UNCOVER: A NIRSpec Census of Lensed Galaxies at z = 8.50–13.08 Probing a High-AGN Fraction and Ionized Bubbles in the Shadow

Abstract
We present JWST NIRSpec prism spectroscopy of lensed galaxies at z ≳ 9 found behind the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744 in the UNCOVER Cycle 1 Treasury Program. We confirm the redshift via emission lines and/or the Lyα break for 10 galaxies at z = 8.50–13.08 down to M

V
= −17.3. We achieve a 100% confirmation rate for z > 9 candidates reported in H. Atek et al. Using six sources with multiple line detections, we find that offsets in redshift estimates between the lines and the Lyα break alone can be ±0.2, raising caution in designing future follow-up spectroscopy for the break-only sources with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. With spec-z-confirmed sources in UNCOVER and the literature, we derive lower limits on the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function (LF) at z ≃ 9–12 and find that these lower limits agree with recent photometric measurements. We identify at least two unambiguous and several possible active galactic nucleus (AGN) systems based on X-ray, broad Hβ, high ionization lines, and excess in the UV LF. This requires the AGN LFs at z ≃ 9–10 to be comparable or even higher than the X-ray AGN LF estimated at z ∼ 6 and suggests a plausible cause of the high abundance of z > 9 galaxies claimed in the recent photometric measurements is AGNs. One UV-luminous source is confirmed at the same redshift as a broad-line AGN at z = 8.50 with a physical separation of 380 kpc in the source plane. These two sources show emission blueward of Lyα, indicating a giant ionized bubble enclosing them with a radius of 7.69 ± 0.18 pMpc. Our results imply that AGNs have a nonnegligible contribution to cosmic reionization.

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Details

Published: Dec 01, 2024
Vol/Issue: 977(2)
Pages: 250
License: View

Authors

Christina C. Williams

K

Katherine E. Whitaker

Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 ,; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) for the European Space Agency (ESA) , STScI, Baltimore, MD 21218 ,; The Johns Hopkins University Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, , 3400 N Charles Str, Baltimore, MD 21218 ,

Center for Frontier Science, Chiba University , 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522 ,

Departament d’Astronomia i Astrofísica, Universitat de València , C. Dr Moliner 50, E-46100 Burjassot, València ,; Unidad Asociada CSIC ‘Grupo de Astrofísica Extragaláctica y Cosmología’ (Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Universitat de València) ,

A

Andrea Weibel

Funding

National Science Foundation Award: 2109066

United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation Award: 2020750

Danish National Research Foundation Award: 140

Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales Award: IN2P3

Space Telescope Science Institute Award: NAS5-03127

Swiss National Science Foundation Award: 200020_207349

The Dutch Research Council Award: 016.VIDI.189.162

Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation Award: MB22.00072

MCIN Award: ASFAE/2022/025

Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion - Agencia Estatal de Investigacion Award: PID2019-109592GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

Cite This Article

Seiji Fujimoto, B Wang, John R. Weaver, et al. (2024). UNCOVER: A NIRSpec Census of Lensed Galaxies at z = 8.50–13.08 Probing a High-AGN Fraction and Ionized Bubbles in the Shadow. The Astrophysical Journal, 977(2), 250. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9027

UNCOVER: A NIRSpec Census of Lensed Galaxies at z = 8.50–13.08 Probing a High-AGN Fraction and Ionized Bubbles in the Shadow

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