Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: We search for high-redshift dropout galaxies behind the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223, a powerful cosmic lens that has revealed a number of unique objects in its field. Using the deep images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, we find 11 galaxies at z > 7 in the MACS J1149.5+2223 cluster field, and 11 in its parallel field. The high-redshift nature of the bright z ≃ 9.6 galaxy MACS1149-JD, previously reported by Zheng et al., is further supported by non-detection in the extremely deep optical images from the HFF campaign. With the new photometry, the best photometric redshift solution for MACS1149-JD reduces slightly to z = 9.44 ± 0.12. The young galaxy has an estimated stellar mass of ( 7 ± 2 ) × 10 8 M ⊙ , and was formed at z = 13.2 − 1.6 + 1.9 when the universe was ≈300 Myr old. Data available for the first four HFF clusters have already enabled us to find faint galaxies to an intrinsic magnitude of M UV ≃ − 15.5 , approximately a factor of 10 deeper than the parallel fields.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Institutions: Johns Hopkins University, California Institute of Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, University College London, University of Science and Technology of China, Siena College, Anhui Normal University, Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Space Science Institute, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Ikerbasque, University of the Basque Country, Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, Space Telescope Science Institute, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
OpenAlex ID: W2583367352