THE ABUNDANCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES IN THE REDSHIFT RANGE 8.5–12: NEW RESULTS FROM THE 2012 HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD CAMPAIGN

By Richard S. Ellis, R. McLure, J. Dunlop, Brant Robertson, Yoshiaki Ono, M. Schenker, A. Koekemoer, R. Bowler, M. Ouchi, A. B. Rogers and 6 more. 2012

354 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present the results of the deepest search to date for star-forming galaxies beyond a redshift z ≃ 8.5 utilizing a new sequence of near-infrared Wide-Field Camera 3 (WFC3/IR) images of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF). This “UDF12” campaign completed in 2012 September doubles the earlier exposures with WFC3/IR in this field and quadruples the exposure in the key F105W filter used to locate such distant galaxies. Combined with additional imaging in the F140W filter, the fidelity of high-redshift candidates is greatly improved. Using spectral energy distribution fitting techniques on objects selected from a deep multi-band near-infrared stack, we find seven promising z > 8.5 candidates. As none of the previously claimed UDF candidates with 8.5 < z < 10 are confirmed by our deeper multi-band imaging, our campaign has transformed the measured abundance of galaxies in this redshift range. Although we recover the candidate UDFj-39546284 (previously proposed at z = 10.3), it is undetected in the newly added F140W image, implying that it lies at z = 11.9 or is an intense emission line galaxy at z ≃ 2.4. Although no physically plausible model can explain the required line intensity given the lack of Lyα or broadband UV signal, without an infrared spectrum we cannot rule out an exotic interloper. Regardless, our robust z ≃ 8.5–10 sample demonstrates a luminosity density that continues the smooth decline observed over 6 < z < 8. Such continuity has important implications for models of cosmic reionization and future searches for z >10 galaxies with James Webb Space Telescope.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a9867a9564f24e3e954e1042d40cc32c46afe039

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. L. Hernquist
2. P. Hopkins
3. Richard S. Ellis
4. P. V. van Dokkum
5. M. Franx
6. R. Somerville
7. C. Conroy
8. R. Dav'e

In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

1. R. Bouwens
2. Richard S. Ellis
3. P. Oesch
4. G. Illingworth
5. J. Dunlop
6. D. Stark
7. M. Franx
8. I. Labbé

In Instrumentation

1. Richard S. Ellis
2. P. V. van Dokkum
3. M. Franx
4. L. Hernquist
5. C. Conroy
6. R. Bouwens
7. P. Hopkins
8. J. Dunlop

Citations in the corpus

• NEW CONSTRAINTS ON COSMIC REIONIZATION FROM THE 2012 HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD CAMPAIGN (2013, methodology): “The UDF12 campaign is a 128-orbit Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program (GO 12498, PI: Ellis) with the infrared (IR) channel on the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3/IR) that acquired the deepest ever images in the IR with HST in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) in Fall 2012 (the UDF12 project and data ove”
• The Frontier Fields: Survey Design and Initial Results (2016, methodology): “Thus, while the cluster pointings allow us to see intrinsically fainter objects than the HUDF within small volumes, the parallel fields provide a dramatic improvement in the volume and statistical counting of distant galaxies brighter than 29th magnitude.”
• Big Three Dragons: A z = 7.15 Lyman-break galaxy detected in [O iii] 88 μm, [C ii] 158 μm, and dust continuum with ALMA (2018, background): “While a large number of galaxy candidates are selected with a dropout technique at z >∼ 7 (e.g., Ellis et al. 2013; Bouwens et al. 2014; Oesch et al. 2018), the spectroscopic identifications at z >∼ 7 remain difficult (e.g., Stark et al. 2017 and references therein).”
• Introducing the Illustris Project: simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the Universe (2014, result): “Our predicted SF history is in good agreement with the observations, including the recent lower limits (Ellis et al. 2013; Oesch et al. 2013) beyond z ∼ 8.”
• THE GRISM LENS-AMPLIFIED SURVEY FROM SPACE (GLASS). I. SURVEY OVERVIEW AND FIRST DATA RELEASE (2015, background): “Several legacy fields have been imaged at a variety of wavelengths, becoming the focus of ground-based telescopes and communities interested in intermediate- and high-redshift science (Ferguson et al. 2000; Giavalisco et al. 2004; Koekemoer et al. 2011; Scoville et al. 9; Ellis et al. 2013).”
• New Measurements of the Ionizing Ultraviolet Background over 2 < z < 5 and Implications for Hydrogen Reionization (2013, background): “…> 6 indicate that the global star formation rate density declines steeply with redshift over 6 < z < 12 (e.g., Ouchi et al. 2009; Castellano et al. 2010; Bunker et al. 2010; Bouwens et al. 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012; Oesch et al. 2010; McLure et al. 2010, 2013; Schenker et al. 2013; Ellis et al. 2013).”
• LINE-EMITTING GALAXIES BEYOND A REDSHIFT OF 7: AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR ESTIMATING THE EVOLVING NEUTRALITY OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM (2014, neutral): “…the reionization process occurred within the redshift interval 6 < z < 20 (Hinshaw et al. 2013) and deep infrared imaging with Hubble Space Telescope has provided the first opportunity to conduct a census of galaxies during the latter half of this period (Ellis et al. 2013; Oesch et al. 2013).”
• THE HST EXTREME DEEP FIELD (XDF): COMBINING ALL ACS AND WFC3/IR DATA ON THE HUDF REGION INTO THE DEEPEST FIELD EVER (2013, methodology): “These data are an invaluable resource and contribute to the HUDF region, but the most important addition in the near-IR was from the HUDF12 (PI:Ellis; Ellis et al. 2013) dataset which provided additional nearIR data from WFC3/IR over the HUDF09 field.”
• THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXY NUMBER DENSITY AT z < 8 AND ITS IMPLICATIONS (2016, methodology): “We use one of the latest deepest ultra-high redshift searches from the UDF12 project from Ellis et al. (2013).”
• A new multifield determination of the galaxy luminosity function at z = 7-9 incorporating the 2012 Hubble Ultra-Deep Field imaging (2012, background): “The results of our search for galaxies at z > 8.5 have already been reported by Ellis et al. (2013), while the new deep multi-band data have now also been exploited by Dunlop et al. (2013) in a new determination of the UV spectral slopes of galaxies at z ' 7 − 9 (with consequent implications for…”
• The Evolution of the Intergalactic Medium (2015, background): “Observationally, the luminosity function of ultraviolet dropout-selected galaxies at source-frame ∼ 1500Å has been measured at z > 6 with HST (Finkelstein et al. 2012b; Bouwens et al. 2012; Ellis et al. 2013; McLure et al. 2013).”
• PROBING THE DAWN OF GALAXIES AT z ∼ 9–12: NEW CONSTRAINTS FROM HUDF12/XDF AND CANDELS DATA (2013, methodology): “In general, our sample is in very good agreement with the selection of Ellis et al. (2013).”
• THE EVOLUTION OF THE GALAXY REST-FRAME ULTRAVIOLET LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OVER THE FIRST TWO BILLION YEARS (2014, methodology): “Thus, the precipitous decline in the luminosity density (Oesch et al. 2013, 2014) may be less than previously thought (e.g., Coe et al. 2013; Ellis et al. 2013; Behroozi & Silk 2015).”
• PAPER-64 CONSTRAINTS ON REIONIZATION: THE 21 cm POWER SPECTRUM AT z = 8.4 (2015, background): “8 (Bouwens et al. 2010; Schenker et al. 2013) and have detected a few sources at even greater distances (Ellis et al. 2013; Oesch et al. 2013).”