The abundance of $z\gtrsim 10$ galaxy candidates in the HUDF using deep JWST NIRCam medium-band imaging

Abstract

We utilise JWST NIRCam medium-band imaging to search for extreme redshift ($z\ge 9.5$) galaxy candidates in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) and the additional pointing within the GOODS-South field provided by the second NIRCam module. Our search reveals 6 robust candidates, 3 of which have recently been spectroscopically confirmed. One of these 3 is the previously controversial $z\simeq 12$ galaxy candidate UDF-22980 which is now detected in five JWST NIRCam medium-band filters (F182M, F210M, F430M, F460M and F480M), efficiently excluding alternative low-redshift solutions and allowing us to now report a secure photometric redshift of $z=11.6\pm 0.2$. We also detect 2 galaxies at $z\ge 12.5$ including a newly-detected candidate in the imaging provided by the second NIRCam module (south-west of the HUDF) at $z=12.6\pm 0.6$. We determine the physical properties of the 6 galaxies by fitting the 14-band photometry with Bagpipes. We find stellar masses of $\log (M_{\star }/{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot })\simeq 7.5-8.7$ and star-formation rates of $\log (\mathrm{SFR}/{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }^{-1}{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1})\simeq 0.3-5.0$. Despite the relatively small cosmological volume covered by the HUDF itself and the second NIRCam module imaging, we find that the existence of these galaxies is fully consistent with the latest measurements of both the UV luminosity function and cosmic star-formation rate density at $z\simeq 11$, supporting a gradual steady decline in the cosmic star-formation rate density out to at least $z\simeq 15$.

8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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