Pushing JWST to the extremes: search and scrutiny of bright galaxy candidates at z$\simeq$15-30

Abstract

We designed customized Lyman-break color selection techniques to identify galaxy candidates in the redshift ranges $15\le z\le 20$ and $20\le z\le 28$. The selection was performed on the ASTRODEEP-JWST multi-band catalogs of the CEERS, Abell-2744, JADES, NGDEEP, and PRIMER survey fields, covering a total area of $\sim 0.2$ sq. deg. We identify five candidates at $15\le z\le 20$, while no objects are found based on the $z\gtrsim 20$ color selection criteria. Despite exhibiting a $>$1.5 mag break, all the objects display multimodal redshift probability distributions across different SED-fitting codes and methodologies. The alternative solutions correspond to poorly understood populations of low-mass quiescent or dusty galaxies at z$\sim$3-7. This conclusion is supported by the analysis of five F200W-dropout objects that we find to be interlopers on the basis of NIRSpec PRISM spectra: four dusty star-forming galaxies at z$\sim$2.2-6.6, and a passive galaxy at z=4.91 with log$(M_{\mathrm{star}}/{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot })\lesssim$ 9. We measured the UV luminosity function under different assumptions on the contamination level within our sample. We find that if even a fraction of the candidates is indeed at $z\gtrsim 15$, the resulting UV LF points to a very mild evolution compared to estimates at $z<15$, implying a significant tension with existing theoretical models. In particular, confirming our bright ($M_{\text{UV}}<-21$) candidates would require substantial revisions to the theoretical framework. In turn, if all these candidates will be confirmed to be interlopers, we conclude that future surveys may need ten times wider areas to select $M_{\text{UV}}\lesssim -20$ galaxies at $z>15$. Observations in the F150W and F200W filters at depths comparable to those in the NIRCam LW bands are also required to mitigate contamination from rare red objects at z$\lesssim$8.

24 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables; Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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