The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
Spectroscopic Confirmation of CEERS NIRCam-selected Galaxies at z ≃ 8–10
- Pablo Arrabal Haro,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Vital Fernández,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Intae Jung,
- Justin W. Cole,
- Denis Burgarella,
- Katherine Chworowsky,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Alexa M. Morales,
- Casey Papovich,
- Raymond C. Simons,
- Ricardo O. Amorín,
- Bren E. Backhaus,
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Laura Bisigello,
- Antonello Calabrò,
- Marco Castellano,
- Nikko J. Cleri,
- Romeel Davé,
- Avishai Dekel,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Adriano Fontana,
- Eric Gawiser,
- Mauro Giavalisco,
- Santosh Harish,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Michaela Hirschmann,
- Benne W. Holwerda,
- Marc Huertas-Company,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Ray A. Lucas,
- Bahram Mobasher,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Caitlin Rose,
- Paola Santini,
- Jonathan R. Trump,
- Alexander de la Vega,
- Xin Wang,
- Benjamin J. Weiner,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- Guang Yang,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Jorge A. Zavala
Affiliations
- Pablo Arrabal Haro
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA ; [email protected]
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA ; [email protected]
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Vital Fernández
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena , Raul Bitrán 1305, La Serena 2204000, Chile
- 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
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Justin W. Cole
- 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
- Denis Burgarella
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Katherine Chworowsky
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Alexa M. Morales
- 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
- Raymond C. Simons
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Ricardo O. Amorín
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena , Raul Bitrán 1305, La Serena 2204000, Chile; Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de La Serena , Av. Juan Cisternas 1200 Norte, La Serena 1720236, Chile
- Bren E. Backhaus
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Micaela B. Bagley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Laura Bisigello
- ORCiD
- Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G.Galilei”, Universitá di Padova , Via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy; INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy
- Antonello Calabrò
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Marco Castellano
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Nikko J. Cleri
- 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
- Romeel Davé
- ORCiD
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ UK; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape , Robert Sobukwe Rd, Bellville, Cape Town 7535, South Africa
- Avishai Dekel
- ORCiD
- Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Jerusalem 91904, Israel
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Adriano Fontana
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Eric Gawiser
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey , Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Mauro Giavalisco
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Santosh Harish
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy , Rochester Institute of Technology, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Michaela Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Galaxy Evolution , Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Benne W. Holwerda
- ORCiD
- Physics & Astronomy Department, University of Louisville , Louisville, KY 40292, USA
- Marc Huertas-Company
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Universidad de la Laguna , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Université Paris-Cité , LERMA—Observatoire de Paris, PSL, Paris, France
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Ray A. Lucas
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Bahram Mobasher
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Pablo G. Pérez-González
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) , CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850 Madrid, Spain
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- ESA/AURA Space Telescope Science Institute , USA
- Caitlin Rose
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy , Rochester Institute of Technology, 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Paola Santini
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Jonathan R. Trump
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Alexander de la Vega
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Xin Wang
- ORCiD
- School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China; National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China; Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 102206, People's Republic of China
- Benjamin J. Weiner
- ORCiD
- MMT/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Stephen M. Wilkins
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex , Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK; Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy, University of Malta , Msida MSD 2080, Malta
- 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
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Jorge A. Zavala
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acdd54
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 951,
no. 1
p. L22
Abstract
We present JWST/NIRSpec prism spectroscopy of seven galaxies selected from Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey NIRCam imaging with photometric redshifts z _phot > 8. We measure emission line redshifts of z = 7.65 and 8.64 for two galaxies. For two other sources without securely detected emission lines we measure $z={9.77}_{-0.29}^{+0.37}$ and ${10.01}_{-0.19}^{+0.14}$ by fitting model spectral templates to the prism data, from which we detect continuum breaks consistent with Ly α opacity from a mostly neutral intergalactic medium. The presence of strong breaks and the absence of strong emission lines give high confidence that these two galaxies have redshifts z > 9.6, but the redshift values derived from the breaks alone have large uncertainties given the low spectral resolution and relatively low S/N of the CEERS NIRSpec prism data. The two z ∼ 10 sources observed are relatively luminous ( M _UV 8 candidates with CEERS NIRSpec spectroscopy do not have secure redshifts, but the absence of emission lines in their spectra is consistent with redshifts z > 9.6. We find that z > 8 photometric redshifts are generally in agreement (within their uncertainties) with the spectroscopic values, but also that the photometric redshifts tend to be slightly overestimated (〈Δ z 〉 = 0.45 ± 0.11), suggesting that current templates do not fully describe the spectra of very-high- z sources. Overall, the spectroscopy solidifies photometric redshift evidence for a high spatial density of bright galaxies at z > 8 compared to theoretical model predictions, and further disfavors an accelerated decline in the integrated UV luminosity density at z > 8.
Keywords
