Observations of the First Galaxies in the Era of JWST

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Hauptverfasser: Stark, Daniel P., Topping, Michael W., Endsley, Ryan, Tang, Mengtao
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Stark, Daniel P.
Topping, Michael W.
Endsley, Ryan
Tang, Mengtao
author_facet Stark, Daniel P.
Topping, Michael W.
Endsley, Ryan
Tang, Mengtao
contents We provide a review of our current knowledge of galaxies throughout the first billion years of cosmic history. This field has undergone a transformation in the last two years following the launch of $\textit{JWST}$, and we aim to deliver an observational overview of what we have learned about $z\gtrsim 5$ galaxies. We introduce the latest selection methods of high redshift galaxies and describe new measurements of the census of continuum-selected and dusty star forming galaxies at $z\gtrsim 5$. We discuss new measurements of the UV luminosity function at $z\gtrsim 10$ and associated implications for early star formation. We then summarize what is being learned about the physical properties of early galaxies, with up-to-date discussions of the sizes, masses, ages, metallicities, abundance patterns, UV colors, dust properties, and ionizing sources in $z\gtrsim 5$ galaxies. We review observational evidence for bursty star formation histories and describe prospects for characterizing the duty cycle with future observations. We provide a brief overview of the insight being gained through new detections of AGN in early galaxies. Finally we introduce the latest constraints on the contribution of galaxies to reionziation and discuss how $\textit{JWST}$ measurements of Ly$α$ emission offer the potential to probe the earliest stages of the process. This review is meant to provide a broad introduction to those new to the observational study of very high redshift galaxies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_17078
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observations of the First Galaxies in the Era of JWST
Stark, Daniel P.
Topping, Michael W.
Endsley, Ryan
Tang, Mengtao
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We provide a review of our current knowledge of galaxies throughout the first billion years of cosmic history. This field has undergone a transformation in the last two years following the launch of $\textit{JWST}$, and we aim to deliver an observational overview of what we have learned about $z\gtrsim 5$ galaxies. We introduce the latest selection methods of high redshift galaxies and describe new measurements of the census of continuum-selected and dusty star forming galaxies at $z\gtrsim 5$. We discuss new measurements of the UV luminosity function at $z\gtrsim 10$ and associated implications for early star formation. We then summarize what is being learned about the physical properties of early galaxies, with up-to-date discussions of the sizes, masses, ages, metallicities, abundance patterns, UV colors, dust properties, and ionizing sources in $z\gtrsim 5$ galaxies. We review observational evidence for bursty star formation histories and describe prospects for characterizing the duty cycle with future observations. We provide a brief overview of the insight being gained through new detections of AGN in early galaxies. Finally we introduce the latest constraints on the contribution of galaxies to reionziation and discuss how $\textit{JWST}$ measurements of Ly$α$ emission offer the potential to probe the earliest stages of the process. This review is meant to provide a broad introduction to those new to the observational study of very high redshift galaxies.
title Observations of the First Galaxies in the Era of JWST
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.17078