Work

Tracing early galaxies back in time: implications for the dearth of galaxies beyond z~15

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Although the James Webb Space Telescope has pushed the observational frontier to $z\sim14$, the onset of star formation in the earliest galaxies remains beyond direct reach, making the star formation histories (SFH) of observed galaxies a key tool for probing earlier epochs. We develop and validate a new SFH model based on an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, capable of reproducing the bursty star formation expected in high-redshift galaxies. Tested on the SPHINX$^{20}$ mock catalogs, it accurately recovers stellar masses and SFRs and reconstructs cumulative SFHs at population level; the formation redshift is well constrained at $z\gtrsim9$ but not at $z\sim8$. Applied to 400 galaxies at $9

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2611.13835

Authors: Ciesla, L., Carvajal-Bohorquez, C., Elbaz, D., Aufort, G., Ilbert, O., Finkelstein, S., Koekemoer, A. M., Oesch, P., Boquien, M., Gruppioni, C., Laporte, N.

Language: English

Topic: Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7225832047

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