<i>JWST</i> FRESCO: a comprehensive census of H <i>β</i> + [O <scp>iii</scp>] emitters at 6.8 &amp;lt; z &amp;lt; 9.0 in the GOODS fields

ABSTRACT We present the census of H $\beta$ + [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] $4960,5008\rm{\mathring{\rm\,A}}$ emitters at $6.8\lt z\lt 9.0$ from the JWST FRESCO survey over 124 arcmin$^2$ in the GOODS-North and GOODS-South fields. Our unbiased spectroscopic search results in 137 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at $6.8\lt z\lt 9.0$ with observed [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] fluxes $f_{\rm { [{\rm O\, {\small III}}]}}\gtrsim 1\times 10^{-18}\ \rm {ergs}\ \rm {s}^{-1} \ \rm {cm}^{-2}$. The rest-frame optical line ratios of the median stacked spectrum (median $M_{\rm {UV}}=-19.65^{+0.59}_{-1.05}$) indicate negligible dust attenuation, low metallicity ($12+\log (\rm {O/H})= 7.2-7.7$) and a high ionization parameter $\log _{10}U \simeq -2.5$. We find a factor $\times 1.3$ difference in the number density of $6.8\lt z\lt 9.0$ galaxies between GOODS-South and GOODS-North, which is caused by a single overdensity at $7.0\lt z\lt 7.2$ in GOODS-North. The bright end of the UV luminosity function of spectroscopically confirmed [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] emitters is in good agreement with HST dropout-selected samples. Discrepancies between the observed [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] LF, [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$]/UV ratio, and [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] equivalent widths, and that predicted by theoretical models, suggest burstier star-formation histories and/or more heterogeneous metallicity and ionizing conditions in $z\gt 7$ galaxies. We report a rapid decline of the [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] luminosity density at $z\gtrsim 6\!-\!7$ which cannot be explained by the evolution of the cosmic star-formation rate density. Finally we find that FRESCO detects in only 2h galaxies likely accounting for $\sim 10-20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the ionizing budget at $z=7\!-\!8$ (assuming an escape fraction of $10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$), raising the prospect of directly detecting a significant fraction of the sources of reionization with JWST.

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Publication Details

Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2024-10-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2353
Citations
32
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.61

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article

JWST FRESCO: a comprehensive census of H β + [O iii] emitters at 6.8 &lt; z &lt; 9.0 in the GOODS fields

E. Leonova, Jasleen Matharu, Jorryt Matthee, G. D. Illingworth et al.
32 citations
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
10.61
article

JWST FRESCO: a comprehensive census of H β + [O iii] emitters at 6.8 &lt; z &lt; 9.0 in the GOODS fields

E. Leonova, Jasleen Matharu, Jorryt Matthee, G. D. Illingworth, Alba Covelo-Paz, E. Giovinazzo, M. A. Wozniak, G. Prieto Lyon, Thomas Herard-Demanche, R. J. Bouwens, Rohan P. Naidu, R. A. Meyer, Ivo Labbé, Ivan Kramarenko, Mauro Stefanon, Naveen A. Reddy, Stijn Wuyts, D. Schaerer, Irene Shivaei, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Josephine Kerutt, Pascal A. Oesch, Alice E. Shapley, Gabriel Brammer, Michael V. Maseda, D. Magee, Mengyuan Xiao, Emily R. Nelson, John Chisholm, Andrea Weibel
article en
32 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present the census of H $\beta$ + [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] $4960,5008\rm{\mathring{\rm\,A}}$ emitters at $6.8\lt z\lt 9.0$ from the JWST FRESCO survey over 124 arcmin$^2$ in the GOODS-North and GOODS-South fields. Our unbiased spectroscopic search results in 137 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at $6.8\lt z\lt 9.0$ with observed [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] fluxes $f_{\rm { [{\rm O\, {\small III}}]}}\gtrsim 1\times 10^{-18}\ \rm {ergs}\ \rm {s}^{-1} \ \rm {cm}^{-2}$. The rest-frame optical line ratios of the median stacked spectrum (median $M_{\rm {UV}}=-19.65^{+0.59}_{-1.05}$) indicate negligible dust attenuation, low metallicity ($12+\log (\rm {O/H})= 7.2-7.7$) and a high ionization parameter $\log _{10}U \simeq -2.5$. We find a factor $\times 1.3$ difference in the number density of $6.8\lt z\lt 9.0$ galaxies between GOODS-South and GOODS-North, which is caused by a single overdensity at $7.0\lt z\lt 7.2$ in GOODS-North. The bright end of the UV luminosity function of spectroscopically confirmed [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] emitters is in good agreement with HST dropout-selected samples. Discrepancies between the observed [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] LF, [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$]/UV ratio, and [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] equivalent widths, and that predicted by theoretical models, suggest burstier star-formation histories and/or more heterogeneous metallicity and ionizing conditions in $z\gt 7$ galaxies. We report a rapid decline of the [${\rm O\, {\small III}}$] luminosity density at $z\gtrsim 6\!-\!7$ which cannot be explained by the evolution of the cosmic star-formation rate density. Finally we find that FRESCO detects in only 2h galaxies likely accounting for $\sim 10-20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the ionizing budget at $z=7\!-\!8$ (assuming an escape fraction of $10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$), raising the prospect of directly detecting a significant fraction of the sources of reionization with JWST.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyVol. 535(1)
University of California, Riverside (US), University of Geneva (CH), Leiden University (NL), University of Copenhagen (DK), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Institute of Science and Technology Austria (AT), Chiba University (JP), Universitat de València (ES), University of California, Los Angeles (US), University of Groningen (NL), University of California, Santa Cruz (US), University of Colorado Boulder (US), Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (US), Centro de Astrobiología (ES), Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Instituto de Física de Cantabria (ES), University of Bath (GB), Swinburne University of Technology (AU), The University of Texas at Austin (US), University of Amsterdam (NL)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Spine Education and Research Institute, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Danmarks Grundforskningsfond, Generalitat Valenciana, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, H2020 European Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
10.61
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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