RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies

Brett Salmon; Dan Coe; Larry Bradley; Rychard Bouwens; Marusa Bradač; Kuang Han Huang; Pascal A. Oesch; Daniel Stark; Keren Sharon; Michele Trenti; Roberto J. Avila; Sara Ogaz; Felipe Andrade-Santos; Daniela Carrasco; Catherine Cerny; William Dawson; Brenda L. Frye; Austin Hoag; Traci Lin Johnson; Christine Jones; Daniel Lam; Lorenzo Lovisari; Ramesh Mainali; Matt Past; Rachel Paterno-Mahler; Avery Peterson; Adam G. Riess; Steven A. Rodney; Russel E. Ryan; Irene Sendra-Server; Victoria Strait; Louis Gregory Strolger; Keiichi Umetsu; Benedetta Vulcani; Adi Zitrin

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b

RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies

Brett Salmon
, Dan Coe
, Larry Bradley
, Rychard Bouwens
, Marusa Bradač
, Kuang Han Huang
, Pascal A. Oesch
, Daniel Stark
, Keren Sharon
, Michele Trenti
, Roberto J. Avila
, Sara Ogaz
, Felipe Andrade-Santos
, Daniela Carrasco
, Catherine Cerny
, William Dawson
, Brenda L. Frye
, Austin Hoag
, Traci Lin Johnson
, Christine Jones

Daniel Lam, Lorenzo Lovisari, Ramesh Mainali, Matt Past, Rachel Paterno-Mahler, Avery Peterson, Adam G. Riess, Steven A. Rodney, Russel E. Ryan, Irene Sendra-Server, Victoria Strait, Louis Gregory Strolger, Keiichi Umetsu, Benedetta Vulcani, Adi Zitrin

Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations. We present here the candidate high-redshift galaxies from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS), a Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope survey of 41 massive galaxy clusters spanning an area of ≈200 arcmin². These clusters were selected to be excellent lenses, and we find similar high-redshift sample sizes and magnitude distributions as the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We discover 257, 57, and eight candidate galaxies at z ∼ 6, 7, and 8 respectively, (322 in total). The observed (lensed) magnitudes of the z ∼ 6 candidates are as bright as AB mag ∼23, making them among the brightest known at these redshifts, comparable with discoveries from much wider, blank-field surveys. RELICS demonstrates the efficiency of using strong gravitational lenses to produce high-redshift samples in the epoch of reionization. These brightly observed galaxies are excellent targets for follow-up study with current and future observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	189
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	889
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b
State	Published - Feb 1 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Access to Document

10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b

Cite this

Salmon, B., Coe, D., Bradley, L., Bouwens, R., Bradač, M., Huang, K. H., Oesch, P. A., Stark, D., Sharon, K., Trenti, M., Avila, R. J., Ogaz, S., Andrade-Santos, F., Carrasco, D., Cerny, C., Dawson, W., Frye, B. L., Hoag, A., Johnson, T. L., ... Zitrin, A. (2020). RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies. Astrophysical Journal, 889(2), Article 189. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b

Salmon, B, Coe, D, Bradley, L, Bouwens, R, Bradač, M, Huang, KH, Oesch, PA, Stark, D, Sharon, K, Trenti, M, Avila, RJ, Ogaz, S, Andrade-Santos, F, Carrasco, D, Cerny, C, Dawson, W, Frye, BL, Hoag, A, Johnson, TL, Jones, C, Lam, D, Lovisari, L, Mainali, R, Past, M, Paterno-Mahler, R, Peterson, A, Riess, AG, Rodney, SA, Ryan, RE, Sendra-Server, I, Strait, V, Strolger, LG, Umetsu, K, Vulcani, B & Zitrin, A 2020, 'RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 889, no. 2, 189. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b

@article{cb7ce66979cc42978b05fd77e7ffef83,

title = "RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies",

abstract = "Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations. We present here the candidate high-redshift galaxies from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS), a Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope survey of 41 massive galaxy clusters spanning an area of ≈200 arcmin2. These clusters were selected to be excellent lenses, and we find similar high-redshift sample sizes and magnitude distributions as the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We discover 257, 57, and eight candidate galaxies at z ∼ 6, 7, and 8 respectively, (322 in total). The observed (lensed) magnitudes of the z ∼ 6 candidates are as bright as AB mag ∼23, making them among the brightest known at these redshifts, comparable with discoveries from much wider, blank-field surveys. RELICS demonstrates the efficiency of using strong gravitational lenses to produce high-redshift samples in the epoch of reionization. These brightly observed galaxies are excellent targets for follow-up study with current and future observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope.",

author = "Brett Salmon and Dan Coe and Larry Bradley and Rychard Bouwens and Marusa Brada{\v c} and Huang, \{Kuang Han\} and Oesch, \{Pascal A.\} and Daniel Stark and Keren Sharon and Michele Trenti and Avila, \{Roberto J.\} and Sara Ogaz and Felipe Andrade-Santos and Daniela Carrasco and Catherine Cerny and William Dawson and Frye, \{Brenda L.\} and Austin Hoag and Johnson, \{Traci Lin\} and Christine Jones and Daniel Lam and Lorenzo Lovisari and Ramesh Mainali and Matt Past and Rachel Paterno-Mahler and Avery Peterson and Riess, \{Adam G.\} and Rodney, \{Steven A.\} and Ryan, \{Russel E.\} and Irene Sendra-Server and Victoria Strait and Strolger, \{Louis Gregory\} and Keiichi Umetsu and Benedetta Vulcani and Adi Zitrin",

year = "2020",

month = feb,

day = "1",

doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "889",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - RELICS

T2 - The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies

AU - Salmon, Brett

AU - Coe, Dan

AU - Bradley, Larry

AU - Bouwens, Rychard

AU - Bradač, Marusa

AU - Huang, Kuang Han

AU - Oesch, Pascal A.

AU - Stark, Daniel

AU - Sharon, Keren

AU - Trenti, Michele

AU - Avila, Roberto J.

AU - Ogaz, Sara

AU - Andrade-Santos, Felipe

AU - Carrasco, Daniela

AU - Cerny, Catherine

AU - Dawson, William

AU - Frye, Brenda L.

AU - Hoag, Austin

AU - Johnson, Traci Lin

AU - Jones, Christine

AU - Lam, Daniel

AU - Lovisari, Lorenzo

AU - Mainali, Ramesh

AU - Past, Matt

AU - Paterno-Mahler, Rachel

AU - Peterson, Avery

AU - Riess, Adam G.

AU - Rodney, Steven A.

AU - Ryan, Russel E.

AU - Sendra-Server, Irene

AU - Strait, Victoria

AU - Strolger, Louis Gregory

AU - Umetsu, Keiichi

AU - Vulcani, Benedetta

AU - Zitrin, Adi

PY - 2020/2/1

Y1 - 2020/2/1

N2 - Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations. We present here the candidate high-redshift galaxies from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS), a Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope survey of 41 massive galaxy clusters spanning an area of ≈200 arcmin2. These clusters were selected to be excellent lenses, and we find similar high-redshift sample sizes and magnitude distributions as the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We discover 257, 57, and eight candidate galaxies at z ∼ 6, 7, and 8 respectively, (322 in total). The observed (lensed) magnitudes of the z ∼ 6 candidates are as bright as AB mag ∼23, making them among the brightest known at these redshifts, comparable with discoveries from much wider, blank-field surveys. RELICS demonstrates the efficiency of using strong gravitational lenses to produce high-redshift samples in the epoch of reionization. These brightly observed galaxies are excellent targets for follow-up study with current and future observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope.

AB - Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations. We present here the candidate high-redshift galaxies from the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS), a Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope survey of 41 massive galaxy clusters spanning an area of ≈200 arcmin2. These clusters were selected to be excellent lenses, and we find similar high-redshift sample sizes and magnitude distributions as the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We discover 257, 57, and eight candidate galaxies at z ∼ 6, 7, and 8 respectively, (322 in total). The observed (lensed) magnitudes of the z ∼ 6 candidates are as bright as AB mag ∼23, making them among the brightest known at these redshifts, comparable with discoveries from much wider, blank-field surveys. RELICS demonstrates the efficiency of using strong gravitational lenses to produce high-redshift samples in the epoch of reionization. These brightly observed galaxies are excellent targets for follow-up study with current and future observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85081552850

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85081552850#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab5a8b

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85081552850

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 889

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2

M1 - 189

ER -

RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Brightest high-z galaxies in RELICS clusters

Cite this

RELICS: The Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey and the Brightest High-z Galaxies

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Datasets

Brightest high-z galaxies in RELICS clusters

Cite this