Early Results from GLASS-JWST. III. Galaxy Candidates at z similar to 9-15*

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  • Marco Castellano
  • Adriano Fontana
  • Tommaso Treu
  • Paola Santini
  • Emiliano Merlin
  • Nicha Leethochawalit
  • Michele Trenti
  • Eros Vanzella
  • Uros Mestric
  • Andrea Bonchi
  • Davide Belfiori
  • Mario Nonino
  • Diego Paris
  • Gianluca Polenta
  • Guido Roberts-Borsani
  • Kristan Boyett
  • Marusa Bradac
  • Antonello Calabro
  • Karl Glazebrook
  • Claudio Grillo
  • Sara Mascia
  • Amata Mercurio
  • Takahiro Morishita
  • Themiya Nanayakkara
  • Laura Pentericci
  • Piero Rosati
  • Benedetta Vulcani
  • Xin Wang
  • Lilan Yang

We present the results of a first search for galaxy candidates at z similar to 9-15 on deep seven-band NIRCam imaging acquired as part of the GLASS-James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Early Release Science Program on a flanking field of the Frontier Fields cluster A2744. Candidates are selected via two different renditions of the Lyman-break technique, isolating objects at z similar to 9-11, and z similar to 9-15, respectively, supplemented by photometric redshifts obtained with two independent codes. We find five color-selected candidates at z > 9, plus one additional candidate with photometric redshift z (phot) >= 9. In particular, we identify two bright candidates at M (UV) similar or equal to -21 that are unambiguously placed at z similar or equal to 10.6 and z similar or equal to 12.2, respectively. The total number of galaxies discovered at z > 9 is in line with the predictions of a nonevolving luminosity function. The two bright ones at z > 10 are unexpected given the survey volume, although cosmic variance and small number statistics limits general conclusions. This first search demonstrates the unique power of JWST to discover galaxies at the high-redshift frontier. The candidates are ideal targets for spectroscopic follow-up in Cycle-2.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL15
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume938
Issue number2
Number of pages9
ISSN2041-8205
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2022

    Research areas

  • HUBBLE FRONTIER FIELDS, UV LUMINOSITY FUNCTION, HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES, PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS, STAR-FORMATION, FAINT-END, T-PHOT, I., EVOLUTION, POPULATION

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