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 $z\simeq 15$.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (41)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• Accurate photometric redshifts for the CFHT Legacy Survey calibrated using the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey
• Measuring and Modelling the Redshift Evolution of Clustering: the Hubble Deep Field North
• Inferring the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies with BAGPIPES: Evidence for multiple quenching mechanisms
• The Evolution of the Galaxy Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Luminosity Function Over the First Two Billion Years
• Dust Attenuation Curves in the Local Universe: Demographics and New Laws for Star-forming Galaxies and High-redshift Analogs
• A Remarkably Luminous Galaxy at z=11.1 Measured with Hubble Space Telescope Grism Spectroscopy
• The Abundance of Star-Forming Galaxies in the Redshift Range 8.5 to 12: New Results from the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field Campaign
• Two Remarkably Luminous Galaxy Candidates at $z\approx 10-12$ Revealed by JWST
• The evolution of the galaxy UV luminosity function at redshifts z ~ 8-15 from deep JWST and ground-based near-infrared imaging
• New Determinations of the UV Luminosity Functions from z~9 to z~2 show a remarkable consistency with halo growth and a constant star formation efficiency
• A new multi-field determination of the galaxy luminosity function at z=7-9 incorporating the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field imaging
• The Dearth of z~10 Galaxies in all HST Legacy Fields -- The Rapid Evolution of the Galaxy Population in the First 500 Myr
• Cosmic Variance and Its Effect on the Luminosity Function Determination in Deep High z Surveys
• A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A Candidate z ~ 12 Galaxy in Early JWST CEERS Imaging
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. III: Galaxy candidates at z$\sim$9-15
• Dust in the reionization era: ALMA observations of a $z$=8.38 Galaxy
• The Most Luminous z~9-10 Galaxy Candidates yet Found: The Luminosity Function, Cosmic Star-Formation Rate, and the First Mass Density Estimate at 500 Myr
• A candidate redshift z ~ 10 galaxy and rapid changes in that population at an age of 500 Myr
• Probing the Dawn of Galaxies at z~9-12: New Constraints from HUDF12/XDF and CANDELS Data
• Discovery and properties of ultra-high redshift galaxies ($9<z<12$) in the JWST ERO SMACS 0723 Field
• A redshift-independent efficiency model: star formation and stellar masses in dark matter halos at z>4
• An analytical model for the history of cosmic star formation
• The z = 9-10 galaxy population in the Hubble Frontier Fields and CLASH surveys: The z=9 LF and further evidence for a smooth decline in UV luminosity at z >= 8
• The First Billion Years Project: The escape fraction of ionizing photons in the epoch of reionization
• A robust sample of galaxies at redshifts 6.0<z<8.7: stellar populations, star-formation rates and stellar masses
• The First Billion Years project - III: The impact of stellar radiation on the coevolution of Populations II and III
• New redshift z ~ 9 galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Fields: Implications for early evolution of the UV luminosity density
• A Simple Technique for Predicting High-Redshift Galaxy Evolution
• The ultraviolet continuum slopes ($\beta$) of galaxies at $\mathbf{z}\simeq 8-16$ from JWST and ground-based near-infrared imaging
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- II. physical properties and scaling relations for galaxies at z = 4-10
• A first look at the SMACS0723 JWST ERO: spectroscopic redshifts, stellar masses and star-formation histories
• Timing the earliest quenching events with a robust sample of massive quiescent galaxies at 2 < z < 5
• Evidence for GN-z11 as a luminous galaxy at redshift 10.957
• First Light And Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES) V: The redshift frontier
• A Tentative Detection of an Emission Line at 1.6 μm for the z~12 Candidate UDFj-39546284
• Observing the first galaxies
• Keck-I MOSFIRE spectroscopy of the z~12 candidate galaxy UDFj-39546284
• JEMS: A deep medium-band imaging survey in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field with JWST NIRCam & NIRISS

Cited by in corpus (19)

• Efficient Formation of Massive Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn by Feedback-Free Starbursts
• Spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at $z\sim 14$
• On the stunning abundance of super-early, massive galaxies revealed by JWST
• CEERS Spectroscopic Confirmation of NIRCam-Selected z > 8 Galaxy Candidates with JWST/NIRSpec: Initial Characterization of their Properties
• Breaking degeneracies in the first galaxies with clustering
• Elevated UV luminosity density at Cosmic Dawn explained by non-evolving, weakly mass-dependent star formation efficiency
• Observability of Low-Luminosity AGN in the Early Universe with JWST
• Spatially-resolved H$\alpha$ and ionizing photon production efficiency in the lensed galaxy MACS1149-JD1 at a redshift of 9.11
• Delving deep: a population of extremely dusty dwarfs observed by JWST
• The Cosmic Evolution of Fast Radio Bursts Inferred from the CHIME/FRB Baseband Catalog 1
• Pushing JWST to the extremes: search and scrutiny of bright galaxy candidates at z$\simeq$15-30
• Signatures of Rapidly Rotating Stars with Chemically Homogeneous Evolution in the First Galaxies
• Dust in High-Redshift Galaxies: Reconciling UV Attenuation and IR Emission
• Effects of feedback-free starburst galaxies on the 21-cm signal and reionization history
• The THESAN-ZOOM project: Star formation efficiency from giant molecular clouds to galactic scale in high-redshift starbursts
• Matching JWST UV Luminosity Functions with Refined $\Lambda$CDM Halo Models
• An optically-dark merging system at z~6 detected by JWST
• A High-resolution Far-infrared Survey to Probe Black Hole-Galaxy Co-evolution
• The Baryon Budget of Galaxies across the First Billion Years