CANUCS/Technicolor: JWST Medium Band Photometry Finds Half of the Star Formation at $z>7.5$ is Obscured

Abstract

We present a sample of 146 high-redshift ($z>7.5$) galaxies from the CANUCS/Technicolor surveys, showcasing photometry in every wide- and medium-band NIRCam filter in addition to ancillary HST data sampling $0.4-5\hat{I}¼m$ (22 JWST bands out of 29 bands total). Additionally, 48 ($33\%$) galaxies in our sample meet criteria to be classified as extreme emission line galaxies, 15 ($10\%$) of which are completely missed by typical dropout selections due to faint UV emission. By fitting the SEDs covering the rest-frame UV to optical at $z>7.5$, we investigate the dust obscuration properties, giving an unbiased view of dust buildup in high-redshift galaxies free from spectroscopic follow-up selection effects. Dust attenuation correlates with stellar mass, but more strongly with star formation rate. We find typical galaxies at $z>7.5$ have $\sim 25\%$ of their star formation obscured. However, since galaxies with higher star formation rates suffer more attenuation, $\sim 50\%$ of the total star formation rate density at $7.5<z<9$ is obscured. The obscured fraction drops to $\sim 35\%$ in our $9<z<12$ bin, possibly due to substantial dust grain growth in the interstellar medium not having time to occur. Extrapolating the decline in dust obscuration of galaxies to higher redshifts, we infer that dust obscuration should approach zero at $z>15$, implying that epoch as when dust first forms in bright galaxies.

16 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to ApJ