Ultra High-Redshift or Closer-by, Dust-Obscured Galaxies? Deciphering the Nature of Faint, Previously Missed F200W-Dropouts in CEERS

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is revolutionizing our understanding of the Universe by unveiling faint, near-infrared dropouts previously beyond our reach, ranging from exceptionally dusty sources to galaxies up to redshift $z\sim 14$. In this paper, we identify F200W-dropout objects in the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey which are absent from existing catalogs. Our selection method can effectively identify obscured low-mass ($\log {\text{M}}_{\ast }\le 9$) objects at $z\le 6$, massive dust-rich sources up to $z\sim 12$, and ultra-high-redshift ($z>15$) candidates. Primarily relying on NIRCam photometry from the latest CEERS data release and supplementing with Mid-Infrared/(sub-)mm data when available, our analysis pipeline combines multiple SED-fitting codes, star formation histories, and CosMix - a novel tool for astronomical stacking. Our work highlights three $2<z<3$ dusty dwarf galaxies which have larger masses compared to the typical dusty dwarfs previously identified in CEERS. Additionally, we reveal five faint sources with significant probability of lying above $z>15$, with best-fit masses compatible with $\Lambda$CDM and a standard baryons-to-star conversion efficiency. Their bi-modal redshift probability distributions suggest they could also be $z<1.5$ dwarf galaxies with extreme dust extinction. We also identify a strong line emitter galaxy at $z\sim 5$ mimicking the near-infrared emission of a $z\sim 13$ galaxy. Our sample holds promising candidates for future follow-ups. Confirming ultra high-redshift galaxies or lower-z dusty dwarfs will offer valuable insights into early galaxy formation, evolution with their central black holes and the nature of dark matter, and/or cosmic dust production mechanisms in low-mass galaxies, and will help us to understand degeneracies and contamination in high-z object searches.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysics

References in corpus (74)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• The physical properties of star forming galaxies in the low redshift universe
• Large scale bias and the peak background split
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• The James Webb Space Telescope
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• A Simple Model for the Absorption of Starlight by Dust in Galaxies
• K-corrections and filter transformations in the ultraviolet, optical, and near infrared
• X-ray spectral modelling of the AGN obscuring region in the CDFS: Bayesian model selection and catalogue
• In the Beginning: The First Sources of Light and the Reionization of the Universe
• CIGALE: a python Code Investigating GALaxy Emission
• Importance Nested Sampling and the MultiNest Algorithm
• Inferring the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies with BAGPIPES: Evidence for multiple quenching mechanisms
• The All-wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS) Data Sets
• Revisiting the Infrared Spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei with a New Torus Emission Model
• A Comprehensive Study on Galaxies at z~9-16 Found in the Early JWST Data: UV Luminosity Functions and Cosmic Star-Formation History at the Pre-Reionization Epoch
• CEERS Key Paper I: An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST
• COLOSSUS: A python toolkit for cosmology, large-scale structure, and dark matter halos
• The James Webb Space Telescope Mission
• 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
• L and T Dwarf Models and the L to T Transition
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. III: Galaxy candidates at z$\sim$9-15
• The Main Sequence of star-forming galaxies across cosmic times
• The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: 850um maps, catalogues and number counts
• The GOODS-MUSIC sample: a multicolour catalog of near-IR selected galaxies in the GOODS-South field
• CANDELS Multiwavelength catalogs: Source Identification and Photometry in the CANDELS UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey Field
• The Characteristic Star Formation Histories of Galaxies at Redshifts z~2-7
• Stellar masses from the CANDELS survey: the GOODS-South and UDS fields
• How to measure galaxy star-formation histories I: Parametric models
• CEERS Epoch 1 NIRCam Imaging: Reduction Methods and Simulations Enabling Early JWST Science Results
• Spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at $z\sim 14$
• On the stunning abundance of super-early, massive galaxies revealed by JWST
• Confirmation and refutation of very luminous galaxies in the early universe
• The mass relations between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies at 1<z<2 with HST-WFC3
• JADES Imaging of GN-z11: Revealing the Morphology and Environment of a Luminous Galaxy 430 Myr After the Big Bang
• The Astrodust+PAH Model: A Unified Description of the Extinction, Emission, and Polarization from Dust in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium
• The physics of the fundamental metallicity relation
• The Universe at z>10: Predictions for JWST from the UniverseMachine DR1
• CEERS Key Paper V: A triality on the nature of HST-dark galaxies
• On the SFR-M${}_{\ast }$ main sequence archetypal star-formation history and analytical models
• A Census of the Bright z=8.5-11 Universe with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes in the CANDELS Fields
• A Search for H-Dropout Lyman Break Galaxies at z~12-16
• Unveiling the Nature of Infrared Bright, Optically Dark Galaxies with Early JWST Data
• EPOCHS VI: The Size and Shape Evolution of Galaxies since z ~ 8 with JWST Observations
• A first look at the SMACS0723 JWST ERO: spectroscopic redshifts, stellar masses and star-formation histories
• Infrared color selection of massive galaxies at z > 3
• JWST unveils heavily obscured (active and passive) sources up to z~13
• Templates for Fitting Photometry of Ultra-High-Redshift Galaxies
• Log-normal star formation histories in simulated and observed galaxies
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- IV. Implications for cosmic reionization and LyC escape fraction
• Predictions for deep galaxy surveys with JWST from $\Lambda$CDM
• The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: The EGS deep field I - Deep number counts and the redshift distribution of the recovered Cosmic Infrared Background at 450 and 850 um
• A Large Population of Faint 8<z<16 Galaxies Found in the First JWST NIRCam Observations of the NGDEEP Survey
• Stellar Populations of over one thousand $z\sim 0.8$ Galaxies from LEGA-C: Ages and Star Formation Histories from D${}_n$4000 and H$\delta$
• COSMOS-Web: stellar mass assembly in relation to dark matter halos across $0.2<z<12$ of cosmic history
• Identification of a transition from stochastic to secular star formation around $z=9$ with JWST
• A new estimate of the cosmic star formation density from a radio-selected sample, and the contribution of $H$-dark galaxies at $z\ge 3$
• ASTRODEEP-JWST: NIRCam-HST multiband photometry and redshifts for half a million sources in six extragalactic deep fields
• Simulating and interpreting deep observations in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with the JWST/NIRSpec low-resolution 'prism'
• Unveiling the hidden universe with JWST: The contribution of dust-obscured galaxies to the stellar mass function at $z\sim 3-8$
• Delving deep: a population of extremely dusty dwarfs observed by JWST
• Characterising the evolving $K$-band luminosity function using the UltraVISTA, CANDELS and HUDF surveys
• Can primordial black holes explain the overabundance of bright super-early galaxies?
• Pushing JWST to the extremes: search and scrutiny of bright galaxy candidates at z$\simeq$15-30
• Beyond the first galaxies primordial black holes shine
• GalaPy, the highly optimised C++/Python spectral modelling tool for galaxies -- I. Library presentation and photometric fitting
• Approximations to galaxy star formation rate histories: properties and uses of two examples
• Disentangling the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes with PRIMA
• Spectroscopic confirmation of a dust-obscured, metal-rich dwarf galaxy at z~5
• Mysteries of Capotauro: investigating the puzzling nature of an extreme F356W-dropout

Cited by in corpus (1)

• ΛCDM is still not broken: empirical constraints on the star formation efficiency at z ~ 12-30