CEERS Key Paper. I. An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST

Abstract

We present an investigation into the first 500 Myr of galaxy evolution from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. CEERS, one of 13 JWST ERS programs, targets galaxy formation from z ∼ 0.5 to >10 using several imaging and spectroscopic modes. We make use of the first epoch of CEERS NIRCam imaging, spanning 35.5 arcmin2, to search for candidate galaxies at z > 9. Following a detailed data reduction process implementing several custom steps to produce high-quality reduced images, we perform multiband photometry across seven NIRCam broad- and medium-band (and six Hubble broadband) filters focusing on robust colors and accurate total fluxes. We measure photometric redshifts and devise a robust set of selection criteria to identify a sample of 26 galaxy candidates at z ∼ 9–16. These objects are compact with a median half-light radius of ∼0.5 kpc. We present an early estimate of the z ∼ 11 rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function, finding that the number density of galaxies at M UV ∼ −20 appears to evolve very little from z ∼ 9 to 11. We also find that the abundance (surface density [arcmin−2]) of our candidates exceeds nearly all theoretical predictions. We explore potential implications, including that at z > 10, star formation may be dominated by top-heavy initial mass functions, which would result in an increased ratio of UV light per unit halo mass, though a complete lack of dust attenuation and/or changing star formation physics may also play a role. While spectroscopic confirmation of these sources is urgently required, our results suggest that the deeper views to come with JWST should yield prolific samples of ultrahigh-redshift galaxies with which to further explore these conclusions.

The Stellar Mass–Black Hole Mass Relation at z ∼ 2 down to  BH ∼

“…We use the data taken from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS;Finkelstein et al 2023) that was released in 2022 June. CEERS data include four pointings covering 33.1 arcminutes 2 , with seven bands of F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, F410M, and F444W.…”

Early Results from GLASS-JWST. XIX. A High Density of Bright Galaxies at z ≈ 10 in the A2744 Region

“…The results have been surprising: multiple independent analyses have shown that the number density of bright galaxies at z > 9 is larger than predicted by theoretical models or on the basis of the extrapolation from lower-redshift estimates (e.g., Finkelstein et al 2023;Bouwens et al 2023aBouwens et al , 2023bHarikane et al 2023;Pérez-González et al 2023). This excess is most pronounced in the brightest part of the luminosity function (LF), which seems to evolve very little from z = 4 to z = 10-12.…”

Paschen-line Constraints on Dust Attenuation and Star Formation at z ∼ 1–3 with JWST/NIRSpec

“…The publicly available NIRSpec Multi Shutter Assembly (MSA) data from the CEERS program (Program ID: 1345; Finkelstein et al 2023) were used for this analysis. These medium-resolution R ∼ 1000 data were obtained using the G140M/F100LP, G235M/F170LP, and G395M/F290LP grating and filter combinations, covering the wavelength range of λ = 1-5 μm.…”

“…In this paper, we use the first spectroscopic data from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey (Finkelstein et al 2023) with JWST (Section 2) to investigate the improvements in nebular reddening constraints afforded by Paschen lines (Section 3), and the implications of such constraints on the reddening of the UV continuum for galaxies at redshifts z = 1.0-3.1 (Section 4). A Chabrier (2003) initial mass function (IMF) is considered throughout the paper.…”