The Bright End of the UV Luminosity Function at z~8: New Constraints from CANDELS Data

Details The Bright End of the UV Luminosity Function at z~8: New Constraints from CANDELS Data The Bright End of the UV Luminosity Function at z~8: New Constraints from CANDELS Data

2012-01-03

arxiv.org/abs/1201.0755v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to ApJ on December 30, 2011

Scientific paper

We present new z~8 galaxy candidates from a search over ~95 arcmin^2 of WFC3/IR data. These are used to determine the bright end of the UV luminosity function (LF) of star-forming galaxies at z~8. Our analysis is based on newly acquired WFC3/IR imaging data obtained as part of the CANDELS Multi-Cycle Treasury program over the GOODS South field, which allows us to triple the search area for bright z~8 galaxies in the GOODS South. These new data are combined with existing deep optical ACS imaging to search for relatively bright (M_UV<-19.5 mag) z~8 galaxy candidates using the Lyman Break technique. To minimize contamination from lower redshift galaxies, we make full use of all optical data and impose strict non-detection criteria based on an optical chi^2_opt flux measurement. In the whole search area we identify 11 candidate z~8 galaxies, spanning a magnitude range H_160,AB =25.8-27.5 mag. The new data show that the UV LF is a factor ~2 lower at M_UV < -19.5 mag than previously determined. Combining this new sample with the previous candidates from the HUDF09 and ERS data allows us to perform the most accurate measurement of the z~8 UV LF yet. Schechter function fits to the combined data result in a best-fit characteristic magnitude of M_*(z=8) = -19.80+-0.52 mag. The faint-end slope is very steep, though quite uncertain, with alpha=-2.06+-0.41. A combination of wide area data with additional ultra-deep imaging will be required to significantly reduce the uncertainties on these parameters in the future.

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