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1. A Quasar-anchored Protocluster at z = 6.6 in the ASPIRE Survey. I. Properties of [O iii ] Emitters in a 10 Mpc Overdensity Structure

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb1bd  

   Champagne, Jaclyn B; Wang, Feige; Zhang_张, Haowen 昊文; Yang, Jinyi; Fan, Xiaohui; Hennawi, Joseph F; Sun, Fengwu; Bañados, Eduardo; Bosman, Sarah_E I; Costa, Tiago; et al (March 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract A SPectroscopic survey of bIased halos in the Reionization Era is a quasar legacy survey primarily using JWST to target a sample of 25z > 6 quasars with NIRCam slitless spectroscopy and imaging. The first study in this series found evidence of a strong overdensity of galaxies around J0305−3150, a luminous quasar atz= 6.61, within a single NIRCam pointing obtained in JWST Cycle 1. Here we present the first results of a JWST Cycle 2 mosaic that covers 35 arcmin²with NIRCam imaging/wide-field slitless spectroscopy of the same field to investigate the spatial extent of the putative protocluster. The F356W grism data target [Oiii]+Hβat 5.3 < z < 7 and reveal a population of 124 line emitters down to a flux limit of 1.2 × 10⁻¹⁸erg s⁻¹cm⁻². Fifty-three of these galaxies lie at 6.5 < z < 6.8 spanning 10 cMpc on the sky, corresponding to an overdensity within a 2500 cMpc³volume of 12.5 ± 2.6, anchored by the quasar. Comparing to the [Oiii] luminosity function from the Emission line galaxies and Intergalactic Gas in the Epoch of Reionization project, we find a dearth of faint [Oiii] emitters at log(L/erg s⁻¹) < 42.3, which we suggest is consistent with either bursty star formation causing galaxies to scatter around the grism detection limit or modest suppression from quasar feedback. While we find a strong filamentary overdensity of [Oiii] emitters consistent with a protocluster, we suggest that we could be insensitive to a population of older, more massive Lyman break galaxies with weak nebular emission on scales >​​​​​​10 cMpc. 

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2. A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos in the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): JWST Discovers an Overdensity around a Metal Absorption-selected Galaxy at z ∼ 5.5

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acfee3  

   Wu, Yunjing; Wang, Feige; Cai, Zheng; Fan, Xiaohui; Finlator, Kristian; Yang, Jinyi; Hennawi, Joseph F; Sun, Fengwu; Champagne, Jaclyn B; Lin, Xiaojing; et al (October 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract The launch of JWST opens a new window for studying the connection between metal-line absorbers and galaxies at the end of the Epoch of Reionization. Previous studies have detected absorber–galaxy pairs in limited quantities through ground-based observations. To enhance our understanding of the relationship between absorbers and their host galaxies atz> 5, we utilized the NIRCam wide-field slitless spectroscopy to search for absorber-associated galaxies by detecting their rest-frame optical emission lines (e.g., [OIII] + Hβ). We report the discovery of a Mgii-associated galaxy atz= 5.428 using data from the JWST ASPIRE program. The Mgiiabsorber is detected on the spectrum of quasar J0305–3150 with a rest-frame equivalent width of 0.74 Å. The associated galaxy has an [OIII] luminosity of 10^42.5erg s⁻¹with an impact parameter of 24.9 pkpc. The joint Hubble Space Telescope–JWST spectral energy distribution (SED) implies a stellar mass and star formation rate ofM_*≈ 10^8.8M_⊙, star-formation rate  ≈ 10M_⊙yr⁻¹. Its [OIII] equivalent width and stellar mass are typical of [OIII] emitters at this redshift. Furthermore, connecting the outflow starting time to the SED-derived stellar age, the outflow velocity of this galaxy is ∼300 km s⁻¹, consistent with theoretical expectations. We identified six additional [OIII] emitters with impact parameters of up to ∼300 pkpc at similar redshifts (∣dv∣ < 1000 km s⁻¹). The observed number is consistent with that in cosmological simulations. This pilot study suggests that systematically investigating the absorber–galaxy connection within the ASPIRE program will provide insights into the metal-enrichment history in the early Universe. 

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3. EELG1002: A Record-breaking [O iii ]+H β EW ∼ 3700 Å Galaxy at z  ∼ 0.8—Analog of Early Galaxies?

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae0330  

   Khostovan, Ali Ahmad; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S; Brinch, Malte; Casey, Caitlin; Faisst, Andreas; Harish, Santosh; Gozaliasl, Ghassem; Onodera, Masato; Yabe, Kiyoto (November 2025, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Extreme emission line galaxies (EELGs) are powerful low-zanalogs of high-zgalaxies that can provide us valuable insights of early Universe conditions. We present a detailed analysis of EELG1002: az= 0.8275 EELG identified within archival Gemini/GMOS spectroscopy as part of the ongoing COSMOS Spectroscopic Archive. We find EELG1002 is a low-mass (∼10⁸M_⊙), compact (∼530 pc), bursty star-forming galaxy with a ∼15–35 Myr mass doubling timescale. EELG1002 has record-breaking rest-frame [Oiii]+HβEW ∼3100–3700 Å; ∼32–36× higher than typicalz ∼ 0.8 [Oiii] emitters with similar stellar mass; and higher than typicalz > 5 galaxies. We find no clear evidence of an active galactic nucleus suggesting the emission lines are star formation driven. EELG1002 is chemically unevolved (directT_e; $12+{\log }_{10}\left(\mathrm{O/H}\right)\sim 7.52$ consistent withz > 5 galaxies at fixed stellar mass) and may be undergoing a first intense, bursty star formation phase analogous to conditions expected of galaxies in the early Universe. We find evidence for a highly energetic interstellar medium ([Oiii]/[Oii] ∼ 9) and hard ionizing radiation field (elevated [Neiii]/[Oii] at fixed [Oiii]/[Oii]). Coupled with its compact, metal-poor, and actively star-forming nature, EELG1002 is found to efficiently produce ionizing photons (ξ_ion ∼ 10^25.74erg⁻¹Hz) and may have ∼10%–20% Lyman Continuum (LyC) escape suggesting such sources may be important analogs of galaxies responsible for reionization. We find a dynamical mass of ∼10⁹M_⊙suggesting copious amounts of gas to support intense star formation as also suggested by identified Illustris-TNG analogs. EELG1002 may be an ideal low-zlaboratory of galaxies in the early Universe and demonstrates how archival data sets can support high-zscience and next-generation surveys planned with Euclid and Roman. 

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4. A GLIMPSE into the very faint end of the H β +[O III] λλ 4960,5008 luminosity function at z ∼ 7 – 9 behind Abell S1063

   https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202556868  

   Korber, Damien; Chemerynska, Iryna; Furtak, Lukas J; Atek, Hakim; Endsley, Ryan; Schaerer, Daniel; Chisholm, John; Kokorev, Vasily; Saldana-Lopez, Alberto; Adamo, Angela; et al (April 2026, Astronomy & Astrophysics)

   We used the ultra-deep GLIMPSE JWST/NIRCam survey to constrain the faint end of the [O III]+Hβluminosity function (LF) down to 10³⁹erg s⁻¹atz ∼ 7 − 9 behind the lensed Hubble Frontier Field galaxy cluster Abell S1063. We applied a spectral energy distribution fitting on a Lyman-break galaxy selected sample of 164 lensed galaxies and measured their combined Hβ+[O III]λλ4960, 5008 flux to build the emission line LF. We found a [O III]+HβLF with a faint-end slope (α= −1.78^+0.06_−0.06forz = 7 − 8 andα= −1.55^+0.11_−0.11forz = 8 − 9), which is flatter than the UV LF at similar redshifts (α ≤ −2) and suggests a lower number density of weak [O III]+Hβemitting galaxies at fixedM_UV. We analysed several possible explanations: (i) a decrease in the [O III]+Hβ-to-UV ratio due to bursty star formation histories (SFHs), (ii) the effect of metallicity on the [O III]-to-Hβratio, or (iii) signs of a faint-end turnover in the UV LF. Under the assumption of an evolving [O III]-to-Hβratio, we separated the contribution of [O III]λ5008 and Hβand obtained a flatter [O III]λ5008 LF (α= −1.66^+0.05_−0.05forz = 7 − 8 andα= −1.45^+0.09_−0.10forz = 8 − 9) but steeper HβLF ($$ \alpha=-1.95_{-0.08}^{+0.08} $$ forz = 7 − 8 andα= −1.68^+0.13_−0.14forz = 8 − 9). The combination of a decreasing metallicity and bursty SFH can reconcile the observed differences between the UV and [O III]+HβLF. By converting this LF into the ionising photon-production rateṄ_ion, we show that galaxies withL_Hα ≥ 10³⁹erg s⁻¹, that is, with a star formation rate (SFR) (Hα)  ≥  5 × 10⁻³M_⊙yr⁻¹) cause 31%−90% and 46%−156% of the ionising photon budget (at 7 < z < 8 and 8 < z < 9), when we assume a constant escape fraction of Lyman-continuum photon (f_esc = 0.14). The shape of the LF further shows the negligible contribution of faint galaxies to theṄ_ion. Additionally, we derived the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD), finding results consistent with previous estimates. However, the sensitivity of GLIMPSE to lower SFRs reinforces the conclusion that very faint galaxies contribute very little toṄ_ionand the SFRD. Our results suggests that GLIMPSE has detected the bulk of the total [O III]+Hβemission from star-forming galaxies, and that galaxies below our detection limits are likely minor contributors to cosmic re-ionisation. 

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5. A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): JWST Supports Earlier Reionization around [O iii] Emitters

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad82de  

   Jin, Xiangyu; Yang, Jinyi; Fan, Xiaohui; Wang, Feige; Kakiichi, Koki; Meyer, Romain A; Becker, George D; Zou, Siwei; Bañados, Eduardo; Champagne, Jaclyn B; et al (November 2024, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Understanding when and how reionization happened is crucial for studying the early structure formation and the properties of the first galaxies in the Universe. Atz> 5.5, the observed intergalactic medium (IGM) optical depth shows a significant scatter, indicating an inhomogeneous reionization process. However, the nature of the inhomogeneous reionization remains debated. A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE) is a JWST Cycle 1 program that has spectroscopically identified >400 [Oiii] emitters in 25 quasar fields atz> 6.5. Combined with deep ground-based optical spectroscopy of ASPIRE quasars, the ASPIRE program provides the current largest sample for IGM-galaxy connection studies during cosmic reionization. We present the first results of IGM effective optical depth measurements around [Oiii] emitters using 14 ASPIRE quasar fields. We find the IGM transmission is tightly related to reionization era galaxies to the extent that a significant excess of Lyαtransmission exists around [Oiii] emitters. We measure the stacked IGM effective optical depth of IGM patches associated with [Oiii] emitters and find they reach the same IGM effective optical depth at leastdz∼ 0.1 ahead of those IGM patches where no [Oiii] emitters are detected, supporting earlier reionization around [Oiii] emitters. Our results indicate an enhancement in IGM Lyαtransmission around [Oiii] emitters at scales beyond 25h⁻¹cMpc, consistent with the predicted topology of reionization from fluctuating UV background models. 

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