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- Windhorst, Rogier A., et al.
(author)
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JWST PEARLS. Prime extragalactic areas for reionization and lensing science : project overview and first results
- 2023
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In: Astronomical Journal. - : Institute of Physics (IOP). - 0004-6256 .- 1538-3881. ; 165:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We give an overview and describe the rationale, methods, and first results from NIRCam images of the JWST “Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science” (PEARLS) project. PEARLS uses up to eight NIRCam filters to survey several prime extragalactic survey areas: two fields at the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP); seven gravitationally lensing clusters; two high redshift protoclusters; and the iconic backlit VV 191 galaxy system to map its dust attenuation. PEARLS also includes NIRISS spectra for one of the NEP fields and NIRSpec spectra of two high-redshift quasars. The main goal of PEARLS is to study the epoch of galaxy assembly, active galactic nucleus (AGN) growth, and First Light. Five fields—the JWST NEP Time-Domain Field (TDF), IRAC Dark Field, and three lensing clusters—will be observed in up to four epochs over a year. The cadence and sensitivity of the imaging data are ideally suited to find faint variable objects such as weak AGN, high-redshift supernovae, and cluster caustic transits. Both NEP fields have sightlines through our Galaxy, providing significant numbers of very faint brown dwarfs whose proper motions can be studied. Observations from the first spoke in the NEP TDF are public. This paper presents our first PEARLS observations, their NIRCam data reduction and analysis, our first object catalogs, the 0.9–4.5 μm galaxy counts and Integrated Galaxy Light. We assess the JWST sky brightness in 13 NIRCam filters, yielding our first constraints to diffuse light at 0.9–4.5 μm. PEARLS is designed to be of lasting benefit to the community.
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| 2. |
- Diego, J. M., et al.
(author)
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JWST's PEARLS : A new lens model for ACT-CL J0102-4915, "El Gordo," and the first red supergiant star at cosmological distances discovered by JWST
- 2023
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 672
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The first James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data on the massive colliding cluster El Gordo allow for 23 known families of multiply lensed images to be confirmed and for eight new members of these families to be identified. Based on these families, which have been confirmed spectroscopically by MUSE, we derived an initial lens model. This model guided the identification of 37 additional families of multiply lensed galaxies, among which 28 are entirely new systems, and nine were previously known. The initial lens model determined geometric redshifts for the 37 new systems. The geometric redshifts agree reasonably well with spectroscopic or photometric redshifts when those are available. The geometric redshifts enable two additional models that include all 60 families of multiply lensed galaxies spanning a redshift range 2 z z > 0.8 and has an estimated virial mass close the maximum mass allowed by standard cosmological models. The JWST images also reveal the presence of small-mass perturbers that produce small lensing distortions. The smallest of these is consistent with being a dwarf galaxy at z = 0.87 and has an estimated mass of 3.8 x 10(9) M-circle dot, making it the smallest substructure found at z > 0.5. The JWST images also show several candidate caustic-crossing events. One of them is detected at high significance at the expected position of the critical curve and is likely a red supergiant star at z = 2.1878. This would be the first red supergiant found at cosmological distances. The cluster lensing should magnify background objects at z > 6, making more of them visible than in blank fields of a similar size, but there appears to be a deficiency of such objects.
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| 3. |
- Diego, Jose M., et al.
(author)
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JWST's PEARLS : Mothra, a new kaiju star at z=2.091 extremely magnified by MACS0416, and implications for dark matter models
- 2023
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 679
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the discovery of Mothra, an extremely magnified monster star, likely a binary system of two supergiant stars, in one of the strongly lensed galaxies behind the galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403. Mothra is in a galaxy with spectroscopic redshift z = 2.091 in a portion of the galaxy that is parsecs away from the cluster caustic. The binary star is observed only on the side of the critical curve with negative parity but has been detectable for at least eight years, implying the presence of a small lensing perturber. Microlenses alone cannot explain the earlier observations of this object made with the Hubble Space Telescope. A larger perturber with a mass of at least 10(4 )M(circle dot) offers a more satisfactory explanation. Based on the lack of perturbation on other nearby sources in the same arc, the maximum mass of the perturber is 2.5 x 10(6) M-circle dot, making this the smallest substructure constrained by lensing at z > 0.3. The existence of this millilens is fully consistent with expectations from standard cold dark matter cosmology. On the other hand, the existence of such a small substructure in a cluster environment has implications for other dark matter models. In particular, warm dark matter models with particle masses below 8.7 keV are excluded by our observations. Similarly, axion dark matter models are consistent with the observations only if the axion mass is in the range 0.5 x 10(-22) eV < m(a )< 5 x 10(-22) eV.
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| 4. |
- Nabizadeh, Armin, et al.
(author)
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A search for high-redshift direct-collapse black hole candidates in the PEARLS north ecliptic pole field
- 2024
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 683
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) of mass ∼ 104-105 M⊙ that form in HI-cooling halos in the early Universe are promising progenitors of the greater than or similar to 109 M⊙ supermassive black holes that fuel observed z greater than or similar to 7 quasars. Efficient accretion of the surrounding gas onto such DCBH seeds may render them sufficiently bright for detection with the JWST up to z ≈ 20. Additionally, the very steep and red spectral slope predicted across the ≈ 1-5 μm wavelength range of the JWST/NIRSpec instrument during their initial growth phase should make them photometrically identifiable up to very high redshifts. In this work, we present a search for such DCBH candidates across the 34 arcmin2 in the first two spokes of the JWST cycle-1 PEARLS survey of the north ecliptic pole time-domain field covering eight NIRCam filters down to a maximum depth of ∼ 29 AB mag. We identify two objects with spectral energy distributions consistent with the Pacucci et al. (2016) DCBH models. However, we also note that even with data in eight NIRCam filters, objects of this type remain degenerate with dusty galaxies and obscured active galactic nuclei over a wide range of redshifts. Follow-up spectroscopy would be required to pin down the nature of these objects. Based on our sample of DCBH candidates and assumptions on the typical duration of the DCBH steep-slope state, we set a conservative upper limit of less than or similar to 5x10-4 comoving Mpc-3 (cMpc-3) on the comoving density of host halos capable of hosting DCBHs with spectral energy distributions similar to the Pacucci et al. (2016) models at z ≈ 6-14.
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