Kavli Affiliate: Lindsey Bleem
| First 5 Authors: Joshua Roberson, Joshua Roberson, , ,
| Summary:
Understanding the properties of the first generation of galaxies is an
ongoing challenge in observational astrophysics. While advances in deep field
observation have led to the identification of large numbers of galaxies within
the Epoch of Reionization, there are very few observed galaxies at this range
that are sufficiently bright for high signal-to-noise spectroscopy. To this
end, we analyse HST and ground-based photometry of five candidate strongly
lensed galaxies, all projected behind the cores of massive clusters and with
similarly red optical-NIR colors. All are characterized by a drop-off in their
spectra between the near-infrared and optical wavelengths, corresponding to a
Lyman-break that sets a lower bound on their redshifts. Using the open-source
SED modeling software Prospector, we characterize two of these galaxies as
high-z (z $sim$ 6.5-7) while the other three are low-z (z $sim$ 2) despite
all five having similar apparent magnitudes at the observed wavelengths. We
demonstrate that for the brightest dropout candidates we can distinguish high-z
galaxies from red or dusty low-z galaxies using limited photometric data. The
bright sources enable deep constraints on the dropout color which, in
combination with flat continua measured in redder bands, require high-z
solutions when searching the parameter space. At the time of writing this work
significantly increases the number of m_AB < 24 galaxies at or above a redshift
of 6, and provides a path forward for future analysis on the early era of
galaxy formation
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