Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher.
                                            Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                            
                                                
                                             What is a DOI Number?
                                        
                                    
                                
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.
- 
            Abstract We present luminosity functions (LFs) and angular correlation functions (ACFs) derived from 18,960 Lyαemitters (LAEs) atz = 2.2−7.3 over a wide survey area of ≲24 deg2that are identified in the narrowband data of the HSC-SSP and CHORUS surveys. Confirming the large sample with 241 spectroscopically identified LAEs, we determine LyαLFs and ACFs in the brighter luminosity range down to 0.5L⋆, and confirm that our measurements are consistent with previous studies but offer significantly reduced statistical uncertainties. The improved precision of our ACFs allows us to clearly detect one-halo terms at some redshifts, and provides large-scale bias measurements that indicate host halo masses of ∼1011M⊙overz ≃ 2−7. By comparing our LyαLF (ACF) measurements with reionization models, we estimate the neutral hydrogen fractions in the intergalactic medium to bexHi < 0.05 (= ) atz= 5.7 andxHi= ( ), , and atz= 6.6, 7.0, and 7.3, respectively. Our findings suggest that the neutral hydrogen fraction remains relatively low,xHi ≲ 0.2, atz = 5−7, but increases sharply atz > 7, reachingxHi ∼ 0.9 byz ≃ 8−9, as indicated by recent JWST studies. The combination of our results from LAE observations with recent JWST observations suggests that the major epoch of reionization occurred atz ∼ 7−8, likely driven by the emergence of massive sources emitting significant ionizing photons.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available March 18, 2026
- 
            Abstract JWST is revealing a remarkable new population of high-redshift (z ≳ 4), low-luminosity active galactic nuclei in deep surveys and detecting the host galaxy's stellar light in the most luminous and massive quasars atz ∼ 6 for the first time. Recent findings claim that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in these systems are significantly more massive than predicted by the local black hole (BH) mass–stellar mass ( ) relation and that this is not due to sample selection effects. Through detailed statistical modeling, we demonstrate that the coupled effects of selection biases (i.e., finite detection limit and requirements for detecting broad lines) and measurement uncertainties can largely explain the reported offset and flattening in the observed relation toward the upper envelope of the local relation, even for those at . We further investigate the possible evolution of the relation atz ≳ 4 with careful treatment of observational biases and consideration of the degeneracy between intrinsic evolution and dispersion in this relation. The bias-corrected intrinsic relation in the low-mass regime ( ) suggests a large population of low-mass BHs ( ), possibly originating from lighter seeds, may remain undetected or unidentified. These results underscore the importance of forward modeling observational biases to better understand BH seeding and SMBH–galaxy coevolution mechanisms in the early universe, even with the deepest JWST surveys.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available February 21, 2026
- 
            Abstract We present morphologies of galaxies atz≳ 9 resolved by JWST/NIRCam 2–5μm imaging. Our sample consists of 22 galaxy candidates identified by stringent dropout and photo-zcriteria in GLASS, CEERS, SMACS J0723, and Stephan’s Quintet flanking fields, one of which has been spectroscopically identified atz= 11.44. We perform surface brightness (SB) profile fitting with GALFIT for six bright galaxies with a signal-to-noise ratio = 10–40 on an individual basis and for stacked faint galaxies with secure point-spread functions (PSFs) of the NIRCam real data, carefully evaluating systematics by Monte Carlo simulations. We compare our results with those of previous JWST studies, and confirm that the effective radiireof our measurements are consistent with those of previous measurements atz∼ 9. We obtainre≃ 200–300 pc with the exponential-like profiles, Sérsic indexes ofn≃ 1–1.5, for galaxies atz∼ 12–16, indicating that the relation ofre∝ (1 +z)sfor explains cosmic evolution overz∼ 0–16 for galaxies. One bright (MUV= −21 mag) galaxy atz∼ 12, GL-z12-1, has an extremely compact profile withre= 39 ± 11 pc that is surely extended over the PSF. Even in the case that the GL-z12-1 SB is fit by active galactic nuclei + galaxy composite profiles, the best-fit galaxy component is again compact, pc, which is significantly (>5σ) smaller than the typicalrevalue atz∼ 12. Compared with numerical simulations, we find that such a compact galaxy naturally forms atz≳ 10, and that frequent mergers at the early epoch produce more extended galaxies following there∝ (1 +z)srelation.more » « less
- 
            Abstract We investigate the stellar mass–black hole mass ( ) relation with type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) down to , corresponding to a ≃ −21 absolute magnitude in rest-frame ultraviolet, atz= 2–2.5. Exploiting the deep and large-area spectroscopic survey of the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), we identify 66 type 1 AGNs with ranging from 107–1010M⊙that are measured with single-epoch virial method using Civemission lines detected in the HETDEX spectra. of the host galaxies are estimated from optical to near-infrared photometric data taken with Spitzer, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and ground-based 4–8 m class telescopes byCIGALEspectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We further assess the validity of SED fitting in two cases by host-nuclear decomposition performed through surface brightness profile fitting on spatially resolved host galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope/NIRCam CEERS data. We obtain the relation covering the unexplored low-mass ranges of , and conduct forward modeling to fully account for the selection biases and observational uncertainties. The intrinsic relation atz∼ 2 has a moderate positive offset of 0.52 ± 0.14 dex from the local relation, suggestive of more efficient black hole growth at higher redshift even in the low-mass regime of . Our relation is inconsistent with the suppression at the low- regime predicted by recent hydrodynamic simulations at a 98% confidence level, suggesting that feedback in the low-mass systems may be weaker than those produced in hydrodynamic simulations.more » « less
- 
            THE MASS-METALLICITY RELATION AT Z~8:DIRECT-METHOD METALLICITY CONSTRAINTS AND NEAR-FUTURE PROSPECTSPhysical properties of galaxies at z>7 are of interest for understanding both the early phases of star formation and the process of cosmic reionization. Chemical abundance measurements offer valuable information on the integrated star formation history, and hence ionizing photon production, as well as the rapid gas accretion expected at such high redshifts. We use reported measurements of [O III] 88μm emission and star formation rate to estimate gas-phase oxygen abundances in five galaxies at z=7.1-9.1 using the direct T_e method. We find typical abundances 12+log(O/H) = 7.9 (∼0.2 times the solar value) and an evolution of 0.9±0.5 dex in oxygen abundance at fixed stellar mass from z≃8 to 0. These results are compatible with theoretical predictions, albeit with large (conservative) uncertainties in both mass and metallicity. We assess both statistical and systematic uncertainties to identify promising means of improvement with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In particular we highlight [O III] 52μm as a valuable feature for robust metallicity measurements. Precision of 0.1-0.2 dex in T_e-based O/H abundance can be reasonably achieved for galaxies at z≈5-8 by combining [O III] 52μm with rest-frame optical strong lines. It will also be possible to probe gas mixing and mergers via resolved T_e-based abundances on kpc scales. With ALMA and JWST, direct metallicity measurements will thus be remarkably accessible in the reionization epoch.more » « less
- 
            Abstract We present Ly α and ultraviolet (UV)-continuum luminosity functions (LFs) of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z = 2.0–3.5 determined by the untargeted optical spectroscopic survey of the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). We combine deep Subaru imaging with HETDEX spectra resulting in 11.4 deg 2 of fiber spectra sky coverage, obtaining 18,320 galaxies spectroscopically identified with Ly α emission, 2126 of which host type 1 AGNs showing broad (FWHM > 1000 km s −1 ) Ly α emission lines. We derive the Ly α (UV) LF over 2 orders of magnitude covering bright galaxies and AGNs in log L Ly α / [ erg s − 1 ] = 43.3 – 45.5 (−27 < M UV < −20) by the 1/ V max estimator. Our results reveal that the bright-end hump of the Ly α LF is composed of type 1 AGNs. In conjunction with previous spectroscopic results at the faint end, we measure a slope of the best-fit Schechter function to be α Sch = − 1.70 − 0.14 + 0.13 , which indicates that α Sch steepens from z = 2–3 toward high redshift. Our UV LF agrees well with previous AGN UV LFs and extends to faint-AGN and bright-galaxy regimes. The number fraction of Ly α -emitting objects ( X LAE ) increases from M UV * ∼ − 21 to bright magnitude due to the contribution of type 1 AGNs, while previous studies claim that X Ly α decreases from faint magnitudes to M UV * , suggesting a valley in the X Ly α –magnitude relation at M UV * . Comparing our UV LF of type 1 AGNs at z = 2–3 with those at z = 0, we find that the number density of faint ( M UV > −21) type 1 AGNs increases from z ∼ 2 to 0, as opposed to the evolution of bright ( M UV < −21) type 1 AGNs, suggesting AGN downsizing in the rest-frame UV luminosity.more » « less
- 
            Abstract We present the demography of the dynamics and gas mass fraction of 33 extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with metallicities of 0.015–0.195Z⊙and low stellar masses of 104–108M⊙in the local universe. We conduct deep optical integral field spectroscopy (IFS) for the low-mass EMPGs with the medium-high resolution (R= 7500) grism of the 8 m Subaru FOCAS IFU instrument by the EMPRESS 3D survey, and investigate the Hαemission of the EMPGs. Exploiting the resolution high enough for the low-mass galaxies, we derive gas dynamics with the Hαlines by the fitting of three-dimensional disk models. We obtain an average maximum rotation velocity (vrot) of 15 ± 3 km s−1and an average intrinsic velocity dispersion (σ0) of 27 ± 10 km s−1for 15 spatially resolved EMPGs out of 33 EMPGs, and find that all 15 EMPGs havevrot/σ0< 1 suggesting dispersion-dominated systems. There is a clear decreasing trend ofvrot/σ0with the decreasing stellar mass and metallicity. We derive the gas mass fraction (fgas) for all 33 EMPGs, and find no clear dependence on stellar mass and metallicity. Thesevrot/σ0andfgastrends should be compared with young high-zgalaxies observed by the forthcoming JWST IFS programs to understand the physical origins of the EMPGs in the local universe.more » « less
- 
            Abstract We present kinematics of six local extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs) with low metallicities (0.016–0.098Z⊙) and low stellar masses (104.7–107.6M⊙). Taking deep medium/high-resolution (R∼ 7500) integral-field spectra with 8.2 m Subaru, we resolve the small inner velocity gradients and dispersions of the EMPGs with Hαemission. Carefully masking out substructures originating by inflow and/or outflow, we fit three-dimensional disk models to the observed Hαflux, velocity, and velocity dispersion maps. All the EMPGs show rotational velocities (vrot) of 5–23 km s−1smaller than the velocity dispersions (σ0) of 17–31 km s−1, indicating dispersion-dominated (vrot/σ0= 0.29–0.80 < 1) systems affected by inflow and/or outflow. Except for two EMPGs with large uncertainties, we find that the EMPGs have very large gas-mass fractions offgas≃ 0.9–1.0. Comparing our results with other Hαkinematics studies, we find thatvrot/σ0decreases andfgasincreases with decreasing metallicity, decreasing stellar mass, and increasing specific star formation rate. We also find that simulated high-z(z∼ 7) forming galaxies have gas fractions and dynamics similar to the observed EMPGs. Our EMPG observations and the simulations suggest that primordial galaxies are gas-rich dispersion-dominated systems, which would be identified by the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope observations atz∼ 7.more » « less
 An official website of the United States government
An official website of the United States government 
				
			 
					 
					
 
                                     Full Text Available
                                                Full Text Available