The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel Observations
We present the BoRG-JWST survey, a combination of two JWST Cycle 1 programs aimed at obtaining NIRSpec spectroscopy of representative, UV-bright 7 < z < 10 galaxy candidates across 22 independent sight lines selected from Hubble/WFC3 pure-parallel observations. We confirm the high- z nature...
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2025-01-01
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| author | Guido Roberts-Borsani Micaela Bagley Sofía Rojas-Ruiz Tommaso Treu Takahiro Morishita Steven L. Finkelstein Michele Trenti Pablo Arrabal Haro Eduardo Bañados Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz Katherine Chworowsky Taylor A. Hutchison Rebecca L. Larson Nicha Leethochawalit Gene C. K. Leung Charlotte Mason Rachel S. Somerville Massimo Stiavelli L. Y. Aaron Yung Susan A. Kassin Christian Soto |
| author_facet | Guido Roberts-Borsani Micaela Bagley Sofía Rojas-Ruiz Tommaso Treu Takahiro Morishita Steven L. Finkelstein Michele Trenti Pablo Arrabal Haro Eduardo Bañados Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz Katherine Chworowsky Taylor A. Hutchison Rebecca L. Larson Nicha Leethochawalit Gene C. K. Leung Charlotte Mason Rachel S. Somerville Massimo Stiavelli L. Y. Aaron Yung Susan A. Kassin Christian Soto |
| author_sort | Guido Roberts-Borsani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We present the BoRG-JWST survey, a combination of two JWST Cycle 1 programs aimed at obtaining NIRSpec spectroscopy of representative, UV-bright 7 < z < 10 galaxy candidates across 22 independent sight lines selected from Hubble/WFC3 pure-parallel observations. We confirm the high- z nature of 12 out of 21 observed primary targets through low-resolution prism observations, with the rest revealing themselves unsurprisingly to be z ∼ 1–3 interlopers, brown dwarfs, or yielding inconclusive results. From the Multi Shutter Array (MSA) observations, we confirm an additional nine filler sources at z > 5, highlighting the large abundance of high-redshift galaxies even in individual WFC3 pointings. The primary sample spans the absolute magnitude range −20.4 mag < M _UV < −22.4 mag and harbors UV continuum slopes of β ≃ −2.5 to −2.0, representing some of the most luminous z > 7 sources currently known and comparable to the brightest NIRCam sources at z > 10. Prominent [O iii ]+H β lines are found across the full sample, while a stack of sources reveals a plethora of other rest-optical lines and additional rest-UV C III ] 1909 Å emission. Despite their luminosities, none of the low-resolution spectra display evidence for type 1 active galactic nucleus activity based on a search for broad-line emission. Lastly, we present a spectroscopic data release of 188 confirmed 0.5 ≲ z ≲ 5.0 sources from filler MSA observations, highlighting the legacy value of the survey and a representative benchmark for comparisons to deep field observations. |
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| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-d9c0a13e7f3c4a9ab85992b68679d73b2025-08-20T02:53:50ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198311810.3847/1538-4357/adba60The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel ObservationsGuido Roberts-Borsani0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4140-1367Micaela Bagley1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9921-9218Sofía Rojas-Ruiz2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2349-9310Tommaso Treu3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8460-0390Takahiro Morishita4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8512-1404Steven L. Finkelstein5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8519-1130Michele Trenti6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9391-305XPablo Arrabal Haro7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7959-8783Eduardo Bañados8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2931-7824Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2332-5505Katherine Chworowsky10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4922-0613Taylor A. Hutchison11https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6251-4988Rebecca L. Larson12https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2366-8858Nicha Leethochawalit13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4570-3159Gene C. K. Leung14https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9393-6507Charlotte Mason15https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3407-1785Rachel S. Somerville16https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6748-6821Massimo Stiavelli17https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9935-6047L. Y. Aaron Yung18https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3466-035XSusan A. Kassin19https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3838-8093Christian Soto20https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7840-2972Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland ; guido.roberts-borsani@unige.chDepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USAIPAC, California Institute of Technology , MC 314-6, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USADepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USASchool of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , AustraliaNSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Aveue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USAMax Planck Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USADepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USAAstrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USADepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA; School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , Rochester, NY 14623, USANational Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) , Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, 50180, ThailandDepartment of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USACosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200, Copenhagen N, DenmarkCenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USASpace Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USASpace Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USASpace Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USASpace Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USAWe present the BoRG-JWST survey, a combination of two JWST Cycle 1 programs aimed at obtaining NIRSpec spectroscopy of representative, UV-bright 7 < z < 10 galaxy candidates across 22 independent sight lines selected from Hubble/WFC3 pure-parallel observations. We confirm the high- z nature of 12 out of 21 observed primary targets through low-resolution prism observations, with the rest revealing themselves unsurprisingly to be z ∼ 1–3 interlopers, brown dwarfs, or yielding inconclusive results. From the Multi Shutter Array (MSA) observations, we confirm an additional nine filler sources at z > 5, highlighting the large abundance of high-redshift galaxies even in individual WFC3 pointings. The primary sample spans the absolute magnitude range −20.4 mag < M _UV < −22.4 mag and harbors UV continuum slopes of β ≃ −2.5 to −2.0, representing some of the most luminous z > 7 sources currently known and comparable to the brightest NIRCam sources at z > 10. Prominent [O iii ]+H β lines are found across the full sample, while a stack of sources reveals a plethora of other rest-optical lines and additional rest-UV C III ] 1909 Å emission. Despite their luminosities, none of the low-resolution spectra display evidence for type 1 active galactic nucleus activity based on a search for broad-line emission. Lastly, we present a spectroscopic data release of 188 confirmed 0.5 ≲ z ≲ 5.0 sources from filler MSA observations, highlighting the legacy value of the survey and a representative benchmark for comparisons to deep field observations.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adba60ReionizationGalaxy evolutionHigh-redshift galaxiesJames Webb Space Telescope |
| spellingShingle | Guido Roberts-Borsani Micaela Bagley Sofía Rojas-Ruiz Tommaso Treu Takahiro Morishita Steven L. Finkelstein Michele Trenti Pablo Arrabal Haro Eduardo Bañados Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz Katherine Chworowsky Taylor A. Hutchison Rebecca L. Larson Nicha Leethochawalit Gene C. K. Leung Charlotte Mason Rachel S. Somerville Massimo Stiavelli L. Y. Aaron Yung Susan A. Kassin Christian Soto The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel Observations The Astrophysical Journal Reionization Galaxy evolution High-redshift galaxies James Webb Space Telescope |
| title | The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel Observations |
| title_full | The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel Observations |
| title_fullStr | The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel Observations |
| title_full_unstemmed | The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel Observations |
| title_short | The BoRG-JWST Survey: Program Overview and First Confirmations of Luminous Reionization-era Galaxies from Pure-parallel Observations |
| title_sort | borg jwst survey program overview and first confirmations of luminous reionization era galaxies from pure parallel observations |
| topic | Reionization Galaxy evolution High-redshift galaxies James Webb Space Telescope |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adba60 |
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