The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
The JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey: Discovery of an Extreme Galaxy Overdensity at z = 5.4 with JWST/NIRCam in GOODS-S
- Jakob M. Helton,
- Fengwu Sun,
- Charity Woodrum,
- Kevin N. Hainline,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- George H. Rieke,
- Marcia J. Rieke,
- Sandro Tacchella,
- Brant Robertson,
- Benjamin D. Johnson,
- Stacey Alberts,
- Daniel J. Eisenstein,
- Ryan Hausen,
- Nina R. Bonaventura,
- Andrew Bunker,
- Stephane Charlot,
- Mirko Curti,
- Emma Curtis-Lake,
- Tobias J. Looser,
- Roberto Maiolino,
- Chris Willott,
- Joris Witstok,
- Kristan Boyett,
- Zuyi Chen,
- Eiichi Egami,
- Ryan Endsley,
- Raphael E. Hviding,
- Daniel T. Jaffe,
- Zhiyuan Ji,
- Jianwei Lyu,
- Lester Sandles
Affiliations
- Jakob M. Helton
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Fengwu Sun
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Charity Woodrum
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Kevin N. Hainline
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- George H. Rieke
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Marcia J. Rieke
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Sandro Tacchella
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
- Brant Robertson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Benjamin D. Johnson
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Stacey Alberts
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Daniel J. Eisenstein
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Ryan Hausen
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Nina R. Bonaventura
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Andrew Bunker
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK
- Stephane Charlot
- ORCiD
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris , 98 bis bd Arago, F-75014 Paris, France
- Mirko Curti
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK; European Southern Observatory , Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei Muenchen, Germany
- Emma Curtis-Lake
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics Research, Department of Physics , Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, UK
- Tobias J. Looser
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
- Roberto Maiolino
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- Chris Willott
- ORCiD
- NRC Herzberg , 5071 West Saanich Rd, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada
- Joris Witstok
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
- Kristan Boyett
- ORCiD
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Zuyi Chen
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Eiichi Egami
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Ryan Endsley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Raphael E. Hviding
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Daniel T. Jaffe
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Zhiyuan Ji
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Jianwei Lyu
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Lester Sandles
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad0da7
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 962,
no. 2
p. 124
Abstract
We report the discovery of an extreme galaxy overdensity at z = 5.4 in the GOODS-S field using James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRCam imaging from JADES and JEMS alongside JWST/NIRCam wide-field slitless spectroscopy from FRESCO. We identified potential members of the overdensity using Hubble Space Telescope+JWST photometry spanning λ = 0.4–5.0 μ m. These data provide accurate and well-constrained photometric redshifts down to m ≈ 29–30 mag. We subsequently confirmed N = 81 galaxies at 5.2 < z < 5.5 using JWST slitless spectroscopy over λ = 3.9–5.0 μ m through a targeted line search for H α around the best-fit photometric redshift. We verified that N = 42 of these galaxies reside in the field, while N = 39 galaxies reside in a density around ∼10 times that of a random volume. Stellar populations for these galaxies were inferred from the photometry and used to construct the star-forming main sequence, where protocluster members appeared more massive and exhibited earlier star formation (and thus older stellar populations) when compared to their field galaxy counterparts. We estimate the total halo mass of this large-scale structure to be $12.6\lesssim {\mathrm{log}}_{10}\left({M}_{\mathrm{halo}}/{M}_{\odot }\right)\lesssim 12.8$ using an empirical stellar mass to halo mass relation, which is likely an underestimate as a result of incompleteness. Our discovery demonstrates the power of JWST at constraining dark matter halo assembly and galaxy formation at very early cosmic times.
Keywords
- Early universe
- Galaxy evolution
- Galaxy formation
- High-redshift galaxies
- High-redshift galaxy clusters
