A High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWST

We have characterized 26 Spitzer/IRAC-selected sources from the SMUVS program that are undetected in the UltraVISTA DR5 H - and/or K _s -band images, covering 94 arcmin ^2 of the COSMOS field, which have deep multiwavelength JWST photometry. We analyzed the JWST/NIRCam imaging fr...

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Main Authors: Sophie E. van Mierlo, Karina I. Caputi, Matthew L. N. Ashby, Vasily Kokorev, Rafael Navarro-Carrera, Pierluigi Rinaldi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2024-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad2c0b
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author Sophie E. van Mierlo
Karina I. Caputi
Matthew L. N. Ashby
Vasily Kokorev
Rafael Navarro-Carrera
Pierluigi Rinaldi
author_facet Sophie E. van Mierlo
Karina I. Caputi
Matthew L. N. Ashby
Vasily Kokorev
Rafael Navarro-Carrera
Pierluigi Rinaldi
author_sort Sophie E. van Mierlo
collection DOAJ
description We have characterized 26 Spitzer/IRAC-selected sources from the SMUVS program that are undetected in the UltraVISTA DR5 H - and/or K _s -band images, covering 94 arcmin ^2 of the COSMOS field, which have deep multiwavelength JWST photometry. We analyzed the JWST/NIRCam imaging from the PRIMER survey and ancillary HST data to reveal the properties of these galaxies from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We find that the majority of these galaxies are detected by NIRCam at λ < 2 μ m, with only four remaining as near-infrared dropouts in the deeper JWST images. Our results indicate that the UltraVISTA dropouts candidates are primarily located at z > 3 and are characterized by high dust extinctions, with a typical color excess E ( B − V ) = 0.5 ± 0.3 and stellar mass $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })=9.5\pm 1.0$ . Remarkably, ∼75% of these sources show a flux enhancement between the observed photometry and modeled continuum SED that can be attributed to H α emission in the corresponding NIRCam bands. The derived (H α + N [ ii ] + S [ ii ]) rest-frame equivalent widths and H α star formation rates (SFRs) span values ∼100–2200 Å and ∼5–375 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , respectively. The locations of these sources on the SFR– M _* plane indicate that 35% of them are starbursts, 40% are main-sequence galaxies, and the remaining 25% are located in the star formation valley. Our sample includes one active galactic nucleus and six submillimeter sources, as revealed from ancillary X-ray and submillimeter photometry. The high dust extinctions combined with the flux boosting from H α emission explain why these sources are relatively bright Spitzer galaxies and yet unidentified in the ultradeep UltraVISTA near-infrared images.
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spelling doaj-art-e7d28d7059eb4926b4098d86abb3d5cd2025-08-20T01:55:12ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-0196611210.3847/1538-4357/ad2c0bA High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWSTSophie E. van Mierlo0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8289-2863Karina I. Caputi1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-1460Matthew L. N. Ashby2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3993-0745Vasily Kokorev3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5588-9156Rafael Navarro-Carrera4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6066-4624Pierluigi Rinaldi5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5104-8245Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands ; mierlo@astro.rug.nlKapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands ; mierlo@astro.rug.nl; Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , DenmarkOptical and Infrared Astronomy Division Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian Cambridge , MA 02138, USAKapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands ; mierlo@astro.rug.nlKapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands ; mierlo@astro.rug.nlKapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands ; mierlo@astro.rug.nlWe have characterized 26 Spitzer/IRAC-selected sources from the SMUVS program that are undetected in the UltraVISTA DR5 H - and/or K _s -band images, covering 94 arcmin ^2 of the COSMOS field, which have deep multiwavelength JWST photometry. We analyzed the JWST/NIRCam imaging from the PRIMER survey and ancillary HST data to reveal the properties of these galaxies from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We find that the majority of these galaxies are detected by NIRCam at λ < 2 μ m, with only four remaining as near-infrared dropouts in the deeper JWST images. Our results indicate that the UltraVISTA dropouts candidates are primarily located at z > 3 and are characterized by high dust extinctions, with a typical color excess E ( B − V ) = 0.5 ± 0.3 and stellar mass $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })=9.5\pm 1.0$ . Remarkably, ∼75% of these sources show a flux enhancement between the observed photometry and modeled continuum SED that can be attributed to H α emission in the corresponding NIRCam bands. The derived (H α + N [ ii ] + S [ ii ]) rest-frame equivalent widths and H α star formation rates (SFRs) span values ∼100–2200 Å and ∼5–375 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , respectively. The locations of these sources on the SFR– M _* plane indicate that 35% of them are starbursts, 40% are main-sequence galaxies, and the remaining 25% are located in the star formation valley. Our sample includes one active galactic nucleus and six submillimeter sources, as revealed from ancillary X-ray and submillimeter photometry. The high dust extinctions combined with the flux boosting from H α emission explain why these sources are relatively bright Spitzer galaxies and yet unidentified in the ultradeep UltraVISTA near-infrared images.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad2c0bHigh-redshift galaxiesStar formationJames Webb Space Telescope
spellingShingle Sophie E. van Mierlo
Karina I. Caputi
Matthew L. N. Ashby
Vasily Kokorev
Rafael Navarro-Carrera
Pierluigi Rinaldi
A High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWST
The Astrophysical Journal
High-redshift galaxies
Star formation
James Webb Space Telescope
title A High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWST
title_full A High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWST
title_fullStr A High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWST
title_full_unstemmed A High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWST
title_short A High Incidence of Dusty Hα Emitters at z > 3 Among UltraVISTA Dropout Galaxies in COSMOS Revealed by JWST
title_sort high incidence of dusty hα emitters at z 3 among ultravista dropout galaxies in cosmos revealed by jwst
topic High-redshift galaxies
Star formation
James Webb Space Telescope
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad2c0b
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