The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
NGDEEP Epoch 1: The Faint End of the Luminosity Function at z ∼ 9–12 from Ultradeep JWST Imaging
- Gene C. K. Leung,
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Alexa Morales,
- Dale D. Kocevski,
- Guang Yang,
- Rachel S. Somerville,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Casey Papovich,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Danielle A. Berg,
- Jennifer M. Lotz,
- Marco Castellano,
- Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz,
- Yingjie Cheng,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Mauro Giavalisco,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Intae Jung,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Priyamvada Natarajan,
- Barry Rothberg
Affiliations
- Gene C. K. Leung
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Micaela B. Bagley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Pablo G. Pérez-González
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Alexa Morales
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Dale D. Kocevski
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Guang Yang
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands; SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Postbus 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Rachel S. Somerville
- ORCiD
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
- Stephen M. Wilkins
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex , Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Casey Papovich
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- ESA/AURA Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Danielle A. Berg
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Jennifer M. Lotz
- ORCiD
- International Gemini Observatory/NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Marco Castellano
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Yingjie Cheng
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Mauro Giavalisco
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy , Rochester Institute of Technology, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Priyamvada Natarajan
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University , 52 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Physics, Yale University , P.O. Box 208121, New Haven, CT 06520, USA; Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University , 20 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Barry Rothberg
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University , 4400 University Drive, MSN 3F3, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA; U.S. Naval Observatory , 3450 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20392, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acf365
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 954,
no. 2
p. L46
Abstract
We present a robust sample of very high redshift galaxy candidates from the first epoch of JWST/NIRCam imaging from the Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) survey. The NGDEEP NIRCam imaging, spanning 9.7 arcmin ^2 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field Parallel Field 2, reaches m = 30.4 (5 σ , point-source, 2″ diameter apertures corrected to total) in F277W, making it the deepest public JWST GO imaging data set to date. We describe our detailed data reduction process of the six-filter broadband JWST/NIRCam imaging, incorporating custom corrections for systematic effects to produce high-quality calibrated images. Using robust photometric redshift selection criteria, we identify a sample of 38 z ≳ 9 galaxy candidates. These objects span a redshift range of z = 8.5–15.8 and apparent magnitudes of m _F277W = 27–30.5 AB mag, reaching ∼1.5 mag deeper than previous public JWST imaging surveys. We calculate the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function at z ∼ 9 and 11 and present a new measurement of the luminosity function faint-end slope at z ∼ 11. We find a faint-end slope of α = −2.5 ± 0.4 and −2.2 ± 0.2 at z ∼ 9 and 11, respectively. This is consistent with no significant evolution in the faint-end slope and number density from z = 9 to 11. Comparing our results with theoretical predictions, we find that some models produce better agreement at the faint end than the bright end. These results will help to constrain how stellar feedback impacts star formation at these early epochs.
Keywords
