TY - JOUR
T1 - CEERS Key Paper. I. An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST
AU - CEERS
AU - Finkelstein, Steven L.
AU - Bagley, Micaela B.
AU - Ferguson, Henry C.
AU - Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.
AU - Papovich, Casey
AU - Yung, L. Y. Aaron
AU - Haro, Pablo Arrabal
AU - Behroozi, Peter
AU - Dickinson, Mark
AU - Kocevski, Dale D.
AU - Koekemoer, Anton M.
AU - Larson, Rebecca L.
AU - Le bail, Aurélien
AU - Morales, Alexa M.
AU - Pérez-González, Pablo G.
AU - Burgarella, Denis
AU - Davé, Romeel
AU - Hirschmann, Michaela
AU - Somerville, Rachel S.
AU - Wuyts, Stijn
AU - Bromm, Volker
AU - Casey, Caitlin M.
AU - Fontana, Adriano
AU - Fujimoto, Seiji
AU - Gardner, Jonathan P.
AU - Giavalisco, Mauro
AU - Grazian, Andrea
AU - Grogin, Norman A.
AU - Hathi, Nimish P.
AU - Hutchison, Taylor A.
AU - Jha, Saurabh W.
AU - Jogee, Shardha
AU - Kewley, Lisa J.
AU - Kirkpatrick, Allison
AU - Long, Arianna S.
AU - Lotz, Jennifer M.
AU - Pentericci, Laura
AU - Pierel, Justin D. R.
AU - Pirzkal, Nor
AU - Ravindranath, Swara
AU - Ryan, Russell E.
AU - Trump, Jonathan R.
AU - Yang, Guang
AU - Bhatawdekar, Rachana
AU - Bisigello, Laura
AU - Buat, Véronique
AU - Calabrò, Antonello
AU - Castellano, Marco
AU - Cleri, Nikko J.
AU - Cooper, M. C.
AU - Wilkins, Stephen
AU - Croton, Darren J.
AU - Daddi, Emanuele
AU - Dekel, Avishai
AU - Elbaz, David
AU - Franco, Maximilien
AU - Gawiser, Eric
AU - Holwerda, Benne W.
AU - Huertas-Company, Marc
AU - Jaskot, Anne
AU - Leung, Gene
AU - Lucas, Ray A.
AU - Mobasher, Bahram
AU - Pandya, Viraj
AU - Tacchella, Sandro
AU - Weiner, Benjamin J.
AU - Zavala, Jorge A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge that the location where this work took place, the University of Texas at Austin, sits on indigenous land. The Tonkawa lived in central Texas, and the Comanche and Apache moved through this area. We pay our respects to all of the American Indian and indigenous peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas on this piece of Turtle Island. We acknowledge support from NASA through STScI ERS award JWST-ERS-1345. We thank Marcia Rieke, Daniel Schaerer, Volker Bromm, and Mike Boylan-Kolchin for helpful conversations. Some/all of the data presented in this paper were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The specific observations analyzed can be accessed via 10.17909/z7p0-8481.
Some/all of the data presented in this paper were obtained from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST)at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The specific observations analyzed can be accessed via10.17909/ z7p0-8481.
PY - 2023/3/27
Y1 - 2023/3/27
N2 - We present an investigation into the first 500 Myr of galaxy evolution from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. CEERS, one of 13 JWST ERS programs, targets galaxy formation from z ∼ 0.5 to >10 using several imaging and spectroscopic modes. We make use of the first epoch of CEERS NIRCam imaging, spanning 35.5 arcmin
2, to search for candidate galaxies at z > 9. Following a detailed data reduction process implementing several custom steps to produce high-quality reduced images, we perform multiband photometry across seven NIRCam broad- and medium-band (and six Hubble broadband) filters focusing on robust colors and accurate total fluxes. We measure photometric redshifts and devise a robust set of selection criteria to identify a sample of 26 galaxy candidates at z ∼ 9-16. These objects are compact with a median half-light radius of ∼0.5 kpc. We present an early estimate of the z ∼ 11 rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function, finding that the number density of galaxies at M
UV ∼ −20 appears to evolve very little from z ∼ 9 to 11. We also find that the abundance (surface density [arcmin
−2]) of our candidates exceeds nearly all theoretical predictions. We explore potential implications, including that at z > 10, star formation may be dominated by top-heavy initial mass functions, which would result in an increased ratio of UV light per unit halo mass, though a complete lack of dust attenuation and/or changing star formation physics may also play a role. While spectroscopic confirmation of these sources is urgently required, our results suggest that the deeper views to come with JWST should yield prolific samples of ultrahigh-redshift galaxies with which to further explore these conclusions.
AB - We present an investigation into the first 500 Myr of galaxy evolution from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. CEERS, one of 13 JWST ERS programs, targets galaxy formation from z ∼ 0.5 to >10 using several imaging and spectroscopic modes. We make use of the first epoch of CEERS NIRCam imaging, spanning 35.5 arcmin
2, to search for candidate galaxies at z > 9. Following a detailed data reduction process implementing several custom steps to produce high-quality reduced images, we perform multiband photometry across seven NIRCam broad- and medium-band (and six Hubble broadband) filters focusing on robust colors and accurate total fluxes. We measure photometric redshifts and devise a robust set of selection criteria to identify a sample of 26 galaxy candidates at z ∼ 9-16. These objects are compact with a median half-light radius of ∼0.5 kpc. We present an early estimate of the z ∼ 11 rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function, finding that the number density of galaxies at M
UV ∼ −20 appears to evolve very little from z ∼ 9 to 11. We also find that the abundance (surface density [arcmin
−2]) of our candidates exceeds nearly all theoretical predictions. We explore potential implications, including that at z > 10, star formation may be dominated by top-heavy initial mass functions, which would result in an increased ratio of UV light per unit halo mass, though a complete lack of dust attenuation and/or changing star formation physics may also play a role. While spectroscopic confirmation of these sources is urgently required, our results suggest that the deeper views to come with JWST should yield prolific samples of ultrahigh-redshift galaxies with which to further explore these conclusions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151380297&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/acade4
DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/acade4
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 946
JO - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 1
M1 - L13
ER -