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

Abstract

Galaxies with stellar masses as high as $\sim 10^{11}$ solar masses have been identified out to redshifts $z\sim 6$, approximately one 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 $2.5\mum$. Here we make use of the $1-5\mum$ coverage of the JWST early release observations to search for intrinsically red galaxies in the first ~750 million years of cosmic history. In the survey area, we find six candidate massive galaxies (stellar mass $>10^{10}$ solar masses) at $7.4<z<9.1$, 500 - 700 Myr after the Big Bang, including one galaxy with a possible stellar mass of $\sim 10^{11}$ solar masses. If verified with spectroscopy, the stellar mass density in massive galaxies would be much higher than anticipated from previous studies based on rest-frame ultraviolet-selected samples.

Accepted for publication in Nature. Updated to match the accepted version. Significant revision with updated calibration and stellar masses. Coordinates and fluxes of the sources can be found here: https://github.com/ivolabbe/red-massive-candidates

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