Large Area Survey for z=7 Galaxies in SDF and GOODS-N: Implications for Galaxy Formation and Cosmic Reionization

TL;DR

This study conducted a large-area survey for z=7 galaxies, revealing a decline in galaxy luminosity function and star formation rate compared to lower redshifts, with implications for galaxy formation and cosmic reionization.

Contribution

It provides the first large-area z=7 galaxy survey combining Subaru and HST data, measuring the luminosity function and star formation rate at this epoch.

Findings

Detected 22 bright z=7 galaxies, including one with spectroscopic confirmation.

Found a significant decrease in galaxy luminosity function from z=6 to z=7.

Indicated that galaxies alone may not fully reionize the universe at z=7.

Abstract

We present results of our large-area survey for z'-band dropout galaxies at z=7 in a 1568 arcmin^2 sky area covering the SDF and GOODS-N fields. Combining our ultra-deep Subaru/Suprime-Cam z'- and y-band (lambda_eff=1um) images with legacy data of Subaru and HST, we have identified 22 bright z-dropout galaxies down to y=26, one of which has a spectroscopic redshift of z=6.96 determined from Lya emission. The z=7 luminosity function (LF) yields the best-fit Schechter parameters of phi*=0.69 +2.62/-0.55 x10^(-3) Mpc^(-3), Muv*=-20.10 +/-0.76 mag, and alpha=-1.72 +/-0.65, and indicates a decrease from z=6 at a >95% confidence level. This decrease is beyond the cosmic variance in our two fields, which is estimated to be a factor of <~2. We have found that the cosmic star formation rate density drops from the peak at z=2-3 to z=7 roughly by a factor of ~10 but not larger than ~100. A comparison with the reionization models suggests either that the Universe could not be totally ionized by only galaxies at z=7, or more likely that properties of galaxies at z=7 are different from those at low redshifts having, e.g., a larger escape fraction (>~0.2), and/or a flatter IMF. Our SDF z-dropout galaxies appear to form 60-Mpc long filamentary structures, and the z=6.96 galaxy with Lya emission is located at the center of an overdense region consisting of four UV bright dropout candidates, which might suggest an existence of a well-developed ionized bubble at z=7.