James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

Arxiv: Compatibility of JWST results with exotic halos Published: 3/19/2024 8:05:15 PM Updated: 9/15/2024 2:34:11 PM

Paper abstract: The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is unveiling astounding results aboutthe first few hundred million years of life of the Universe, delivering imagesof galaxies at very high redshifts. Here, we develop a UV luminosity functionmodel for high-redshift galaxies, considering parameters such as the stellarformation rate, dust extinction, and halo mass function. Calibration of thisluminosity function model using UV luminosity data at redshifts z = 4-7 yieldsoptimal parameter values. Testing the model against data at higher redshiftsreveals successful accommodation of the data at z = 8-9, but challenges emergeat z~13. Our findings suggest a negligible role of dust extinction at thehighest redshifts, prompting a modification of the stellar formation rate toincorporate a larger fraction of luminous objects per massive halo,consistently with similar recent studies. This effect could be attributed tomundane explanations such as unknown evolution of standard astrophysics at highredshift or to the existence of exotic objects at high redshift. We comment onthis latter possibility.