James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post
Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic Star-Formation Rate Density 300 Myr after the Big Bang
F444W/F200W/F090W false color red/green/blue image of the JADES Origin Field (background image; 27.5 arcmin 2), the JOF F162M footprint (jade outline) and F356W+F410M+F444W/F200W+F210M/F090W+F115W false color red/green/blue thumbnail images (each 0.86 arcsec 2) for ? 12 high-redshift galaxy candidates. The RGB images of the galaxy candidates typically appear to have a green hue in this color space, as they are all detected in the filters used for both the green and red channels, but not the blue channel. Each inset thumbnail lists the best-fit EAZY photometric redshift and the JADES NIRCam ID, and we indicate the shared angular scale of the thumbnails with a scale bar showing 0.2”.
Abstract: We characterize the earliest galaxy population in the JADES Origins Field (JOF), the deepest imaging field observed with JWST. We make use of the ancillary Hubble optical images (5 filters spanning 0.4-0.9µm) and novel JWST images with 14 filters spanning 0.8-5µm, including 7 medium-band filters, and reaching total exposure times of up to 46 hours per filter. We combine all the imaging data at >2µm to construct the deepest imaging ever taken at these wavelengths, reaching as deep as ˜31.4 AB mag in the stack and 30.1-30.8 AB mag (5s, r=0.1" circular aperture) in individual filters. We measure photometric redshifts and use robust selection criteria to identify a sample of eight galaxy candidates at redshifts z=11.5-15. These objects show compact half-light radii of R1/2~50-200pc, stellar masses of M?~107-108M?, and star-formation rates of SFR~0.1-1 M? yr-1. Our search finds no candidates at 15
