The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
UNCOVER: Illuminating the Early Universe—JWST/NIRSpec Confirmation of z > 12 Galaxies
- Bingjie Wang,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Ivo Labbé,
- Lukas J. Furtak,
- Tim B. Miller,
- David J. Setton,
- Adi Zitrin,
- Hakim Atek,
- Rachel Bezanson,
- Gabriel Brammer,
- Joel Leja,
- Pascal A. Oesch,
- Sedona H. Price,
- Iryna Chemerynska,
- Sam E. Cutler,
- Pratika Dayal,
- Pieter van Dokkum,
- Andy D. Goulding,
- Jenny E. Greene,
- Y. Fudamoto,
- Gourav Khullar,
- Vasily Kokorev,
- Danilo Marchesini,
- Richard Pan,
- John R. Weaver,
- Katherine E. Whitaker,
- Christina C. Williams
Affiliations
- Bingjie Wang
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA ; [email protected]; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Ivo Labbé
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
- Lukas J. Furtak
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
- Tim B. Miller
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University , IL 60201, USA
- David J. Setton
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Adi Zitrin
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
- Hakim Atek
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, Sorbonne Université , 98bis Boulevard Arago, F-75014, Paris, France
- Rachel Bezanson
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Gabriel Brammer
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, København N, DK-2200, Denmark
- Joel Leja
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA ; [email protected]; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Pascal A. Oesch
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, København N, DK-2200, Denmark; Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Sedona H. Price
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Iryna Chemerynska
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, Sorbonne Université , 98bis Boulevard Arago, F-75014, Paris, France
- Sam E. Cutler
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Pratika Dayal
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Pieter van Dokkum
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Andy D. Goulding
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- Jenny E. Greene
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
- Y. Fudamoto
- ORCiD
- Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University , 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
- Gourav Khullar
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Vasily Kokorev
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Danilo Marchesini
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Tufts University , MA 02155, USA
- Richard Pan
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Tufts University , MA 02155, USA
- John R. Weaver
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Katherine E. Whitaker
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, København N, DK-2200, Denmark; Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Christina C. Williams
- ORCiD
- NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , Tucson, AZ 85719, USA; Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acfe07
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 957,
no. 2
p. L34
Abstract
Observations of high-redshift galaxies provide a critical direct test to the theories of early galaxy formation, yet to date, only three have been spectroscopically confirmed at z > 12. Due to strong gravitational lensing over a wide area, the galaxy cluster field A2744 is ideal for searching for the earliest galaxies. Here we present JWST/NIRSpec observations of two galaxies: a robust detection at ${z}_{\mathrm{spec}}={12.393}_{-0.001}^{+0.004}$ , and a plausible candidate at ${z}_{\mathrm{spec}}={13.079}_{-0.001}^{+0.013}$ . The galaxies are discovered in JWST/NIRCam imaging and their distances are inferred with JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy, all from the JWST Cycle 1 UNCOVER Treasury survey. Detailed stellar population modeling using JWST NIRCam and NIRSpec data corroborates the primeval characteristics of these galaxies: low mass (∼10 ^8 M _⊙ ), young, rapidly assembling, metal-poor, and star-forming. Interestingly, both galaxies are spatially resolved, having lensing-corrected rest-UV effective radii on the order of 300–400 pc, which are notably larger than other spectroscopically confirmed systems at similar redshifts. The observed dynamic range of z ≳ 10 sizes spans over 1 order of magnitude, implying a significant scatter in the size–mass relation at early times. Deep into the epoch of reionization, these discoveries elucidate the emergence of the first galaxies.
Keywords
- Early universe
- Galaxy formation
- Galaxy spectroscopy
- High-redshift galaxies
- James Webb Space Telescope
- Spectral energy distribution
