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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12235 |
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| _version_ | 1866917367472193536 |
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| author | Yang, Tiancheng Wang, Tao Xu, Ke Sun, Hanwen Zhou, Luwenjia Xie, Lizhi De Lucia, Gabriella Lagos, Claudia del P. Wang, Kai Fontanot, Fabio Guo, Qi Wu, Yuxuan Lu, Shiying Chen, Longyue Hirschmann, Michaela |
| author_facet | Yang, Tiancheng Wang, Tao Xu, Ke Sun, Hanwen Zhou, Luwenjia Xie, Lizhi De Lucia, Gabriella Lagos, Claudia del P. Wang, Kai Fontanot, Fabio Guo, Qi Wu, Yuxuan Lu, Shiying Chen, Longyue Hirschmann, Michaela |
| contents | Recent JWST observations have revealed a large population of quiescent galaxies (QGs) at high redshift ($z \sim 4-8$), challenging current models of early galaxy formation and quenching. Accurate number density estimates are crucial but remain uncertain. We present a systematic study of QGs at $0.5 < z < 8$ using a mass-complete sample from the JWST/PRIMER survey with deep NIRCam and MIRI imaging. We demonstrate that MIRI photometry is essential for refining the QG sample: it helps to mitigate contamination from dusty star-forming galaxies in the high-mass regime at $z \sim 3-5$ and aids in recovering lower-mass QG candidates at $z > 5$ that are often missed without including MIRI data. We find that the evolution of the QG number density is strongly mass-dependent. The density of massive QGs ($\log (M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) > 10.6$) declines rapidly, falling from $n \approx 1.32\times10^{-5}~~\mathrm{Mpc^{-3}}$ at $z \sim 3-4$ to $n < 1 \times10^{-6}~~\mathrm{Mpc^{-3}}$ at $z \sim 6$, and becomes negligible at $z > 6$. In contrast, low-mass QGs ($9.5 < \log (M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) < 10.6$) exhibit a remarkably constant number density of $n \sim 3\times10^{-6}~\mathrm{Mpc^{-3}}$ across the redshift range $z = 4-8$. This plateau suggests that these high-redshift, low-mass QGs may be galaxies undergoing temporary quenching episodes, likely subject to rejuvenation upon future gas accretion. Comparisons with leading galaxy formation models reveal significant tensions: most models underestimate the abundance of massive QGs at $z > 4$ and fail to reproduce the flat density evolution observed for the low-mass population. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_12235 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A census of quiescent galaxies across $0.5 < z < 8$ with JWST/MIRI: Mass-dependent number density evolution of quiescent galaxies in the early Universe Yang, Tiancheng Wang, Tao Xu, Ke Sun, Hanwen Zhou, Luwenjia Xie, Lizhi De Lucia, Gabriella Lagos, Claudia del P. Wang, Kai Fontanot, Fabio Guo, Qi Wu, Yuxuan Lu, Shiying Chen, Longyue Hirschmann, Michaela Astrophysics of Galaxies Recent JWST observations have revealed a large population of quiescent galaxies (QGs) at high redshift ($z \sim 4-8$), challenging current models of early galaxy formation and quenching. Accurate number density estimates are crucial but remain uncertain. We present a systematic study of QGs at $0.5 < z < 8$ using a mass-complete sample from the JWST/PRIMER survey with deep NIRCam and MIRI imaging. We demonstrate that MIRI photometry is essential for refining the QG sample: it helps to mitigate contamination from dusty star-forming galaxies in the high-mass regime at $z \sim 3-5$ and aids in recovering lower-mass QG candidates at $z > 5$ that are often missed without including MIRI data. We find that the evolution of the QG number density is strongly mass-dependent. The density of massive QGs ($\log (M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) > 10.6$) declines rapidly, falling from $n \approx 1.32\times10^{-5}~~\mathrm{Mpc^{-3}}$ at $z \sim 3-4$ to $n < 1 \times10^{-6}~~\mathrm{Mpc^{-3}}$ at $z \sim 6$, and becomes negligible at $z > 6$. In contrast, low-mass QGs ($9.5 < \log (M_{\star}/M_{\odot}) < 10.6$) exhibit a remarkably constant number density of $n \sim 3\times10^{-6}~\mathrm{Mpc^{-3}}$ across the redshift range $z = 4-8$. This plateau suggests that these high-redshift, low-mass QGs may be galaxies undergoing temporary quenching episodes, likely subject to rejuvenation upon future gas accretion. Comparisons with leading galaxy formation models reveal significant tensions: most models underestimate the abundance of massive QGs at $z > 4$ and fail to reproduce the flat density evolution observed for the low-mass population. |
| title | A census of quiescent galaxies across $0.5 < z < 8$ with JWST/MIRI: Mass-dependent number density evolution of quiescent galaxies in the early Universe |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12235 |