {Dayal}, Pratika and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Feldmann}, Robert and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Franx}, Marijn and {Khullar}, Gourav and {Nelson}, Erica J. and {Mowla}, Lamiya A.}, title = {{UNCOVERing the extended strong lensing structures of Abell 2744 with the deepest JWST imaging}}, journal = {\mnras}, keywords = {gravitational lensing: strong, galaxies: clusters: individual: Abell 2744, galaxies: haloes, dark matter, large-scale structure of Universe, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = aug, volume = {523}, number = {3}, pages = {4568-4582}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stad1627}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2212.04381}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023MNRAS.523.4568F}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {139929342}, lrdindex = {10}, month_numeric = {8} }

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A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z > 6 Quasars

Rebecca L. Larson, Steven L. Finkelstein, Dale D. Kocevski, and 49 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Aug 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We report the discovery of an accreting supermassive black hole at z = 8.679. This galaxy, denoted here as CEERS_1019, was previously discovered as a Ly\ensuremathα-break galaxy by Hubble with a Ly\ensuremathα redshift from Keck. As part of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey, we have observed this source with JWST/NIRSpec, MIRI, NIRCam, and NIRCam/WFSS and uncovered a plethora of emission lines. The H\ensuremathβ line is best fit by a narrow plus a broad component, where the latter is measured at 2.5\ensuremathσ with an FWHM \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde1200 km s^-1. We conclude this originates in the broadline region of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). This is supported by the presence of weak high- ionization lines (N V, N IV], and C III]), as well as a spatial point-source component. The implied mass of the black hole (BH) is log (M _BH/M _\ensuremath⊙) = 6.95 \ensuremath\pm 0.37, and we estimate that it is accreting at 1.2 \ensuremath\pm 0.5 times the Eddington limit. The 1-8 \ensuremathμm photometric spectral energy distribution shows a continuum dominated by starlight and constrains the host galaxy to be massive (log M/M_\ensuremath⊙ \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde9.5) and highly star-forming (star formation rate, or SFR \raisebox-0.5ex~30 M_\ensuremath⊙ yr^-1; log sSFR \raisebox-0.5ex~- 7.9 yr^-1). The line ratios show that the gas is metal-poor (Z/Z _\ensuremath⊙ \raisebox-0.5ex~0.1), dense (n _ e \raisebox-0.5ex~10^3 cm^-3), and highly ionized (log U \raisebox-0.5ex~- 2.1). We use this present highest-redshift AGN discovery to place constraints on BH seeding models and find that a combination of either super- Eddington accretion from stellar seeds or Eddington accretion from very massive BH seeds is required to form this object.

@article{2023ApJ...953L..29L, author = {{Larson}, Rebecca L. and {Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Kocevski}, Dale D. and {Hutchison}, Taylor A. and {Trump}, Jonathan R. and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Bromm}, Volker and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Papovich}, Casey and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Zavala}, Jorge A. and {Bagley}, Micaela and {Behroozi}, Peter and {Champagne}, Jaclyn B. and {Cole}, Justin W. and {Jung}, Intae and {Morales}, Alexa M. and {Yang}, Guang and {Zhang}, Haowen and {Zitrin}, Adi and {Amor{\'\i}n}, Ricardo O. and {Burgarella}, Denis and {Casey}, Caitlin M. and {Ch{\'a}vez Ortiz}, {\'O}scar A. and {Cox}, Isabella G. and {Chworowsky}, Katherine and {Fontana}, Adriano and {Gawiser}, Eric and {Grazian}, Andrea and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Harish}, Santosh and {Hathi}, Nimish P. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Holwerda}, Benne W. and {Juneau}, St{\'e}phanie and {Leung}, Gene C. K. and {Lucas}, Ray A. and {McGrath}, Elizabeth J. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Rigby}, Jane R. and {Seill{\'e}}, Lise-Marie and {Simons}, Raymond C. and {de La Vega}, Alexander and {Weiner}, Benjamin J. and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron and {Ceers Team}}, title = {{A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z > 6 Quasars}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {AGN host galaxies, Black holes, High-redshift galaxies, Galaxies, Infrared spectroscopy, Spectroscopy, Observational astronomy, 2017, 162, 734, 573, 2285, 1558, 1145, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = aug, volume = {953}, number = {2}, eid = {L29}, pages = {L29}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/ace619}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2303.08918}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...953L..29L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {143986880}, lrdindex = {39}, month_numeric = {8} }

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A massive quiescent galaxy at redshift 4.658

Adam C. Carnall, Ross J. McLure, James S. Dunlop, and 10 more authors

Nature, Jul 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The extremely rapid assembly of the earliest galaxies during the first billion years of cosmic history is a major challenge for our understanding of galaxy formation physics^1-5. The advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has exacerbated this issue by confirming the existence of galaxies in substantial numbers as early as the first few hundred million years^6-8. Perhaps even more surprisingly, in some galaxies, this initial highly efficient star formation rapidly shuts down, or quenches, giving rise to massive quiescent galaxies as little as 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang^9,10. However, due to their faintness and red colour, it has proven extremely challenging to learn about these extreme quiescent galaxies, or to confirm whether any existed at earlier times. Here we report the spectroscopic confirmation of a massive quiescent galaxy, GS-9209, at redshift, z = 4.658, just 1.25 billion years after the Big Bang, using the JWST Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). From these data we infer a stellar mass of M_* = 3.8 \ensuremath\pm 0.2 \texttimes 10^10 M_\ensuremath⊙, which formed over a roughly 200 Myr period before this galaxy quenched its star-formation activity at z =6.5_-0.5^+0.2 , when the Universe was approximately 800 Myr old. This galaxy is both a likely descendent of the highest-redshift submillimetre galaxies and quasars, and a likely progenitor for the dense, ancient cores of the most massive local galaxies.

@article{2023Natur.619..716C, author = {{Carnall}, Adam C. and {McLure}, Ross J. and {Dunlop}, James S. and {McLeod}, Derek J. and {Wild}, Vivienne and {Cullen}, Fergus and {Magee}, Dan and {Begley}, Ryan and {Cimatti}, Andrea and {Donnan}, Callum T. and {Hamadouche}, Massissilia L. and {Jewell}, Sophie M. and {Walker}, Sam}, title = {{A massive quiescent galaxy at redshift 4.658}}, journal = {\nat}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = jul, volume = {619}, number = {7971}, pages = {716-719}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-023-06158-6}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2301.11413}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023Natur.619..716C}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {141918442}, lrdindex = {22}, month_numeric = {7} }

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Stress testing \ensuremathΛCDM with high-redshift galaxy candidates

Michael Boylan-Kolchin

Nature Astronomy, Jun 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Early data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed a bevy of high-redshift galaxy candidates with unexpectedly high stellar masses. An immediate concern is the consistency of these candidates with galaxy formation in the standard \ensuremathΛCDM cosmological model, wherein the stellar mass (M_\ensuremath⋆) of a galaxy is limited by the available baryonic reservoir of its host dark matter halo. The mass function of dark matter haloes therefore imposes an absolute upper limit on the number density n (>M_\ensuremath⋆, z) and stellar mass density \ensuremathρ_\ensuremath⋆ (>M_\ensuremath⋆, z) of galaxies more massive than M_\ensuremath⋆ at any epoch z. Here I show that the most massive galaxy candidates in JWST observations at z \ensuremath≈ 7-10 lie at the very edge of these limits, indicating an important unresolved issue with the properties of galaxies derived from the observations, how galaxies form at early times in \ensuremathΛCDM or within this standard cosmology itself.

@article{2023NatAs...7..731B, author = {{Boylan-Kolchin}, Michael}, title = {{Stress testing {\ensuremath{\Lambda}}CDM with high-redshift galaxy candidates}}, journal = {Nature Astronomy}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = jun, volume = {7}, pages = {731-735}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-023-01937-7}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2208.01611}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.CO}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023NatAs...7..731B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {133569113}, lrdindex = {22}, month_numeric = {6} }

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The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Jonathan P. Gardner, John C. Mather, Randy Abbott, and 197 more authors

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Jun 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least 4 m. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the 6.5 m James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 yr, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.

@article{2023PASP..135f8001G, author = {{Gardner}, Jonathan P. and {Mather}, John C. and {Abbott}, Randy and {Abell}, James S. and {Abernathy}, Mark and {Abney}, Faith E. and {Abraham}, John G. and {Abraham}, Roberto and {Abul-Huda}, Yasin M. and {Acton}, Scott and {Adams}, Cynthia K. and {Adams}, Evan and {Adler}, David S. and {Adriaensen}, Maarten and {Aguilar}, Jonathan Albert and {Ahmed}, Mansoor and {Ahmed}, Nasif S. and {Ahmed}, Tanjira and {Albat}, R{\"u}deger and {Albert}, Lo{\"\i}c and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Aldridge}, David and {Allen}, Mary Marsha and {Allen}, Shaune S. and {Altenburg}, Martin and {Altunc}, Serhat and {Alvarez}, Jose Lorenzo and {{\'A}lvarez-M{\'a}rquez}, Javier and {Alves de Oliveira}, Catarina and {Ambrose}, Leslie L. and {Anandakrishnan}, Satya M. and {Andersen}, Gregory C. and {Anderson}, Harry James and {Anderson}, Jay and {Anderson}, Kristen and {Anderson}, Sara M. and {Aprea}, Julio and {Archer}, Benita J. and {Arenberg}, Jonathan W. and {Argyriou}, Ioannis and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Artigau}, {\'E}tienne and {Arvai}, Amanda Rose and {Atcheson}, Paul and {Atkinson}, Charles B. and {Averbukh}, Jesse and {Aymergen}, Cagatay and {Bacinski}, John J. and {Baggett}, Wayne E. and {Bagnasco}, Giorgio and {Baker}, Lynn L. and {Balzano}, Vicki Ann and {Banks}, Kimberly A. and {Baran}, David A. and {Barker}, Elizabeth A. and {Barrett}, Larry K. and {Barringer}, Bruce O. and {Barto}, Allison and {Bast}, William and {Baudoz}, Pierre and {Baum}, Stefi and {Beatty}, Thomas G. and {Beaulieu}, Mathilde and {Bechtold}, Kathryn and {Beck}, Tracy and {Beddard}, Megan M. and {Beichman}, Charles and {Bellagama}, Larry and {Bely}, Pierre and {Berger}, Timothy W. and {Bergeron}, Louis E. and {Bernier}, Antoine-Darveau and {Bertch}, Maria D. and {Beskow}, Charlotte and {Betz}, Laura E. and {Biagetti}, Carl P. and {Birkmann}, Stephan and {Bjorklund}, Kurt F. and {Blackwood}, James D. and {Blazek}, Ronald Paul and {Blossfeld}, Stephen and {Bluth}, Marcel and {Boccaletti}, Anthony and {Boegner}, Jr., Martin E. and {Bohlin}, Ralph C. and {Boia}, John Joseph and {B{\"o}ker}, Torsten and {Bonaventura}, N. and {Bond}, Nicholas A. and {Bosley}, Kari Ann and {Boucarut}, Rene A. and {Bouchet}, Patrice and {Bouwman}, Jeroen and {Bower}, Gary and {Bowers}, Ariel S. and {Bowers}, Charles W. and {Boyce}, Leslye A. and {Boyer}, Christine T. and {Boyer}, Martha L. and {Boyer}, Michael and {Boyer}, Robert and {Bradley}, Larry D. and {Brady}, Gregory R. and {Brandl}, Bernhard R. and {Brannen}, Judith L. and {Breda}, David and {Bremmer}, Harold G. and {Brennan}, David and {Bresnahan}, Pamela A. and {Bright}, Stacey N. and {Broiles}, Brian J. and {Bromenschenkel}, Asa and {Brooks}, Brian H. and {Brooks}, Keira J. and {Brown}, Bob and {Brown}, Bruce and {Brown}, Thomas M. and {Bruce}, Barry W. and {Bryson}, Jonathan G. and {Bujanda}, Edwin D. and {Bullock}, Blake M. and {Bunker}, A. J. and {Bureo}, Rafael and {Burt}, Irving J. and {Bush}, James Aaron and {Bushouse}, Howard A. and {Bussman}, Marie C. and {Cabaud}, Olivier and {Cale}, Steven and {Calhoon}, Charles D. and {Calvani}, Humberto and {Canipe}, Alicia M. and {Caputo}, Francis M. and {Cara}, Mihai and {Carey}, Larkin and {Case}, Michael Eli and {Cesari}, Thaddeus and {Cetorelli}, Lee D. and {Chance}, Don R. and {Chandler}, Lynn and {Chaney}, Dave and {Chapman}, George N. and {Charlot}, S. and {Chayer}, Pierre and {Cheezum}, Jeffrey I. and {Chen}, Bin and {Chen}, Christine H. and {Cherinka}, Brian and {Chichester}, Sarah C. and {Chilton}, Zachary S. and {Chittiraibalan}, Dharini and {Clampin}, Mark and {Clark}, Charles R. and {Clark}, Kerry W. and {Clark}, Stephanie M. and {Claybrooks}, Edward E. and {Cleveland}, Keith A. and {Cohen}, Andrew L. and {Cohen}, Lester M. and {Col{\'o}n}, Knicole D. and {Coleman}, Benee L. and {Colina}, Luis and {Comber}, Brian J. and {Comeau}, Thomas M. and {Comer}, Thomas and {Conde Reis}, Alain and {Connolly}, Dennis C. and {Conroy}, Kyle E. and {Contos}, Adam R. and {Contreras}, James and {Cook}, Neil J. and {Cooper}, James L. and {Cooper}, Rachel Aviva and {Correia}, Michael F. and {Correnti}, Matteo and {Cossou}, Christophe and {Costanza}, Brian F. and {Coulais}, Alain and {Cox}, Colin R. and {Coyle}, Ray T. and {Cracraft}, Misty M. and {Crew}, Keith A. and {Curtis}, Gary J. and {Cusveller}, Bianca and {Da Costa Maciel}, Cleyciane and {Dailey}, Christopher T. and {Daugeron}, Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric and {Davidson}, Greg S. and {Davies}, James E. and {Davis}, Katherine Anne and {Davis}, Michael S. and {Day}, Ratna and {de Chambure}, Daniel and {de Jong}, Pauline and {De Marchi}, Guido and {Dean}, Bruce H. and {Decker}, John E. and {Delisa}, Amy S. and {Dell}, Lawrence C. and {Dellagatta}, Gail}, title = {{The James Webb Space Telescope Mission}}, journal = {\pasp}, keywords = {Space vehicle instruments, Astronomical instrumentation, Infrared astronomy, Infrared observatories, Space observatories, History of astronomy, 1548, 799, 786, 791, 1543, 1868, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics}, year = {2023}, month = jun, volume = {135}, number = {1048}, eid = {068001}, pages = {068001}, doi = {10.1088/1538-3873/acd1b5}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2304.04869}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.IM}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023PASP..135f8001G}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {145552555}, lrdindex = {16}, month_numeric = {6} }

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EIGER. I. A Large Sample of [O III]-emitting Galaxies at 5.3 < z < 6.9 and Direct Evidence for Local Reionization by Galaxies

Daichi Kashino, Simon J. Lilly, Jorryt Matthee, and 4 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Jun 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present a first sample of 117 [O III] \ensuremathλ\ensuremathλ4960, 5008-selected star-forming galaxies at 5.33 < z < 6.93 detected in JWST/NIRCam 3.5 \ensuremathμm slitless spectroscopy of a 6\buildrel\,\prime\over. 5\,\times  3\buildrel\,\prime\over. 4 field centered on the hyperluminous quasar SDSS J0100+2802, obtained as part of the Emission-line galaxies and Intergalactic Gas in the Epoch of Reionization (EIGER) survey. Three prominent galaxy overdensities are observed, one of them at the redshift of the quasar. Galaxies are found within 200 pkpc and 105 km s^-1 of four known metal absorption-line systems. We focus on the role of the galaxies in ionizing the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the later stages of cosmic reionization and construct the mean Ly\ensuremathα and Ly\ensuremathβ transmission as a function of distance from the galaxies. At the lowest redshifts in our study, 5.3 < z < 5.7, the IGM transmission rises monotonically with distance from the galaxies, as seen previously at lower redshifts. In contrast, at 5.7 < z < 6.14, the transmission of both Ly\ensuremathα and Ly\ensuremathβ first increases with distance but then peaks at a distance of 5 cMpc before declining. Finally, in the region 6.15 < z < 6.26, where the additional ionizing radiation from the quasar dominates, the monotonic increase in transmission with distance is reestablished. This result is interpreted to represent evidence that the transmission of the IGM at z \raisebox-0.5ex~5.9 toward J0100+2802 results from the “local” ionizing radiation of galaxies that dominates over the much-reduced cosmic background.

@article{2023ApJ...950...66K, author = {{Kashino}, Daichi and {Lilly}, Simon J. and {Matthee}, Jorryt and {Eilers}, Anna-Christina and {Mackenzie}, Ruari and {Bordoloi}, Rongmon and {Simcoe}, Robert A.}, title = {{EIGER. I. A Large Sample of [O III]-emitting Galaxies at 5.3 < z < 6.9 and Direct Evidence for Local Reionization by Galaxies}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Reionization, Intergalactic medium, Emission line galaxies, Circumgalactic medium, High-redshift galaxies, Protoclusters, Galaxy evolution, 1383, 813, 459, 1879, 734, 1297, 594, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2023}, month = jun, volume = {950}, number = {1}, eid = {66}, pages = {66}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/acc588}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2211.08254}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...950...66K}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {138481003}, lrdindex = {8}, month_numeric = {6} }

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Quasar Luminosity Function at z = 7

Yoshiki Matsuoka, Masafusa Onoue, Kazushi Iwasawa, and 41 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Jun 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the quasar luminosity function (LF) at z = 7, measured with 35 spectroscopically confirmed quasars at 6.55 < z < 7.15. The sample of 22 quasars from the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low- Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) project, combined with 13 brighter quasars in the literature, covers an unprecedentedly wide range of rest-frame ultraviolet magnitudes over -28 < M _1450 < -23. We found that the binned LF flattens significantly toward the faint end populated by the SHELLQs quasars. A maximum likelihood fit to a double power-law model has a break magnitude M_1450^* =-25.60_-0.30^+0.40 , a characteristic density \rmΦ^* =1.35_-0.30^+0.47 Gpc^-3 mag^-1, and a bright-end slope β=-3.34_-0.57^+0.49 , when the faint-end slope is fixed to \ensuremathα = -1.2 as observed at z \ensuremath≤ 6. The overall LF shape remains remarkably similar from z = 4 to 7, while the amplitude decreases substantially toward higher redshifts, with a clear indication of an accelerating decline at z \ensuremath≥ 6. The estimated ionizing photon density, 10^48.2\ensuremath\pm0.1 s^-1 Mpc^-3, is less than 1% of the critical rate to keep the intergalactic medium ionized at z = 7, and thus indicates that quasars are not a major contributor to cosmic reionization.

@article{2023ApJ...949L..42M, author = {{Matsuoka}, Yoshiki and {Onoue}, Masafusa and {Iwasawa}, Kazushi and {Strauss}, Michael A. and {Kashikawa}, Nobunari and {Izumi}, Takuma and {Nagao}, Tohru and {Imanishi}, Masatoshi and {Akiyama}, Masayuki and {Silverman}, John D. and {Asami}, Naoko and {Bosch}, James and {Furusawa}, Hisanori and {Goto}, Tomotsugu and {Gunn}, James E. and {Harikane}, Yuichi and {Ikeda}, Hiroyuki and {Inayoshi}, Kohei and {Ishimoto}, Rikako and {Kawaguchi}, Toshihiro and {Kikuta}, Satoshi and {Kohno}, Kotaro and {Komiyama}, Yutaka and {Lee}, Chien-Hsiu and {Lupton}, Robert H. and {Minezaki}, Takeo and {Miyazaki}, Satoshi and {Murayama}, Hitoshi and {Nishizawa}, Atsushi J. and {Oguri}, Masamune and {Ono}, Yoshiaki and {Oogi}, Taira and {Ouchi}, Masami and {Price}, Paul A. and {Sameshima}, Hiroaki and {Sugiyama}, Naoshi and {Tait}, Philip J. and {Takada}, Masahiro and {Takahashi}, Ayumi and {Takata}, Tadafumi and {Tanaka}, Masayuki and {Toba}, Yoshiki and {Wang}, Shiang-Yu and {Yamashita}, Takuji}, title = {{Quasar Luminosity Function at z = 7}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Supermassive black holes, Quasars, Reionization, 1663, 1319, 1383, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = jun, volume = {949}, number = {2}, eid = {L42}, pages = {L42}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acd69f}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2305.11225}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...949L..42M}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {148787988}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {6} }

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CEERS Key Paper. VI. JWST/MIRI Uncovers a Large Population of Obscured AGN at High Redshifts

G. Yang, K. I. Caputi, C. Papovich, and 35 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Jun 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) observations are powerful in identifying heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN) that have weak emission in other wavelengths. Data from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on board the James Webb Space Telescope provides an excellent opportunity to perform such studies. We take advantage of the MIRI imaging data from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey to investigate the AGN population in the distant universe. We estimate the source properties of MIRI-selected objects by utilizing spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling, and classify them into star-forming galaxies (SFs), SF-AGN mixed objects, and AGN. The source numbers of these types are 433, 102, and 25, respectively, from four MIRI pointings covering \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde9 arcmin^2. The sample spans a redshift range of \ensuremath≈0-5. We derive the median SEDs for all three source types, respectively, and publicly release them. The median MIRI SED of AGN is similar to the typical SEDs of hot dust-obscured galaxies and Seyfert 2s, for which the mid-IR SEDs are dominated by emission from AGN-heated hot dust. Based on our SED-fit results, we estimate the black hole accretion density (BHAD; i.e., total BH growth rate per comoving volume) as a function of redshift. At z 3, we identify a total of 27 AGN and SF-AGN mixed objects, leading to that our high-z BHAD is substantially higher than the X-ray results (\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde0.5 dex at z \ensuremath≈ 3-5). This difference indicates MIRI can identify a large population of heavily obscured AGN missed by X-ray surveys at high redshifts.

@article{2023ApJ...950L...5Y, author = {{Yang}, G. and {Caputi}, K. I. and {Papovich}, C. and {Arrabal Haro}, P. and {Bagley}, M. B. and {Behroozi}, P. and {Bell}, E. F. and {Bisigello}, L. and {Buat}, V. and {Burgarella}, D. and {Cheng}, Y. and {Cleri}, N. J. and {Dav{\'e}}, R. and {Dickinson}, M. and {Elbaz}, D. and {Ferguson}, H. C. and {Finkelstein}, S. L. and {Grogin}, N. A. and {Hathi}, N. P. and {Hirschmann}, M. and {Holwerda}, B. W. and {Huertas-Company}, M. and {Hutchison}, T. A. and {Iani}, E. and {Kartaltepe}, J. S. and {Kirkpatrick}, A. and {Kocevski}, D. D. and {Koekemoer}, A. M. and {Kokorev}, V. and {Larson}, R. L. and {Lucas}, R. A. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, P. G. and {Rinaldi}, P. and {Shen}, L. and {Trump}, J. R. and {de la Vega}, A. and {Yung}, L. Y. A. and {Zavala}, J. A.}, title = {{CEERS Key Paper. VI. JWST/MIRI Uncovers a Large Population of Obscured AGN at High Redshifts}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Active galactic nuclei, High-redshift galaxies, Supermassive black holes, Star formation, 16, 734, 1663, 1569, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = jun, volume = {950}, number = {1}, eid = {L5}, pages = {L5}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acd639}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2303.11736}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...950L...5Y}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {144166417}, lrdindex = {11}, month_numeric = {6} }

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A population of red candidate massive galaxies 600 Myr after the Big Bang

Ivo Labbé, Pieter van Dokkum, Erica Nelson, and 8 more authors

Nature, Apr 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Galaxies with stellar masses as high as roughly 10^11 solar masses have been identified^1-3 out to redshifts z of roughly 6, around 1 billion years after the Big Bang. It has been difficult to find massive galaxies at even earlier times, as the Balmer break region, which is needed for accurate mass estimates, is redshifted to wavelengths beyond 2.5 \ensuremathμm. Here we make use of the 1-5 \ensuremathμm coverage of the James Webb Space Telescope early release observations to search for intrinsically red galaxies in the first roughly 750 million years of cosmic history. In the survey area, we find six candidate massive galaxies (stellar mass more than 10^10 solar masses) at 7.4 \ensuremath≤ z \ensuremath≤ 9.1, 500-700 Myr after the Big Bang, including one galaxy with a possible stellar mass of roughly 10^11 solar masses. If verified with spectroscopy, the stellar mass density in massive galaxies would be much higher than anticipated from previous studies on the basis of rest-frame ultraviolet-selected samples.

@article{2023Natur.616..266L, author = {{Labb{\'e}}, Ivo and {van Dokkum}, Pieter and {Nelson}, Erica and {Bezanson}, Rachel and {Suess}, Katherine A. and {Leja}, Joel and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Whitaker}, Katherine and {Mathews}, Elijah and {Stefanon}, Mauro and {Wang}, Bingjie}, title = {{A population of red candidate massive galaxies 600 Myr after the Big Bang}}, journal = {\nat}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = apr, volume = {616}, number = {7956}, pages = {266-269}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-023-05786-2}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2207.12446}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023Natur.616..266L}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {133172598}, lrdindex = {57}, month_numeric = {4} }

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The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

Jane Rigby, Marshall Perrin, Michael McElwain, and 197 more authors

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Apr 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.

@article{2023PASP..135d8001R, author = {{Rigby}, Jane and {Perrin}, Marshall and {McElwain}, Michael and {Kimble}, Randy and {Friedman}, Scott and {Lallo}, Matt and {Doyon}, Ren{\'e} and {Feinberg}, Lee and {Ferruit}, Pierre and {Glasse}, Alistair and {Rieke}, Marcia and {Rieke}, George and {Wright}, Gillian and {Willott}, Chris and {Colon}, Knicole and {Milam}, Stefanie and {Neff}, Susan and {Stark}, Christopher and {Valenti}, Jeff and {Abell}, Jim and {Abney}, Faith and {Abul-Huda}, Yasin and {Acton}, D. Scott and {Adams}, Evan and {Adler}, David and {Aguilar}, Jonathan and {Ahmed}, Nasif and {Albert}, Lo{\"\i}c and {Alberts}, Stacey and {Aldridge}, David and {Allen}, Marsha and {Altenburg}, Martin and {{\'A}lvarez-M{\'a}rquez}, Javier and {Alves de Oliveira}, Catarina and {Andersen}, Greg and {Anderson}, Harry and {Anderson}, Sara and {Argyriou}, Ioannis and {Armstrong}, Amber and {Arribas}, Santiago and {Artigau}, Etienne and {Arvai}, Amanda and {Atkinson}, Charles and {Bacon}, Gregory and {Bair}, Thomas and {Banks}, Kimberly and {Barrientes}, Jaclyn and {Barringer}, Bruce and {Bartosik}, Peter and {Bast}, William and {Baudoz}, Pierre and {Beatty}, Thomas and {Bechtold}, Katie and {Beck}, Tracy and {Bergeron}, Eddie and {Bergkoetter}, Matthew and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Birkmann}, Stephan and {Blazek}, Ronald and {Blome}, Claire and {Boccaletti}, Anthony and {B{\"o}ker}, Torsten and {Boia}, John and {Bonaventura}, Nina and {Bond}, Nicholas and {Bosley}, Kari and {Boucarut}, Ray and {Bourque}, Matthew and {Bouwman}, Jeroen and {Bower}, Gary and {Bowers}, Charles and {Boyer}, Martha and {Bradley}, Larry and {Brady}, Greg and {Braun}, Hannah and {Breda}, David and {Bresnahan}, Pamela and {Bright}, Stacey and {Britt}, Christopher and {Bromenschenkel}, Asa and {Brooks}, Brian and {Brooks}, Keira and {Brown}, Bob and {Brown}, Matthew and {Brown}, Patricia and {Bunker}, Andy and {Burger}, Matthew and {Bushouse}, Howard and {Cale}, Steven and {Cameron}, Alex and {Cameron}, Peter and {Canipe}, Alicia and {Caplinger}, James and {Caputo}, Francis and {Cara}, Mihai and {Carey}, Larkin and {Carniani}, Stefano and {Carrasquilla}, Maria and {Carruthers}, Margaret and {Case}, Michael and {Catherine}, Riggs and {Chance}, Don and {Chapman}, George and {Charlot}, St{\'e}phane and {Charlow}, Brian and {Chayer}, Pierre and {Chen}, Bin and {Cherinka}, Brian and {Chichester}, Sarah and {Chilton}, Zack and {Chonis}, Taylor and {Clampin}, Mark and {Clark}, Charles and {Clark}, Kerry and {Coe}, Dan and {Coleman}, Benee and {Comber}, Brian and {Comeau}, Tom and {Connolly}, Dennis and {Cooper}, James and {Cooper}, Rachel and {Coppock}, Eric and {Correnti}, Matteo and {Cossou}, Christophe and {Coulais}, Alain and {Coyle}, Laura and {Cracraft}, Misty and {Curti}, Mirko and {Cuturic}, Steven and {Davis}, Katherine and {Davis}, Michael and {Dean}, Bruce and {DeLisa}, Amy and {deMeester}, Wim and {Dencheva}, Nadia and {Dencheva}, Nadezhda and {DePasquale}, Joseph and {Deschenes}, Jeremy and {Hunor Detre}, {\"O}rs and {Diaz}, Rosa and {Dicken}, Dan and {DiFelice}, Audrey and {Dillman}, Matthew and {Dixon}, William and {Doggett}, Jesse and {Donaldson}, Tom and {Douglas}, Rob and {DuPrie}, Kimberly and {Dupuis}, Jean and {Durning}, John and {Easmin}, Nilufar and {Eck}, Weston and {Edeani}, Chinwe and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Ehrenwinkler}, Ralf and {Eisenhamer}, Jonathan and {Eisenhower}, Michael and {Elie}, Michelle and {Elliott}, James and {Elliott}, Kyle and {Ellis}, Tracy and {Engesser}, Michael and {Espinoza}, Nestor and {Etienne}, Odessa and {Etxaluze}, Mireya and {Falini}, Patrick and {Feeney}, Matthew and {Ferry}, Malcolm and {Filippazzo}, Joseph and {Fincham}, Brian and {Fix}, Mees and {Flagey}, Nicolas and {Florian}, Michael and {Flynn}, Jim and {Fontanella}, Erin and {Ford}, Terrance and {Forshay}, Peter and {Fox}, Ori and {Franz}, David and {Fu}, Henry and {Fullerton}, Alexander and {Galkin}, Sergey and {Galyer}, Anthony and {Garc{\'\i}a Mar{\'\i}n}, Macarena and {Gardner}, Jonathan P. and {Gardner}, Lisa and {Garland}, Dennis and {Garrett}, Bruce and {Gasman}, Danny and {Gaspar}, Andras and {Gaudreau}, Daniel and {Gauthier}, Peter and {Geers}, Vincent and {Geithner}, Paul and {Gennaro}, Mario and {Giardino}, Giovanna and {Girard}, Julien and {Giuliano}, Mark and {Glassmire}, Kirk and {Glauser}, Adrian}, title = {{The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning}}, journal = {\pasp}, keywords = {Observatories, Infrared astronomy, Astronomical instrumentation, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics}, year = {2023}, month = apr, volume = {135}, number = {1046}, eid = {048001}, pages = {048001}, doi = {10.1088/1538-3873/acb293}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2207.05632}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.IM}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023PASP..135d8001R}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {132165647}, lrdindex = {14}, month_numeric = {4} }

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An Atlas of Color-selected Quiescent Galaxies at z > 3 in Public JWST Fields

Francesco Valentino, Gabriel Brammer, Katriona M. L. Gould, and 24 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Apr 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the results of a systematic search for candidate quiescent galaxies in the distant universe in 11 JWST fields with publicly available observations collected during the first 3 months of operations and covering an effective sky area of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde145 arcmin^2. We homogeneously reduce the new JWST data and combine them with existing observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. We select a robust sample of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde80 candidate quiescent and quenching galaxies at 3 3, as could be expected for highly clustered massive systems. Importantly, JWST enables the robust identification of quenching/quiescent galaxy candidates at lower masses and higher redshifts than before, challenging standard formation scenarios. All data products, including the literature compilation, are made publicly available.

@article{2023ApJ...947...20V, author = {{Valentino}, Francesco and {Brammer}, Gabriel and {Gould}, Katriona M. L. and {Kokorev}, Vasily and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Jespersen}, Christian Kragh and {Vijayan}, Aswin P. and {Weaver}, John R. and {Ito}, Kei and {Tanaka}, Masayuki and {Ilbert}, Olivier and {Magdis}, Georgios E. and {Whitaker}, Katherine E. and {Faisst}, Andreas L. and {Gallazzi}, Anna and {Gillman}, Steven and {Gim{\'e}nez-Arteaga}, Clara and {G{\'o}mez-Guijarro}, Carlos and {Kubo}, Mariko and {Heintz}, Kasper E. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Oesch}, Pascal and {Onodera}, Masato and {Rizzo}, Francesca and {Lee}, Minju and {Strait}, Victoria and {Toft}, Sune}, title = {{An Atlas of Color-selected Quiescent Galaxies at z > 3 in Public JWST Fields}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, High-redshift galaxies, Galaxy quenching, Quenched galaxies, Post-starburst galaxies, Surveys, 594, 734, 2040, 2016, 2176, 1671, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = apr, volume = {947}, number = {1}, eid = {20}, pages = {20}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/acbefa}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2302.10936}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...947...20V}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {142821459}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {4} }

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CEERS Epoch 1 NIRCam Imaging: Reduction Methods and Simulations Enabling Early JWST Science Results

Micaela B. Bagley, Steven L. Finkelstein, Anton M. Koekemoer, and 37 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Mar 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present the data release and data reduction process for the Epoch 1 NIRCam observations for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS). These data consist of NIRCam imaging in six broadband filters (F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W and F444W) and one medium-band filter (F410M) over four pointings, obtained in parallel with primary CEERS MIRI observations. We reduced the NIRCam imaging with the JWST Calibration Pipeline, with custom modifications and reduction steps designed to address additional features and challenges with the data. Here we provide a detailed description of each step in our reduction and a discussion of future expected improvements. Our reduction process includes corrections for known prelaunch issues such as 1/f noise, as well as in-flight issues including snowballs, wisps, and astrometric alignment. Many of our custom reduction processes were first developed with prelaunch simulated NIRCam imaging over the full 10 CEERS NIRCam pointings. We present a description of the creation and reduction of this simulated data set in the Appendix. We provide mosaics of the real images in a public release, as well as our reduction scripts with detailed explanations to allow users to reproduce our final data products. These represent one of the first official public data sets released from the Directors Discretionary Early Release Science (DD-ERS) program.

@article{2023ApJ...946L..12B, author = {{Bagley}, Micaela B. and {Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Ferguson}, Henry C. and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Papovich}, Casey and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Somerville}, Rachel S. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Yang}, Guang and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron and {Fontana}, Adriano and {Grazian}, Andrea and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Kewley}, Lisa J. and {Kirkpatrick}, Allison and {Kocevski}, Dale D. and {Lotz}, Jennifer M. and {Medrano}, Aubrey and {Morales}, Alexa M. and {Pentericci}, Laura and {Ravindranath}, Swara and {Trump}, Jonathan R. and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {Calabr{\`o}}, Antonello and {Cooper}, M. C. and {Costantin}, Luca and {de la Vega}, Alexander and {Hilbert}, Bryan and {Hutchison}, Taylor A. and {Larson}, Rebecca L. and {Lucas}, Ray A. and {McGrath}, Elizabeth J. and {Ryan}, Russell and {Wang}, Xin and {Wuyts}, Stijn}, title = {{CEERS Epoch 1 NIRCam Imaging: Reduction Methods and Simulations Enabling Early JWST Science Results}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Near infrared astronomy, Direct imaging, Astronomy data reduction, 1093, 387, 1861, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = mar, volume = {946}, number = {1}, eid = {L12}, pages = {L12}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acbb08}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2211.02495}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.IM}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...946L..12B}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {138133535}, lrdindex = {17}, month_numeric = {3} }

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CEERS Key Paper. I. An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST

Steven L. Finkelstein, Micaela B. Bagley, Henry C. Ferguson, and 64 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Mar 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We present an investigation into the first 500 Myr of galaxy evolution from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. CEERS, one of 13 JWST ERS programs, targets galaxy formation from z \raisebox-0.5ex~0.5 to >10 using several imaging and spectroscopic modes. We make use of the first epoch of CEERS NIRCam imaging, spanning 35.5 arcmin^2, to search for candidate galaxies at z > 9. Following a detailed data reduction process implementing several custom steps to produce high-quality reduced images, we perform multiband photometry across seven NIRCam broad- and medium-band (and six Hubble broadband) filters focusing on robust colors and accurate total fluxes. We measure photometric redshifts and devise a robust set of selection criteria to identify a sample of 26 galaxy candidates at z \raisebox-0.5ex~9-16. These objects are compact with a median half-light radius of \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde0.5 kpc. We present an early estimate of the z \raisebox-0.5ex~11 rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function, finding that the number density of galaxies at M _UV \raisebox-0.5ex~-20 appears to evolve very little from z \raisebox-0.5ex~9 to 11. We also find that the abundance (surface density [arcmin^-2]) of our candidates exceeds nearly all theoretical predictions. We explore potential implications, including that at z > 10, star formation may be dominated by top-heavy initial mass functions, which would result in an increased ratio of UV light per unit halo mass, though a complete lack of dust attenuation and/or changing star formation physics may also play a role. While spectroscopic confirmation of these sources is urgently required, our results suggest that the deeper views to come with JWST should yield prolific samples of ultrahigh-redshift galaxies with which to further explore these conclusions.

@article{2023ApJ...946L..13F, author = {{Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Bagley}, Micaela B. and {Ferguson}, Henry C. and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Papovich}, Casey and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Behroozi}, Peter and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Kocevski}, Dale D. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Larson}, Rebecca L. and {Le Bail}, Aur{\'e}lien and {Morales}, Alexa M. and {P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Burgarella}, Denis and {Dav{\'e}}, Romeel and {Hirschmann}, Michaela and {Somerville}, Rachel S. and {Wuyts}, Stijn and {Bromm}, Volker and {Casey}, Caitlin M. and {Fontana}, Adriano and {Fujimoto}, Seiji and {Gardner}, Jonathan P. and {Giavalisco}, Mauro and {Grazian}, Andrea and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Hathi}, Nimish P. and {Hutchison}, Taylor A. and {Jha}, Saurabh W. and {Jogee}, Shardha and {Kewley}, Lisa J. and {Kirkpatrick}, Allison and {Long}, Arianna S. and {Lotz}, Jennifer M. and {Pentericci}, Laura and {Pierel}, Justin D. R. and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Ravindranath}, Swara and {Ryan}, Russell E. and {Trump}, Jonathan R. and {Yang}, Guang and {Bhatawdekar}, Rachana and {Bisigello}, Laura and {Buat}, V{\'e}ronique and {Calabr{\`o}}, Antonello and {Castellano}, Marco and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Cooper}, M. C. and {Croton}, Darren and {Daddi}, Emanuele and {Dekel}, Avishai and {Elbaz}, David and {Franco}, Maximilien and {Gawiser}, Eric and {Holwerda}, Benne W. and {Huertas-Company}, Marc and {Jaskot}, Anne E. and {Leung}, Gene C. K. and {Lucas}, Ray A. and {Mobasher}, Bahram and {Pandya}, Viraj and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Weiner}, Benjamin J. and {Zavala}, Jorge A.}, title = {{CEERS Key Paper. I. An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Early universe, Galaxy formation, Galaxy evolution, High-redshift galaxies, 435, 595, 594, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = mar, volume = {946}, number = {1}, eid = {L13}, pages = {L13}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acade4}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2211.05792}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...946L..13F}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {138385104}, lrdindex = {15}, month_numeric = {3} }

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A Comprehensive Study of Galaxies at z 9-16 Found in the Early JWST Data: Ultraviolet Luminosity Functions and Cosmic Star Formation History at the Pre-reionization Epoch

Yuichi Harikane, Masami Ouchi, Masamune Oguri, and 6 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Mar 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We conduct a comprehensive study on dropout galaxy candidates at z \raisebox-0.5ex~9-16 using the first 90 arcmin^2 James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near Infrared Camera images taken by the early release observations (ERO) and early release science programs. With the JWST simulation images, we find that a number of foreground interlopers are selected with a weak photo-z determination (\ensuremath∆\ensuremathχ ^2 > 4). We thus carefully apply a secure photo-z selection criterion (\ensuremath∆\ensuremathχ ^2 > 9) and conventional color criteria with confirmations of the ERO Near Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopic redshifts, and obtain a total of 23 dropout galaxies at z \raisebox-0.5ex~9-16, including two candidates at z_\mathrmphot=16.25_-0.46^+0.24 and 16.41_-0.55^+0.66 . We perform thorough comparisons of dropout galaxies found in our work with recent JWST studies, and conclude that our galaxy sample is reliable enough for statistical analyses. We derive the UV luminosity functions at z \raisebox-0.5ex~9-16, and confirm that our UV luminosity functions at z \raisebox-0.5ex~9 and 12 agree with those determined by other Hubble Space Telescope and JWST studies. The cosmic star formation rate (SFR) density decreases from z \raisebox-0.5ex~9 to 12, and perhaps to 16, but the densities at z \raisebox-0.5ex~12-16 are higher than the constant star formation efficiency model. Interestingly, there are six bright galaxy candidates at z \raisebox-0.5ex~10-16 with M _UV < -19.5 mag and M _* \raisebox-0.5ex~10^8-9 M _\ensuremath⊙. Because a majority (\raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde80%) of these galaxies show no signatures of active galactic nuclei in their morphologies, the high cosmic SFR densities and the existence of these UV-luminous galaxies are explained by the lack of suppression of star formation by the UV background radiation at the pre-reionization epoch and/or an efficient UV radiation production by a top-heavy initial mass function with Population III-like star formation.

@article{2023ApJS..265....5H, author = {{Harikane}, Yuichi and {Ouchi}, Masami and {Oguri}, Masamune and {Ono}, Yoshiaki and {Nakajima}, Kimihiko and {Isobe}, Yuki and {Umeda}, Hiroya and {Mawatari}, Ken and {Zhang}, Yechi}, title = {{A Comprehensive Study of Galaxies at z 9-16 Found in the Early JWST Data: Ultraviolet Luminosity Functions and Cosmic Star Formation History at the Pre-reionization Epoch}}, journal = {\apjs}, keywords = {Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, High-redshift galaxies, 594, 595, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = mar, volume = {265}, number = {1}, eid = {5}, pages = {5}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4365/acaaa9}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2208.01612}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJS..265....5H}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {133569112}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {3} }

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CEERS Key Paper. IV. A Triality in the Nature of HST-dark Galaxies

Pablo G. Pérez-González, Guillermo Barro, Marianna Annunziatella, and 52 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Mar 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The new capabilities that JWST offers in the near- and mid-infrared (IR) are used to investigate in unprecedented detail the nature of optical/near-IR-faint, mid-IR-bright sources, with HST-dark galaxies among them. We gather JWST data from the CEERS survey in the Extended Groth Strip, jointly with HST data, and analyze spatially resolved optical-to-mid-IR spectral energy distributions to estimate photometric redshifts in two dimensions and stellar population properties on a pixel-by-pixel basis for red galaxies detected by NIRCam. We select 138 galaxies with F150W ‑ F356W > 1.5 mag and F356W 100 Gyr^‑1); (2) 18% are quiescent/dormant (i.e., subject to reignition/rejuvenation) galaxies (QGs) at 3 < z < 5, with and poststarburst mass- weighted ages (0.5–1.0 Gyr); and (3) 11% are strong young starbursts with indications of high equivalent width emission lines (typically, [O III]+H\ensuremathβ) at 6 < z < 7 (XELG-z6) and . The sample is dominated by disk-like galaxies with remarkable compactness for XELG-z6 (effective radii smaller than 0.4 kpc). Large attenuations in SFGs, 2 < A(V) < 5 mag, are found within 1.5 times the effective radius, approximately 2 kpc, while QGs present A(V) \ensuremath∼ 0.2 mag. Our SED-fitting technique reproduces the expected dust emission luminosities of IR-bright and submillimeter galaxies. This study implies high levels of star formation activity between z \ensuremath∼ 20 and z \ensuremath∼ 10, where virtually 100% of our galaxies had already formed 10^8 M _\ensuremath⊙, 60% had assembled 10^9 M _\ensuremath⊙, and 10% up to 10^10 M _\ensuremath⊙ (in situ or ex situ).

@article{2023ApJ...946L..16P, author = {{P{\'e}rez-Gonz{\'a}lez}, Pablo G. and {Barro}, Guillermo and {Annunziatella}, Marianna and {Costantin}, Luca and {Garc{\'\i}a-Argum{\'a}nez}, {\'A}ngela and {McGrath}, Elizabeth J. and {M{\'e}rida}, Rosa M. and {Zavala}, Jorge A. and {Arrabal Haro}, Pablo and {Bagley}, Micaela B. and {Backhaus}, Bren E. and {Behroozi}, Peter and {Bell}, Eric F. and {Bisigello}, Laura and {Buat}, V{\'e}ronique and {Calabr{\`o}}, Antonello and {Casey}, Caitlin M. and {Cleri}, Nikko J. and {Coogan}, Rosemary T. and {Cooper}, M. C. and {Cooray}, Asantha R. and {Dekel}, Avishai and {Dickinson}, Mark and {Elbaz}, David and {Ferguson}, Henry C. and {Finkelstein}, Steven L. and {Fontana}, Adriano and {Franco}, Maximilien and {Gardner}, Jonathan P. and {Giavalisco}, Mauro and {G{\'o}mez-Guijarro}, Carlos and {Grazian}, Andrea and {Grogin}, Norman A. and {Guo}, Yuchen and {Huertas-Company}, Marc and {Jogee}, Shardha and {Kartaltepe}, Jeyhan S. and {Kewley}, Lisa J. and {Kirkpatrick}, Allison and {Kocevski}, Dale D. and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Long}, Arianna S. and {Lotz}, Jennifer M. and {Lucas}, Ray A. and {Papovich}, Casey and {Pirzkal}, Nor and {Ravindranath}, Swara and {Somerville}, Rachel S. and {Tacchella}, Sandro and {Trump}, Jonathan R. and {Wang}, Weichen and {Wilkins}, Stephen M. and {Wuyts}, Stijn and {Yang}, Guang and {Yung}, L. Y. Aaron}, title = {{CEERS Key Paper. IV. A Triality in the Nature of HST-dark Galaxies}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Galaxy formation, Galaxy evolution, High-redshift galaxies, Stellar populations, Broad band photometry, Galaxy ages, James Webb Space Telescope, Galaxy quenching, Galaxy processes, Quenched galaxies, Starburst galaxies, Galaxy photometry, 595, 594, 734, 1622, 184, 576, 2291, 2040, 614, 2016, 1570, 611, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = mar, volume = {946}, number = {1}, eid = {L16}, pages = {L16}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/acb3a5}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2211.00045}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...946L..16P}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {137946082}, lrdindex = {9}, month_numeric = {3} }

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Performance of NIRCam on JWST in Flight

Marcia J. Rieke, Douglas M. Kelly, Karl Misselt, and 52 more authors

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Feb 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The Near Infrared Camera for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is delivering the imagery that astronomers have hoped for ever since JWST was proposed back in the 1990s. In the Commissioning Period that extended from right after launch to early 2022 July, NIRCam has been subjected to a number of performance tests and operational checks. The camera is exceeding prelaunch expectations in virtually all areas, with very few surprises discovered in flight. NIRCam also delivered the imagery needed by the Wavefront Sensing Team for use in aligning the telescope mirror segments.

@article{2023PASP..135b8001R, author = {{Rieke}, Marcia J. and {Kelly}, Douglas M. and {Misselt}, Karl and {Stansberry}, John and {Boyer}, Martha and {Beatty}, Thomas and {Egami}, Eiichi and {Florian}, Michael and {Greene}, Thomas P. and {Hainline}, Kevin and {Leisenring}, Jarron and {Roellig}, Thomas and {Schlawin}, Everett and {Sun}, Fengwu and {Tinnin}, Lee and {Williams}, Christina C. and {Willmer}, Christopher N. A. and {Wilson}, Debra and {Clark}, Charles R. and {Rohrbach}, Scott and {Brooks}, Brian and {Canipe}, Alicia and {Correnti}, Matteo and {DiFelice}, Audrey and {Gennaro}, Mario and {Girard}, Julien H. and {Hartig}, George and {Hilbert}, Bryan and {Koekemoer}, Anton M. and {Nikolov}, Nikolay K. and {Pirzkal}, Norbert and {Rest}, Armin and {Robberto}, Massimo and {Sunnquist}, Ben and {Telfer}, Randal and {Wu}, Chi Rai and {Ferry}, Malcolm and {Lewis}, Dan and {Baum}, Stefi and {Beichman}, Charles and {Doyon}, Ren{\'e} and {Dressler}, Alan and {Eisenstein}, Daniel J. and {Ferrarese}, Laura and {Hodapp}, Klaus and {Horner}, Scott and {Jaffe}, Daniel T. and {Johnstone}, Doug and {Krist}, John and {Martin}, Peter and {McCarthy}, Donald W. and {Meyer}, Michael and {Rieke}, George H. and {Trauger}, John and {Young}, Erick T.}, title = {{Performance of NIRCam on JWST in Flight}}, journal = {\pasp}, keywords = {Infrared telescopes, Space observatories, Space telescopes, 794, 1543, 1547, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics}, year = {2023}, month = feb, volume = {135}, number = {1044}, eid = {028001}, pages = {028001}, doi = {10.1088/1538-3873/acac53}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2212.12069}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.IM}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023PASP..135b8001R}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {140551151}, lrdindex = {12}, month_numeric = {2} }

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A Candidate for the Least-massive Black Hole in the First 1.1 Billion Years of the Universe

Masafusa Onoue, Kohei Inayoshi, Xuheng Ding, and 6 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Jan 2023

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We report a candidate of a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN) at z = 5 that was selected from the first near-infrared images of the JWST CEERS project. This source, named CEERS-AGN-z5-1 at absolute 1450 Å magnitude M _1450 = -19.5 \ensuremath\pm 0.3, was found via a visual selection of compact sources from a catalog of Lyman break galaxies at z > 4, taking advantage of the superb spatial resolution of the JWST/NIRCam images. The 20 photometric data available from CFHT, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer, and JWST suggest that the continuum shape of this source is reminiscent of that for an unobscured AGN, and there is a clear color excess in the filters where the redshifted H\ensuremathβ+[O III] and H\ensuremathα are covered. The estimated line luminosity is L _H\ensuremathβ+[O III] = 10^43.0 erg s^-1 and L _H\ensuremathα = 10^42.9 erg s^-1 with the corresponding rest-frame equivalent width EW_H\ensuremathβ+[O III] = 1100 Å and EW_H\ensuremathα = 1600 Å, respectively. Our spectral energy distribution fitting analysis favors the scenario that this object is either a strong broad-line emitter or even a super-Eddington accreting black hole (BH), although a possibility of an extremely young galaxy with moderate dust attenuation is not completely ruled out. The bolometric luminosity, L _bol = 2.5 \ensuremath\pm 0.3 \texttimes 10^44 erg s^-1, is consistent with those of z < 0.35 broad-line AGNs with M _BH \raisebox-0.5ex~10^6 M _\ensuremath⊙ accreting at the Eddington limit. This new AGN population in the first 1.1 billion years of the universe may close the gap between the observed BH mass range at high redshift and that of BH seeds. Spectroscopic confirmation is awaited to secure the redshift and its AGN nature.

@article{2023ApJ...942L..17O, author = {{Onoue}, Masafusa and {Inayoshi}, Kohei and {Ding}, Xuheng and {Li}, Wenxiu and {Li}, Zhengrong and {Molina}, Juan and {Inoue}, Akio K. and {Jiang}, Linhua and {Ho}, Luis C.}, title = {{A Candidate for the Least-massive Black Hole in the First 1.1 Billion Years of the Universe}}, journal = {\apjl}, keywords = {Supermassive black holes, Reionization, Quasars, Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, 1663, 1383, 1319, 2033, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies}, year = {2023}, month = jan, volume = {942}, number = {1}, eid = {L17}, pages = {L17}, doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aca9d3}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2209.07325}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023ApJ...942L..17O}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {135986154}, lrdindex = {18}, month_numeric = {1} }

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2022

The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package

Astropy Collaboration, Adrian M. Price-Whelan, Pey Lian Lim, and 134 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Aug 2022

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

The Astropy Project supports and fosters the development of open-source and openly developed Python packages that provide commonly needed functionality to the astronomical community. A key element of the Astropy Project is the core package astropy, which serves as the foundation for more specialized projects and packages. In this article, we summarize key features in the core package as of the recent major release, version 5.0, and provide major updates on the Project. We then discuss supporting a broader ecosystem of interoperable packages, including connections with several astronomical observatories and missions. We also revisit the future outlook of the Astropy Project and the current status of Learn Astropy. We conclude by raising and discussing the current and future challenges facing the Project.

@article{2022ApJ...935..167A, author = {{Astropy Collaboration} and {Price-Whelan}, Adrian M. and {Lim}, Pey Lian and {Earl}, Nicholas and {Starkman}, Nathaniel and {Bradley}, Larry and {Shupe}, David L. and {Patil}, Aarya A. and {Corrales}, Lia and {Brasseur}, C. E. and {N{\"o}the}, Maximilian and {Donath}, Axel and {Tollerud}, Erik and {Morris}, Brett M. and {Ginsburg}, Adam and {Vaher}, Eero and {Weaver}, Benjamin A. and {Tocknell}, James and {Jamieson}, William and {van Kerkwijk}, Marten H. and {Robitaille}, Thomas P. and {Merry}, Bruce and {Bachetti}, Matteo and {G{\"u}nther}, H. Moritz and {Aldcroft}, Thomas L. and {Alvarado-Montes}, Jaime A. and {Archibald}, Anne M. and {B{\'o}di}, Attila and {Bapat}, Shreyas and {Barentsen}, Geert and {Baz{\'a}n}, Juanjo and {Biswas}, Manish and {Boquien}, M{\'e}d{\'e}ric and {Burke}, D. J. and {Cara}, Daria and {Cara}, Mihai and {Conroy}, Kyle E. and {Conseil}, Simon and {Craig}, Matthew W. and {Cross}, Robert M. and {Cruz}, Kelle L. and {D'Eugenio}, Francesco and {Dencheva}, Nadia and {Devillepoix}, Hadrien A. R. and {Dietrich}, J{\"o}rg P. and {Eigenbrot}, Arthur Davis and {Erben}, Thomas and {Ferreira}, Leonardo and {Foreman-Mackey}, Daniel and {Fox}, Ryan and {Freij}, Nabil and {Garg}, Suyog and {Geda}, Robel and {Glattly}, Lauren and {Gondhalekar}, Yash and {Gordon}, Karl D. and {Grant}, David and {Greenfield}, Perry and {Groener}, Austen M. and {Guest}, Steve and {Gurovich}, Sebastian and {Handberg}, Rasmus and {Hart}, Akeem and {Hatfield-Dodds}, Zac and {Homeier}, Derek and {Hosseinzadeh}, Griffin and {Jenness}, Tim and {Jones}, Craig K. and {Joseph}, Prajwel and {Kalmbach}, J. Bryce and {Karamehmetoglu}, Emir and {Ka{\l}uszy{\'n}ski}, Miko{\l}aj and {Kelley}, Michael S. P. and {Kern}, Nicholas and {Kerzendorf}, Wolfgang E. and {Koch}, Eric W. and {Kulumani}, Shankar and {Lee}, Antony and {Ly}, Chun and {Ma}, Zhiyuan and {MacBride}, Conor and {Maljaars}, Jakob M. and {Muna}, Demitri and {Murphy}, N. A. and {Norman}, Henrik and {O'Steen}, Richard and {Oman}, Kyle A. and {Pacifici}, Camilla and {Pascual}, Sergio and {Pascual-Granado}, J. and {Patil}, Rohit R. and {Perren}, Gabriel I. and {Pickering}, Timothy E. and {Rastogi}, Tanuj and {Roulston}, Benjamin R. and {Ryan}, Daniel F. and {Rykoff}, Eli S. and {Sabater}, Jose and {Sakurikar}, Parikshit and {Salgado}, Jes{\'u}s and {Sanghi}, Aniket and {Saunders}, Nicholas and {Savchenko}, Volodymyr and {Schwardt}, Ludwig and {Seifert-Eckert}, Michael and {Shih}, Albert Y. and {Jain}, Anany Shrey and {Shukla}, Gyanendra and {Sick}, Jonathan and {Simpson}, Chris and {Singanamalla}, Sudheesh and {Singer}, Leo P. and {Singhal}, Jaladh and {Sinha}, Manodeep and {Sip{\H{o}}cz}, Brigitta M. and {Spitler}, Lee R. and {Stansby}, David and {Streicher}, Ole and {{\v{S}}umak}, Jani and {Swinbank}, John D. and {Taranu}, Dan S. and {Tewary}, Nikita and {Tremblay}, Grant R. and {de Val-Borro}, Miguel and {Van Kooten}, Samuel J. and {Vasovi{\'c}}, Zlatan and {Verma}, Shresth and {de Miranda Cardoso}, Jos{\'e} Vin{\'\i}cius and {Williams}, Peter K. G. and {Wilson}, Tom J. and {Winkel}, Benjamin and {Wood-Vasey}, W. M. and {Xue}, Rui and {Yoachim}, Peter and {Zhang}, Chen and {Zonca}, Andrea and {Astropy Project Contributors}}, title = {{The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Astronomy software, Open source software, Astronomy data analysis, 1855, 1866, 1858, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics}, year = {2022}, month = aug, volume = {935}, number = {2}, eid = {167}, pages = {167}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ac7c74}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2206.14220}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.IM}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022ApJ...935..167A}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {130441252}, lrdindex = {32}, month_numeric = {8} }

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The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope. I. Overview of the instrument and its capabilities

P. Jakobsen, P. Ferruit, C. Alves de Oliveira, and 68 more authors

Astronomy & Astrophysics, May 2022

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We provide an overview of the design and capabilities of the near- infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) onboard the James Webb Space Telescope. NIRSpec is designed to be capable of carrying out low-resolution (R = 30\ensuremath-330) prism spectroscopy over the wavelength range 0.6-5.3 \ensuremathμm and higher resolution (R = 500\ensuremath-1340 or R = 1320\ensuremath-3600) grating spectroscopy over 0.7-5.2 \ensuremathμm, both in single-object mode employing any one of five fixed slits, or a 3.1 \texttimes 3.2 arcsec^2 integral field unit, or in multiobject mode employing a novel programmable micro-shutter device covering a 3.6 \texttimes 3.4 arcmin^2 field of view. The all-reflective optical chain of NIRSpec and the performance of its different components are described, and some of the trade-offs made in designing the instrument are touched upon. The faint-end spectrophotometric sensitivity expected of NIRSpec, as well as its dependency on the energetic particle environment that its two detector arrays are likely to be subjected to in orbit are also discussed.

@article{2022A&A...661A..80J, author = {{Jakobsen}, P. and {Ferruit}, P. and {Alves de Oliveira}, C. and {Arribas}, S. and {Bagnasco}, G. and {Barho}, R. and {Beck}, T. L. and {Birkmann}, S. and {B{\"o}ker}, T. and {Bunker}, A. J. and {Charlot}, S. and {de Jong}, P. and {de Marchi}, G. and {Ehrenwinkler}, R. and {Falcolini}, M. and {Fels}, R. and {Franx}, M. and {Franz}, D. and {Funke}, M. and {Giardino}, G. and {Gnata}, X. and {Holota}, W. and {Honnen}, K. and {Jensen}, P. L. and {Jentsch}, M. and {Johnson}, T. and {Jollet}, D. and {Karl}, H. and {Kling}, G. and {K{\"o}hler}, J. and {Kolm}, M. -G. and {Kumari}, N. and {Lander}, M. E. and {Lemke}, R. and {L{\'o}pez-Caniego}, M. and {L{\"u}tzgendorf}, N. and {Maiolino}, R. and {Manjavacas}, E. and {Marston}, A. and {Maschmann}, M. and {Maurer}, R. and {Messerschmidt}, B. and {Moseley}, S. H. and {Mosner}, P. and {Mott}, D. B. and {Muzerolle}, J. and {Pirzkal}, N. and {Pittet}, J. -F. and {Plitzke}, A. and {Posselt}, W. and {Rapp}, B. and {Rauscher}, B. J. and {Rawle}, T. and {Rix}, H. -W. and {R{\"o}del}, A. and {Rumler}, P. and {Sabbi}, E. and {Salvignol}, J. -C. and {Schmid}, T. and {Sirianni}, M. and {Smith}, C. and {Strada}, P. and {te Plate}, M. and {Valenti}, J. and {Wettemann}, T. and {Wiehe}, T. and {Wiesmayer}, M. and {Willott}, C. J. and {Wright}, R. and {Zeidler}, P. and {Zincke}, C.}, title = {{The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope. I. Overview of the instrument and its capabilities}}, journal = {\aap}, keywords = {instrumentation: spectrographs, space vehicles: instruments, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics}, year = {2022}, month = may, volume = {661}, eid = {A80}, pages = {A80}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202142663}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2202.03305}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.IM}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022A\&A...661A..80J}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {122560001}, lrdindex = {14}, month_numeric = {5} }

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A dusty compact object bridging galaxies and quasars at cosmic dawn

S. Fujimoto, G. B. Brammer, D. Watson, and 18 more authors

Nature, Apr 2022

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

Understanding how super-massive black holes form and grow in the early Universe has become a major challenge^1,2 since it was discovered that luminous quasars existed only 700 million years after the Big Bang^3,4. Simulations indicate an evolutionary sequence of dust-reddened quasars emerging from heavily dust- obscured starbursts that then transition to unobscured luminous quasars by expelling gas and dust^5. Although the last phase has been identified out to a redshift of 7.6 (ref. ^6), a transitioning quasar has not been found at similar redshifts owing to their faintness at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. Here we report observations of an ultraviolet compact object, GNz7q, associated with a dust-enshrouded starburst at a redshift of 7.1899 \ensuremath\pm 0.0005. The host galaxy is more luminous in dust emission than any other known object at this epoch, forming 1,600 solar masses of stars per year within a central radius of 480 parsec. A red point source in the far-ultraviolet is identified in deep, high- resolution imaging and slitless spectroscopy. GNz7q is extremely faint in X-rays, which indicates the emergence of a uniquely ultraviolet compact star-forming region or a Compton-thick super-Eddington black-hole accretion disk at the dusty starburst core. In the latter case, the observed properties are consistent with predictions from cosmological simulations^7 and suggest that GNz7q is an antecedent to unobscured luminous quasars at later epochs.

@article{2022Natur.604..261F, author = {{Fujimoto}, S. and {Brammer}, G. B. and {Watson}, D. and {Magdis}, G. E. and {Kokorev}, V. and {Greve}, T. R. and {Toft}, S. and {Walter}, F. and {Valiante}, R. and {Ginolfi}, M. and {Schneider}, R. and {Valentino}, F. and {Colina}, L. and {Vestergaard}, M. and {Marques-Chaves}, R. and {Fynbo}, J. P. U. and {Krips}, M. and {Steinhardt}, C. L. and {Cortzen}, I. and {Rizzo}, F. and {Oesch}, P. A.}, title = {{A dusty compact object bridging galaxies and quasars at cosmic dawn}}, journal = {\nat}, keywords = {Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics}, year = {2022}, month = apr, volume = {604}, number = {7905}, pages = {261-265}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-022-04454-1}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2204.06393}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022Natur.604..261F}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {126547513}, lrdindex = {16}, month_numeric = {4} }

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Rapid Growth of Seed Black Holes during Early Bulge Formation

Kohei Inayoshi, Riouhei Nakatani, Daisuke Toyouchi, and 3 more authors

The Astrophysical Journal, Mar 2022

Abs DOI ADS arXiv

We study the early growth of massive seed black holes (BHs) via accretion in protogalactic nuclei where the stellar bulge component is assembled, performing axisymmetric two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical simulations. We find that when a seed BH with M _• \raisebox-0.5ex~10^5 M _\ensuremath⊙ is embedded in dense metal-poor gas (Z = 0.01 Z _\ensuremath⊙) with a density of \ensuremath≳ 100 cm^-3 and bulge stars with a total mass of M _\ensuremath⋆ \ensuremath≳ 100 M _•, a massive gaseous disk feeds the BH efficiently at rates of \ensuremath≳ 0.3-1 M _\ensuremath⊙ yr^-1, and the BH mass increases nearly tenfold within \raisebox-0.5ex\textasciitilde2 Myr. This rapid accretion phase lasts until a good fraction of the gas bounded within the bulge accretes onto the BH, although the feeding rate is regulated owing to strong outflows driven by ionizing radiation emitted from the accreting BH. The transient growing mode can be triggered for seed BHs formed in massive dark-matter halos with masses of \ensuremath≳ 10^9 M _\ensuremath⊙ at z \raisebox-0.5ex~15-20 (the virial temperature is T _vir ≃ 10^5 K). The host halos are heavier and rarer than those of typical first galaxies, but are more likely to end up in quasar hosts by z ≃ 6. This mechanism naturally yields a mass ratio of M _•/M _\ensuremath⋆ > 0.01 higher than the value seen in the local universe. The existence of such overmassive BHs provides us with a unique opportunity to detect highly accreting seed BHs at z \raisebox-0.5ex~15 with AB magnitude of m _AB \raisebox-0.5ex~26-29 mag at 2 \ensuremathμm (rest frame 10 eV) by the upcoming observations by the James Webb Space Telescope and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

@article{2022ApJ...927..237I, author = {{Inayoshi}, Kohei and {Nakatani}, Riouhei and {Toyouchi}, Daisuke and {Hosokawa}, Takashi and {Kuiper}, Rolf and {Onoue}, Masafusa}, title = {{Rapid Growth of Seed Black Holes during Early Bulge Formation}}, journal = {\apj}, keywords = {Supermassive black holes, Quasars, High-redshift galaxies, 1663, 1319, 734, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena}, year = {2022}, month = mar, volume = {927}, number = {2}, eid = {237}, pages = {237}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ac4751}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, eprint = {2110.10693}, primaryclass = {astro-ph.GA}, adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022ApJ...927..237I}, adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}, dimensions = {true}, altmetric = {115574416}, lrdindex = {10}, month_numeric = {3} }

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