The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
The Galaxies Missed by Hubble and ALMA: The Contribution of Extremely Red Galaxies to the Cosmic Census at 3 < z < 8
- Christina C. Williams,
- Stacey Alberts,
- Zhiyuan Ji,
- Kevin N. Hainline,
- Jianwei Lyu,
- George Rieke,
- Ryan Endsley,
- Katherine A. Suess,
- Fengwu Sun,
- Benjamin D. Johnson,
- Michael Florian,
- Irene Shivaei,
- Wiphu Rujopakarn,
- William M. Baker,
- Rachana Bhatawdekar,
- Kristan Boyett,
- Andrew J. Bunker,
- Alex J. Cameron,
- Stefano Carniani,
- Stephane Charlot,
- Emma Curtis-Lake,
- Christa DeCoursey,
- Anna de Graaff,
- Eiichi Egami,
- Daniel J. Eisenstein,
- Justus L. Gibson,
- Ryan Hausen,
- Jakob M. Helton,
- Roberto Maiolino,
- Michael V. Maseda,
- Erica J. Nelson,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Marcia J. Rieke,
- Brant E. Robertson,
- Aayush Saxena,
- Sandro Tacchella,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- Chris J. Willott
Affiliations
- Christina C. Williams
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA; Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Stacey Alberts
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Zhiyuan Ji
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Kevin N. Hainline
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Jianwei Lyu
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- George Rieke
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Dept of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Ryan Endsley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Texas , Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Katherine A. Suess
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Department of Physics, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Fengwu Sun
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Benjamin D. Johnson
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Michael Florian
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Irene Shivaei
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) , CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850 Madrid, Spain
- Wiphu Rujopakarn
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand , Don Kaeo, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai 50180, Thailand; Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University , 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
- William M. Baker
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Rachana Bhatawdekar
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) , Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
- 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
- Andrew J. Bunker
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
- Alex J. Cameron
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
- Stefano Carniani
- ORCiD
- Scuola Normale Superiore , Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
- Stephane Charlot
- ORCiD
- Sorbonne Université , CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis bd Arago, 75014 Paris, France
- Emma Curtis-Lake
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics Research, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire , Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK
- Christa DeCoursey
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Anna de Graaff
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg, Germany
- Eiichi Egami
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Daniel J. Eisenstein
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Justus L. Gibson
- ORCiD
- Department for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Ryan Hausen
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jakob M. Helton
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Roberto Maiolino
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Michael V. Maseda
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 475 N. Charter St., Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Erica J. Nelson
- ORCiD
- Department for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Pablo G. Pérez-González
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) , CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850 Madrid, Spain
- Marcia J. Rieke
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Brant E. Robertson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Aayush Saxena
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- Sandro Tacchella
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Chris J. Willott
- ORCiD
- NRC Herzberg , 5071 West Saanich Rd, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad3f17
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 968,
no. 1
p. 34
Abstract
Using deep JWST imaging from JADES, JEMS, and SMILES, we characterize optically faint and extremely red galaxies at z > 3 that were previously missing from galaxy census estimates. The data indicate the existence of abundant, dusty, and poststarburst-like galaxies down to 10 ^8 M _⊙ , below the sensitivity limit of Spitzer and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Modeling the NIRCam and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry of these red sources can result in extremely high values for both stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR); however, including seven MIRI filters out to 21 μ m results in decreased masses (median 0.6 dex for ${{\rm{log}}}_{10}({M}^{\ast }/{M}_{\odot })$ > 10) and SFRs (median 10× for SFR > 100 M _⊙ yr ^−1 ). At z > 6, our sample includes a high fraction of “little red dots” (LRDs; NIRCam-selected dust-reddened active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates). We significantly measure older stellar populations in the LRDs out to rest-frame 3 μ m (the stellar bump) and rule out a dominant contribution from hot dust emission, a signature of AGN contamination to stellar population measurements. This allows us to measure their contribution to the cosmic census at z > 3, below the typical detection limits of ALMA ( L _IR < 10 ^12 L _⊙ ). We find that these sources, which are overwhelmingly missed by HST and ALMA, could effectively double the obscured fraction of the star formation rate density at 4 < z < 6 compared to some estimates, showing that prior to JWST, the obscured contribution from fainter sources could be underestimated. Finally, we identify five sources with evidence for Balmer breaks and high stellar masses at 5.5 < z < 7.7. While spectroscopy is required to determine their nature, we discuss possible measurement systematics to explore with future data.
Keywords
