The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2022)
JWST's PEARLS: Bright 1.5–2.0 μm Dropouts in the Spitzer/IRAC Dark Field
- Haojing Yan,
- Seth H. Cohen,
- Rogier A. Windhorst,
- Rolf A. Jansen,
- Zhiyuan Ma,
- John F. Beacom,
- Chenxiaoji Ling,
- Cheng Cheng,
- Jia-Sheng Huang,
- Norman A. Grogin,
- S. P. Willner,
- Min Yun,
- Heidi B. Hammel,
- Stefanie N. Milam,
- Christopher J. Conselice,
- Simon P. Driver,
- Brenda Frye,
- Madeline A. Marshall,
- Anton Koekemoer,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- Aaron Robotham,
- Jordan C. J. D’Silva,
- Jake Summers,
- Jeremy Lim,
- Kevin Harrington,
- Leonardo Ferreira,
- Jose Maria Diego,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- Lifan Wang,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Adi Zitrin,
- Rachana A. Bhatawdekar,
- Nathan J. Adams,
- Lukas J. Furtak,
- Peter Maksym,
- Michael J. Rutkowski,
- Giovanni G. Fazio
Affiliations
- Haojing Yan
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri , Columbia, MO 65211, USA ; [email protected]
- Seth H. Cohen
- ORCiD
- School of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA
- Rogier A. Windhorst
- ORCiD
- School of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA; Department of Physics, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1504, USA
- Rolf A. Jansen
- ORCiD
- School of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA
- Zhiyuan Ma
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- John F. Beacom
- ORCiD
- Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP), The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Physics, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210, USA
- Chenxiaoji Ling
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri , Columbia, MO 65211, USA ; [email protected]
- Cheng Cheng
- ORCiD
- Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy , National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
- Jia-Sheng Huang
- ORCiD
- Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy , National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
- Norman A. Grogin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- S. P. Willner
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Min Yun
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Heidi B. Hammel
- ORCiD
- Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy , Washington, DC 20005, USA
- Stefanie N. Milam
- ORCiD
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Christopher J. Conselice
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Alan Turing Building, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Simon P. Driver
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the International Space Centre (ISC), The University of Western Australia , M468, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- Brenda Frye
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85721-0009, USA
- Madeline A. Marshall
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), Australia
- Anton Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85721-0009, USA
- Aaron Robotham
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the International Space Centre (ISC), The University of Western Australia , M468, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- Jordan C. J. D’Silva
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the International Space Centre (ISC), The University of Western Australia , M468, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- Jake Summers
- ORCiD
- School of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA
- Jeremy Lim
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong , Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
- Kevin Harrington
- ORCiD
- European Southern Observatory , Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla 19001, Santiago de Chile, Chile
- Leonardo Ferreira
- ORCiD
- University of Nottingham , School of Physics & Astronomy, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
- Jose Maria Diego
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-UC) , Avda. Los Castros s/n, E-39005, Santander, Spain
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Stephen M. Wilkins
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex , Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
- Lifan Wang
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A& M University , Mitchell Physics Building (MPHY) 4242 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Adi Zitrin
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
- Rachana A. Bhatawdekar
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency , ESA/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Nathan J. Adams
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Alan Turing Building, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Lukas J. Furtak
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
- Peter Maksym
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Michael J. Rutkowski
- ORCiD
- Minnesota State University-Mankato , Trafton North Science Center, Mankato, MN 56001, USA
- Giovanni G. Fazio
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aca974
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 942,
no. 1
p. L8
Abstract
Using the first epoch of four-band NIRCam observations obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science Program in the Spitzer IRAC Dark Field, we search for F150W and F200W dropouts. In 14.2 arcmin ^2 , we have found eight F150W dropouts and eight F200W dropouts, all brighter than 27.5 mag (the brightest being ∼24 mag) in the band to the red side of the break. As they are detected in multiple bands, these must be real objects. Their nature, however, is unclear, and characterizing their properties is important for realizing the full potential of JWST. If the observed color decrements are due to the Lyman break, these objects should be at z ≳ 11.7 and z ≳ 15.4, respectively. The color diagnostics show that at least four F150W dropouts are far away from the usual contaminators encountered in dropout searches (red galaxies at much lower redshifts or brown dwarf stars). While the diagnostics of the F200W dropouts are less certain due to the limited number of passbands, at least one of them is likely not a known type of contaminant, and the rest are consistent with either high-redshift galaxies with evolved stellar populations or old galaxies at z ≈ 3–8. If a significant fraction of our dropouts are indeed at z ≳ 12, we have to face the severe problem of explaining their high luminosities and number densities. Spectroscopic identifications of such objects are urgently needed.
Keywords
