The spatial fluctuations of the extragalactic background light trace the total emission from all stars and galaxies in the Universe. A multiwavelength study can be used to measure the integrated emission from first galaxies during reionization when the Universe was about 500 million years old. Here we report arcmin-scale spatial fluctuations in one of the deepest sky surveys with the Hubble Space Telescope in five wavebands between 0.6 and 1.6 μm. We model-fit the angular power spectra of intensity fluctuation measurements to find the ultraviolet luminosity density of galaxies at redshifts greater than 8 to be log ρ(UV) = 27.4(+0.2)(-1.2) ergs(-1) Hz(-1) Mpc(-3) (1σ). This level of integrated light emission allows for a significant surface density of fainter primeval galaxies that are below the point-source detection level in current surveys.

We have carried out a search for galaxies at z 7-10 in 14.4arcmin 2 of new NICMOS parallel imaging taken in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (5.9arcmin2), the Cosmic Origins Survey (7.2arcmin2), and SSA22 (1.3arcmin2). These images reach 5σ sensitivities of J 110 = 26.0-27.5 (AB), and combined they increase the amount of deep near-infrared data by more than 60% in fields where the investment in deep optical data has already been made. We find no z > 7 candidates in our survey area, consistent with the Bouwens et al. measurements at z 7 and 9 (over 23arcmin2), which predict 0.7 galaxies at z 7 and <0.03 galaxies at z 9. We estimate that 10%-20% of z > 7 galaxies are missed by this survey, due to incompleteness from foreground contamination by faint sources. For the case of luminosity evolution, assuming a Schecter parameterization with a typical φ* = 10-3 Mpc-3, we find M*> - 20.0 for z 7 and M*> - 20.7 for z 9 (68% confidence). This suggests that the downward luminosity evolution of Lyman break galaxies continues to z 7, although our result is marginally consistent with the z 6 luminosity function of Bouwens et al. In addition, we present newly acquired deep MMT/Megacam imaging of the z 9 candidate JD2325+1433, first presented in Henry et al. The resulting weak but significant detection at i′ indicates that this galaxy is most likely an interloper at z 2.7. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

We present a detailed census of galaxies in and around PC 217.96+32.3, a spectroscopically confirmed Coma analog at z = 3.78. Diverse galaxy types identified in the field include Lyα emitters (LAEs), massive star-forming galaxies, and ultramassive galaxies (≳ 10 11 M o ) which may have already halted their star formation. The sky distribution of the star-forming galaxies suggests the presence of a significant overdensity (δ SFG ≈ 8 ±2), which is spatially offset from the previously confirmed members by 3-4 Mpc to the west. Candidate quiescent and post-starburst galaxies are also found in large excess (a factor of ∼8-15 higher surface density than the field's), although their redshifts are less certain. We estimate that the total enclosed mass traced by the candidate star-forming galaxies is roughly comparable to that of PC 217.96+32.3 traced by the LAEs. We speculate that the true extent of PC 217.96+32.3 may be larger than previously known, half of which is missed by our LAE selection. Alternatively, the newly discovered overdensity may belong to another Coma progenitor not associated with PC 217.96+32.3. Expectations from theory suggest that both scenarios are equally unlikely (<1%) in the cosmic volume probed in our survey. If confirmed as a single structure, its total mass will be well in excess of Coma's, making it an exceptionally large cosmic structure rarely seen even in large cosmological simulations. Finally, we find that the protocluster galaxies follow the same star formation rate-M ∗ scaling relation as the field galaxies, suggesting that the environmental effect at z ∼ 4 is a subtle one at best for normal star-forming galaxies.

We present catalogues of calibrated photometry and spectroscopic redshifts in the Extended Groth Strip, intended for studies of photometric redshifts (photo-z's). The data includes ugriz photometry from Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) and Y-band photometry from the Subaru Suprime camera, as well as spectroscopic redshifts from the DEEP2, DEEP3, and 3D-HST surveys. These catalogues incorporate corrections to produce effectively matched-aperture photometry across all bands, based upon object size information available in the catalogue and Moffat profile point spread function fits. We test this catalogue with a simple machine learning-based photometric redshift algorithm based upon Random Forest regression, and find that the corrected aperture photometry leads to significant improvement in photo-z accuracy compared to the original SEXTRACTOR catalogues from CFHTLS and Subaru. The deep ugrizY photometry and spectroscopic redshifts are well suited for empirical tests of photometric redshift algorithms for LSST. The resulting catalogues are publicly available at http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/36064/. We include a basic summary of the strategy of the DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey to accompany the recent public release of DEEP3 data.

We use the multi-epoch, mid-infrared Spitzer Deep Wide-Field Survey to investigate the variability of objects in 8.1 deg2 of the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey Boötes field. We perform a Difference Image Analysis of the four available epochs between 2004 and 2008, focusing on the deeper 3.6 and 4.5 μm bands. Out of 474, 179 analyzed sources, 1.1% meet our standard variability selection criteria that the two light curves are strongly correlated (r>0.8) and that their joint variance (σ12) exceeds that for all sources with the same magnitude by 2σ. We then examine the mid-IR colors of the variable sources and match them with X-ray sources from the XBoötes survey, radio catalogs, 24 μm selected active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidates, and spectroscopically identified AGNs from the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey (AGES). Based on their mid-IR colors, most of the variable sources are AGNs (76%), with smaller contributions from stars (11%), galaxies (6%), and unclassified objects, although most of the stellar, galaxy, and unclassified sources are false positives. For our standard selection criteria, 11%-12% of the mid-IR counterparts to X-ray sources, 24 μm AGN candidates, and spectroscopically identified AGNs show variability. The exact fractions depend on both the search depth and the selection criteria. For example, 12% of the 1131 known z>1 AGNs in the field and 14%-17% of the known AGNs with well-measured fluxes in all four Infrared Array Camera bands meet our standard selection criteria. The mid-IR AGN variability can be well described by a single power-law structure function with an index of γ ≈ 0.5 at both 3.6 and 4.5 μm, and an amplitude of S 0 ≃ 0.1 mag on rest-frame timescales of 2 yr. The variability amplitude is higher for shorter rest-frame wavelengths and lower luminosities. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

We present a 0.4-8 μm multi-wavelength photometric catalog in the Extended Groth Strip (EGS) field. This catalog is built on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 and ACS data from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS), and it incorporates the existing HST data from the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey (AEGIS) and the 3D-HST program. The catalog is based on detections in the F160W band reaching a depth of F160W = 26.62 AB (90% completeness, point sources). It includes the photometry for 41,457 objects over an area of ≈ 206 arcmin2 in the following bands: HST/ACS F606W and F814W; HST WFC3 F125W, F140W, and F160W; Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)/Megacam u∗, g′, r′, i′ and z′; CFHT/WIRCAM J, H, and K S; Mayall/NEWFIRM J1, J2, J3, H1, H2, and K; Spitzer IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm. We are also releasing value-added catalogs that provide robust photometric redshifts and stellar mass measurements. The catalogs are publicly available through the CANDELS repository.

SPHEREx is a proposed NASA MIDEX mission selected for Phase A study. SPHEREx would carry out the first all-sky spectral survey in the near infrared. At the end of its two-year mission, SPHEREx would obtain 0.75-to-5$\mu$m spectra of every 6.2 arcsec pixel on the sky, with spectral resolution R>35 and a 5-$\sigma$ sensitivity AB$>$19 per spectral/spatial resolution element. More details concerning SPHEREx are available at http://spherex.caltech.edu. The SPHEREx team has proposed three specific science investigations to be carried out with this unique data set: cosmic inflation, interstellar and circumstellar ices, and the extra-galactic background light. Though these three themes are undoubtedly compelling, they are far from exhausting the scientific output of SPHEREx. Indeed, SPHEREx would create a unique all-sky spectral database including spectra of very large numbers of astronomical and solar system targets, including both extended and diffuse sources. These spectra would enable a wide variety of investigations, and the SPHEREx team is dedicated to making the data available to the community to enable these investigations, which we refer to as Legacy Science. To that end, we have sponsored two workshops for the general scientific community to identify the most interesting Legacy Science themes and to ensure that the SPHEREx data products are responsive to their needs. In February of 2016, some 50 scientists from all fields met in Pasadena to develop these themes and to understand their implications for the SPHEREx mission. The 2016 workshop highlighted many synergies between SPHEREx and other contemporaneous astronomical missions, facilities, and databases. Consequently, in January 2018 we convened a second workshop at the Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge to focus specifically on these synergies. This white paper reports on the results of the 2018 SPHEREx workshop.