JWST, ALMA, and Keck Spectroscopic Constraints on the UV Luminosity Functions at z~7-14: Clumpiness and Compactness of the Brightest Galaxies in the Early Universe

2024/06/26 by Yuichi Harikane, Akio Inoue, Harikane, Yuichi +67 · 32 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2406.18352

openalex publication_date 2024/06/26 · openalex created_date 2024/06/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

We present the number densities and physical properties of the bright galaxies spectroscopically confirmed at z∼7-14. Our sample is composed of 60 galaxies at z_spec∼7-14, including recently-confirmed galaxies at z_spec=12.34-14.32 with JWST, as well as new confirmations at z_spec=6.583-7.643 with -24< M_UV< -21 mag using ALMA and Keck. Our JWST/NIRSpec observations have also revealed that very bright galaxy candidates at z∼10-13 identified from ground-based telescope images before JWST are passive galaxies at z∼3-4, emphasizing the necessity of strict screening and spectroscopy in the selection of the brightest galaxies at z>10. The UV luminosity functions derived from these spectroscopic results are consistent with a double power-law function, showing tensions with theoretical models at the bright end. To understand the origin of the overabundance of bright galaxies, we investigate their morphologies using JWST/NIRCam high-resolution images obtained in various surveys including PRIMER and COSMOS-Web. We find that ∼70% of the bright galaxies at z∼7 exhibit clumpy morphologies with multiple sub-components, suggesting merger-induced starburst activity, which is consistent with SED fitting results showing bursty star formation histories. At z\gtrsim10, bright galaxies are classified into two types of galaxies; extended ones with weak high-ionization emission lines, and compact ones with strong high-ionization lines including NIV]λ1486, indicating that at least two different processes (e.g., merger-induced starburst and compact star formation/AGN) are shaping the physical properties of the brightest galaxies at z\gtrsim10 and are responsible for their overabundance.

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