46 research outputs found
A Mixture of LBG Overdensities in the Fields of Three Quasars: Implications for the Robustness of Photometric Selection
The most luminous quasars at are suspected to be both highly
clustered and reside in the most massive dark matter halos in the early
Universe, making them prime targets to search for galaxy overdensities and/or
protoclusters. We search for Lyman-break dropout-selected galaxies using HST
WFC3/ACS broadband imaging in the fields of three quasars, as well
as their simultaneously observed coordinated-parallel fields, and constrain
their photometric redshifts using EAZY. One field, J0305-3150, shows a volume
density 10 higher than the blank-field UV luminosity function (UVLF) at
M, with tentative evidence of a 3 overdensity in its
parallel field located 15 cMpc away. Another field, J2054-0005, shows an
angular overdensity within 500 ckpc from the quasar but still consistent with
UVLF predictions within 3, while the last field, J2348-3054, shows no
enhancement. We discuss methods for reducing uncertainty in overdensity
measurements when using photometric selection and show that we can robustly
select LBGs consistent with being physically associated with the quasar,
corroborated by existing JWST/NIRCam WFSS data in the J0305 field. Even
accounting for incompleteness, the overdensities in J0305 and J2054 are higher
for brighter galaxies at short angular separations, suggesting preferential
enhancement of more massive galaxies in the immediate vicinity of the quasar.
Finally, we compare the LBG population with previously-identified [CII] and
mm-continuum companions; the LBG overdensities are not accompanied by an
enhanced number of dusty galaxies, suggesting that the overdense quasar fields
are not in the bursty star-forming phase sometimes seen in high-redshift
protoclusters.Comment: 22 pages (main text), 12 figures, 10 tables, 2 appendices. Final
version after addressing referee report, accepted to ApJ May 202
Searching Far and Long I: Pilot ALMA 2mm Follow-up of Bright Dusty Galaxies as a Redshift Filter
A complete census of dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at early epochs is
necessary to constrain the obscured contribution to the cosmic star formation
rate density (CSFRD), however DSFGs beyond are both rare and hard to
identify from photometric data alone due to degeneracies in submillimeter
photometry with redshift. Here, we present a pilot study obtaining follow-up
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) mm observations of a complete sample
of 39 -bright dusty galaxies in the SSA22 field. Empirical
modeling suggests mm imaging of existing samples of DSFGs selected at
mm can quickly and easily isolate the "needle in a
haystack" DSFGs that sit at or beyond. Combining archival submillimeter
imaging with our measured ALMA mm photometry (mJybeam rms), we characterize the galaxies' IR SEDs and use
them to constrain redshifts. With available redshift constraints fit via the
combination of six submillimeter bands, we identify 6/39 high- candidates
each with likelihood to sit at , and find a positive correlation
between redshift and mm flux density. Specifically, our models suggest the
addition of mm to a moderately constrained IR SED will improve the
accuracy of a millimeter-derived redshift from to
. Our IR SED characterizations provide evidence for
relatively high emissivity spectral indices () in the sample. We measure that especially bright (mJy) DSFGs contribute % to the cosmic-averaged CSFRD from
, confirming findings from previous work with similar samples.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Missing Giants: Predictions on Dust-Obscured Galaxy Stellar Mass Assembly Throughout Cosmic Time
Due to their extremely dust-obscured nature, much uncertainty still exists
surrounding the stellar mass growth and content in dusty, star-forming galaxies
(DSFGs) at . In this work, we present a numerical model built using
empirical data on DSFGs to estimate their stellar mass contributions across the
first 10 Gyr of cosmic time. We generate a dust-obscured stellar mass
function that extends beyond the mass limit of star-forming stellar mass
functions in the literature, and predict that massive DSFGs constitute as much
as of all star-forming galaxies with M M at
. We predict the number density of massive DSFGs and find general
agreement with observations, although more data is needed to narrow wide
observational uncertainties. We forward model mock massive DSFGs to their
quiescent descendants and find remarkable agreement with observations from the
literature demonstrating that, to first order, massive DSFGs are a sufficient
ancestral population to describe the prevalence of massive quiescent galaxies
at . We predict that massive DSFGs and their descendants contribute as
much as to the cosmic stellar mass density during the peak of cosmic
star formation, and predict an intense epoch of population growth during the
Gyr from to 3 during which the majority of the most massive
galaxies at high- grow and then quench. Future studies seeking to understand
massive galaxy growth and evolution in the early Universe should strategize
synergies with data from the latest observatories (e.g. JWST and ALMA) to
better include the heavily dust-obscured galaxy population.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Ap
Imaging Cold Gas to 1 kpc Scales in High-Redshift Galaxies with the ngVLA
The next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) will revolutionize our understanding of the distant Universe via the detection of cold molecular gas in the first galaxies. Its impact on studies of galaxy characterization via detailed gas dynamics will provide crucial insight on dominant physical drivers for star-formation in high redshift galaxies, including the exchange of gas from scales of the circumgalactic medium down to resolved clouds on mass scales of ̃105 M☉. In this study, we employ a series of high-resolution, cosmological, hydrodynamic zoom simulations from the MUFASA simulation suite and a CASA simulator to generate mock ngVLA observations of a z ̃ 4.5 gas-rich star-forming galaxy. Using the DESPOTIC radiative transfer code that encompasses simultaneous thermal, chemical, and statistical equilibrium in calculating the molecular and atomic level populations, we generate parallel mock observations of low-J to high-J transitions of CO from ALMA for comparison. We find that observations of CO(1-0) are especially important for tracing the systemic redshift of the galaxy and the total mass of the well-shielded molecular gas reservoir, while even CO(2-1) can predominantly trace denser gas regions distinct from CO(1-0). The factor of 100 times improvement in mapping speed for the ngVLA beyond the Jansky VLA and the proposed ALMA Band 1 will make these detailed, high-resolution imaging and kinematic studies of CO(1-0) routine at z ̃ 2-5
A Massive Protocluster Anchored by a Luminous Quasar at
Protoclusters, the progenitors of galaxy clusters, trace large scale
structures in the early Universe and are important to our understanding of
structure formation and galaxy evolution. To date, only a handful of
protoclusters have been identified in the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). As one
of the rarest populations in the early Universe, distant quasars that host
active supermassive black holes are thought to reside in the most massive dark
matter halos at that cosmic epoch, and could thus potentially pinpoint some of
the earliest protoclusters. In this letter, we report the discovery of a
massive protocluster around a luminous quasar at . This protocluster is
anchored by the quasar, and includes three [CII] emitters at , 12
spectroscopically confirmed Ly emitters (LAEs) at , and
a large number of narrow-band imaging selected LAE candidates at the same
redshift. This structure has an overall overdensity of
within cMpc on the sky and an
extreme overdensity of in its central region (i.e.,
cMpc). We estimate that this protocluster will collapse into a galaxy cluster
with a mass of at the current epoch,
more massive than the most massive clusters known in the local Universe such as
Coma. In the quasar vicinity, we discover a double-peaked LAE which implies
that the quasar has a UV lifetime greater than 0.8 Myrs and has already ionized
its surrounding intergalactic medium.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ
A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): Impact of Galaxies on the CGM Metal Enrichment at z > 6 Using the JWST and VLT
We characterize the multiphase circumgalactic medium and galaxy properties at
z = 6.0-6.5 in four quasar fields from the James Webb Space Telescope A
SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE) program.
We use the Very Large Telescope/X-shooter spectra of quasar J0305-3150 to
identify one new metal absorber at z = 6.2713 with multiple transitions (OI,
MgI, FeII and CII). They are combined with the published absorbing systems in
Davies et al. (2023a) at the same redshift range to form of a sample of nine
metal absorbers at z = 6.03 to 6.49. We identify eight galaxies within 1000 km
s and 350 kpc around the absorbing gas from the ASPIRE spectroscopic
data, with their redshifts secured by [OIII](4959, 5007)
doublets and H emission lines. Our spectral energy distribution fitting
indicates that the absorbing galaxies have stellar mass ranging from 10
to 10 and metallicity between 0.02 and 0.4 solar. Notably, the
z = 6.2713 system in the J0305-3150 field resides in a galaxy overdensity
region, which contains two (tentatively) merging galaxies within 350 kpc and
seven galaxies within 1 Mpc. We measure the relative abundances of
elements to iron ([/Fe]) and find that the CGM gas in the most
overdense region exhibits a lower [/Fe] ratio. Our modeling of the
galaxy's chemical abundance favors a top-heavy stellar initial mass function,
and hints that we may be witnessing the contribution of the first generation
Population III stars to the CGM at the end of reionization epoch.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures in the main text. Accepted for publication in
ApJ
The Web Epoch of Reionization Lyman- Survey (WERLS) I. MOSFIRE Spectroscopy of Lyman- Emitters
We present the first results from the Web Epoch of Reionization
Lyman- Survey (WERLS), a spectroscopic survey of Lyman-
emission using Keck I/MOSFIRE and LRIS. WERLS targets bright () galaxy
candidates with photometric redshifts of selected
from pre-JWST imaging embedded in the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) within three
JWST deep fields: CEERS, PRIMER, and COSMOS-Web. Here, we report 11
Lyman- emitters (LAEs; 3 secure and 8 tentative candidates) detected in
the first five nights of WERLS MOSFIRE data. We estimate our observed LAE yield
is %, broadly consistent with expectations assuming some loss from
redshift uncertainty, contamination from sky OH lines, and that the Universe is
approximately half-ionized at this epoch, whereby observable Lyman-
emission is unlikely for galaxies embedded in a neutral intergalactic medium.
Our targets are selected to be UV-bright, and span a range of absolute UV
magnitudes with . With two LAEs detected at
, we also consider the possibility of an ionized bubble at this
redshift. Future synergistic Keck+JWST efforts will provide a powerful tool for
pinpointing beacons of reionization and mapping the large scale distribution of
mass relative to the ionization state of the Universe.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures; ApJ submitte
Uncovering a Massive z~7.65 Galaxy Hosting a Heavily Obscured Radio-Loud QSO Candidate in COSMOS-Web
In this letter, we report the discovery of the highest redshift, heavily
obscured, radio-loud QSO candidate selected using JWST NIRCam/MIRI, mid-IR,
sub-mm, and radio imaging in the COSMOS-Web field. Using multi-frequency radio
observations and mid-IR photometry, we identify a powerful, radio-loud (RL),
growing supermassive black hole (SMBH) with significant spectral steepening of
the radio SED ( mJy, ,
, ). In conjunction
with ALMA, deep ground-based observations, ancillary space-based data, and the
unprecedented resolution and sensitivity of JWST, we find no evidence of QSO
contribution to the UV/optical/NIR data and thus infer heavy amounts of
obscuration (N cm). Using the wealth of deep UV
to sub-mm photometric data, we report a singular solution photo-z of
= 7.65 and estimate an extremely massive
host-galaxy (). This
source represents the furthest known obscured RL QSO candidate, and its level
of obscuration aligns with the most representative but observationally scarce
population of QSOs at these epochs.Comment: Submitted to ApJL, Comments welcom