A Search for $z=5$ H$\alpha$ and H$\beta +$[O III] Dual-Line Emitting Galaxies in the JWST CEERS Field: Implications for the AGN Abundance

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has enabled us to uncover faint galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the early universe. Taking advantage of the unique filter combination used in the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS) program, we perform an extensive photometric search of galaxies emitting strong H$\beta +$[O III] and H$\alpha$ lines. The redshift range of the galaxies is limited to $5.03\le z\le 5.26$ by requiring photometric excesses in NIRCam's F277W and F410M images. A total of 261 H$\beta +$[O III] and H$\alpha$ dual-line emitters are found over the absolute UV magnitude $-22\lesssim M_{\mathrm{UV}}\lesssim -17$, with a mean rest-frame equivalent width of 1010 A for H$\beta +$[O III] and 1040 A for H$\alpha$. This population accounts for $\sim 40\%$ of the Lyman break galaxies at this redshift range. Intriguingly, there are 58 objects (22% of the whole sample) that exhibit compact morphology at the rest-UV or optical wavelength. With an assumption that these compact dual-line emitters are dominated by AGN, their AGN bolometric luminosities are in the range of $2\times 10^{43}\lesssim L_{\mathrm{bol}}/({\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}}^{-1})\lesssim 3\times 10^{44}$. Their number density is two orders of magnitude higher than the extrapolation from the UV-selected luminous quasars, which is in good agreement with previous JWST studies of broad-line AGNs, requiring a $\sim 10\%$ of the AGN duty cycle. Moreover, our dual-line emitter sample reaches the faint end of the H$\alpha$ and [O III] luminosity functions down to $\lesssim 10^{42}{\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. Spectroscopic follow-up observations are planned in an approved JWST Cycle 3 program, in which we aim to confirm their nature, characterize their black hole activity, and construct their mass distribution at $10^6\lesssim M_{\mathrm{BH}}/M_{\odot }\lesssim 10^8$.

24 pages, 16 figures, 5 tables. submitted to ApJ