MIDIS: Strong H$β$+[OIII] Line Emitters at $z \geq 9$
MIDIS: Strong H$β$+[OIII] Line Emitters at $z \geq 9$
Thomas R. Greve, Steven Gillman, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Iris Jermann, Jens Melinder, Göran Östlin, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Luis Colina, Fabian Walter, Javier Álvarez-Márquez, Martin J. Ward, Alejandro Crespo Gómez, John P. Pye, Tuomo V. Tikkanen, Edoardo Iani, Roman A. Meyer, Leindert A. Boogaard, Jens Hjorth, Danial Langeroodi, Paul van der Werf, Sarah E. I. Bosman, Karina I. Caputi, Luca Costantin, Marianna Annunziatella, Arjan Bik, Álvaro Labiano, Thomas Henning
AbstractWe present a search for strong H$β$+[O III] emitters at $z=9.4-11.3$ in the HUDF using ultra-deep JWST/MIRI F560W imaging from the MIDIS survey. Three galaxies are identified via pronounced F560W flux excesses, consistent with strong rest-frame optical line emission. SED modelling yields rest-frame H$β$+[O III] equivalent widths of $\sim 600-1300$AA (median $\simeq 1260$AA), placing these sources among the most extreme known at these epochs. Combining these with a literature sample of 16 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at $z\geq 9$, we find a median ${\rm EW}^{\rm Hβ+[O III]}_{\rm rest}\simeq 1300$AA, similar to values at $z\sim6-9$. We find no evidence for either a strong increase or decline in EW beyond $z\sim9$. A tentative trend of higher EW with increasing UV luminosity is observed, while no statistically significant anti-correlation with stellar mass is found. We place a first constraint on the H$β$+[O III] luminosity function at $z\simeq9-11$ ($Φ\sim10^{-3.4}\,{\rm Mpc^{-3}\,dex^{-1}}$ at $\log( L_{\rm Hβ+[OIII]}/{\rm erg\,s^{-1}})=42.5$), consistent with a decline relative to $z\sim7-8$. The MIDIS sources have $\log(ξ_{\rm ion}/{\rm Hz\,erg^{-1}})=25.1-25.4$. We find significant correlations between $ξ_{\rm ion}$ and EW and $β$, but not with UV luminosity, consistent with trends at lower redshift. These results suggest that the physical conditions governing nebular emission and ionising efficiency are already in place at $z\sim9-11$, extending trends established at $z\sim6-9$.