Bright galaxies at Hubble's redshift detection frontier : preliminary results and design from the redshift z ~ 9-10 BoRG pure-parallel HST survey.

Authors

V. Calvi, Space Telescope Science Institute
M. Trenti, University of Melbourne
M. Stiavelli, Space Telescope Science Institute
P. A. Oesch, Yale University
L. Bradley, Space Telescope Science Institute
K. B. Schmidt, University of California, Santa Barbara
D. Coe, Space Telescope Science Institute
G. Brammer, Space Telescope Science Institute
S. Bernard, University of Melbourne
R. J. Bouwens, Leiden University
D. Carrasco, University of Melbourne
C. M. Carollo, ETH Zurich
Benne W. Holwerda, University of Louisville
J. W. MacKenty, Space Telescope Science Institute
C. A. Mason, University of California, Santa Barbara
J. M. Shull, University of Colorado, Boulder
T. Treu, University of California, Los Angeles

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2016

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

We present the first results and design from the redshift z ∼ 9–10 Brightest of the Reionizing Galaxies Hubble Space Telescope survey BoRG[z9–10], aimed at searching for intrinsically luminous unlensed galaxies during the first 700 Myr after the Big Bang. BoRG[z9–10] is the continuation of a multi-year pure-parallel near-IR and optical imaging campaign with the Wide Field Camera 3. The ongoing survey uses five filters, optimized for detecting the most distant objects and offering continuous wavelength coverage from λ = 0.35 μm to λ = 1.7 μm. We analyze the initial ∼130 arcmin2 of area over 28 independent lines of sight (∼25% of the total planned) to search for z > 7 galaxies using a combination of Lyman-break and photometric redshift selections. From an effective comoving volume of (5–25) × 105 Mpc3 for magnitudes brighter than mAB = 26.5 24.0 – in the H160-band respectively, we find five galaxy candidates at z ~ 8.3–10 detected at high confidence (SN 8 > ), including a source at z ~ 8.4 with mAB = 24.5 (SN 2 ~ 2), which, if confirmed, would be the brightest galaxy identified at such early times (z > 8). In addition, BoRG[z9–10] data yield four galaxies with 7.3 8  z . These new Lyman-break galaxies with m  26.5 are ideal targets for follow-up observations from ground and spacebased observatories to help investigate the complex interplay between dark matter growth, galaxy assembly, and reionization.

Comments

© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/817/2/120

Original Publication Information

Calvi, V., et al. "Bright Galaxies at Hubble's Redshift Detection Frontier: Preliminary Results and Design from the Redshift z~9-10 BoRG Pure-Parallel HST Survey." 2016. The Astrophysical Journal 817(2): 19 pp.

ThinkIR Citation

Calvi, V.; Trenti, M.; Stiavelli, M.; Oesch, P. A.; Bradley, L.; Schmidt, K. B.; Coe, D.; Brammer, G.; Bernard, S.; Bouwens, R. J.; Carrasco, D.; Carollo, C. M.; Holwerda, Benne W.; MacKenty, J. W.; Mason, C. A.; Shull, J. M.; and Treu, T., "Bright galaxies at Hubble's redshift detection frontier : preliminary results and design from the redshift z ~ 9-10 BoRG pure-parallel HST survey." (2016). Faculty and Staff Scholarship. 173.
https://ir.library.louisville.edu/faculty/173

DOI

10.3847/0004-637X/817/2/120