Search

The JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) is a multicycle JWST program that has taken among the deepest near- and mid-infrared images to date (down to ∼30 AB mag) over ∼25 arcmin ^2 in the GOODS-S field in two sets of observations with 1 yr of separation. This presented the first opportunity to systematically search for transients, mostly supernovae (SNe), out to z > 2. We found 79 SNe: 38 at z < 2, 23 at 2 < z < 3, 8 at 3 < z < 4, 7 at 4 < z < 5, and 3 with undetermined redshifts, where the redshifts are predominantly based on spectroscopic or highly reliable JADES photometric redshifts of the host galaxies. At this depth, the detection rate is ∼1–2 arcmin ^–2 yr ^–1 , demonstrating the power of JWST as an SN discovery machine. We also conducted multiband follow-up NIRCam observations of a subset of the SNe to better constrain their light curves and classify their types. Here, we present the survey, sample, search parameters, spectral energy distributions, light curves, and classifications. Even at z ≥ 2, the NIRCam data quality is high enough to allow SN classification via multiepoch light-curve fitting with confidence. The multiepoch SN sample includes a Type Ia SN at z _spec = 2.90, a Type IIP SN at z _spec = 3.61, and a Type Ic-BL SN at z _spec = 2.83. We also found that two z ∼ 16 galaxy candidates from the first imaging epoch were actually transients that faded in the second epoch, illustrating the possibility that moderate/high-redshift SNe could mimic high-redshift dropout galaxies.

We describe new ultradeep James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRSpec PRISM and grating spectra for the galaxies JADES-GS-z11-0 ( ${z}_{\mathrm{spec}}={11.122}_{-0.003}^{+0.005}$ ) and JADES-GS-z13-0 ( ${z}_{\mathrm{spec}}={13.20}_{-0.04}^{+0.03}$ ), the most distant spectroscopically confirmed galaxy discovered in the first year of JWST observations. The extraordinary depth of these observations (75 hr and 56 hr, respectively) provides a unique opportunity to explore the redshifts, stellar properties, UV magnitudes, and slopes for these two sources. For JADES-GS-z11-0, we find evidence for multiple emission lines, including [O ii ] λ λ 3726, 3729 and [Ne iii ] λ 3869, resulting in a spectroscopic redshift we determine with 94% confidence. We present stringent upper limits on the emission-line fluxes and line equivalent widths for JADES-GS-z13-0. At this spectroscopic redshift, the Ly α break in JADES-GS-z11-0 can be fit with a damped Ly α absorber with $\mathrm{log}({N}_{\mathrm{HI}}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2})={22.42}_{-0.120}^{+0.093}$ . These results demonstrate how neutral hydrogen fraction and Lyman-damping wings may impact the recovery of spectroscopic redshifts for sources like these, providing insight into the overprediction of the photometric redshifts seen for distant galaxies observed with JWST. In addition, we analyze updated NIRCam photometry to calculate the morphological properties of these resolved sources, and find a secondary source 0.″3 south of JADES-GS-z11-0 at a similar photometric redshift, hinting at how galaxies grow through interactions in the early Universe.

We report the discovery of an extreme galaxy overdensity at z = 5.4 in the GOODS-S field using James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRCam imaging from JADES and JEMS alongside JWST/NIRCam wide-field slitless spectroscopy from FRESCO. We identified potential members of the overdensity using Hubble Space Telescope+JWST photometry spanning λ = 0.4–5.0 μ m. These data provide accurate and well-constrained photometric redshifts down to m ≈ 29–30 mag. We subsequently confirmed N = 81 galaxies at 5.2 < z < 5.5 using JWST slitless spectroscopy over λ = 3.9–5.0 μ m through a targeted line search for H α around the best-fit photometric redshift. We verified that N = 42 of these galaxies reside in the field, while N = 39 galaxies reside in a density around ∼10 times that of a random volume. Stellar populations for these galaxies were inferred from the photometry and used to construct the star-forming main sequence, where protocluster members appeared more massive and exhibited earlier star formation (and thus older stellar populations) when compared to their field galaxy counterparts. We estimate the total halo mass of this large-scale structure to be $12.6\lesssim {\mathrm{log}}_{10}\left({M}_{\mathrm{halo}}/{M}_{\odot }\right)\lesssim 12.8$ using an empirical stellar mass to halo mass relation, which is likely an underestimate as a result of incompleteness. Our discovery demonstrates the power of JWST at constraining dark matter halo assembly and galaxy formation at very early cosmic times.

We present a catalog of 717 candidate galaxies at z > 8 selected from 125 square arcmin of NIRCam imaging as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). We combine the full JADES imaging data set with data from the JWST Extragalactic Medium Survey and First Reionization Epoch Spectroscopic COmplete Survey (FRESCO) along with extremely deep existing observations from Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) for a final filter set that includes 15 JWST/NIRCam filters and five HST/ACS filters. The high-redshift galaxy candidates were selected from their estimated photometric redshifts calculated using a template-fitting approach, followed by visual inspection from seven independent reviewers. We explore these candidates in detail, highlighting interesting resolved or extended sources, sources with very red long-wavelength slopes, and our highest-redshift candidates, which extend to z _phot ∼ 18. Over 93% of the sources are newly identified from our deep JADES imaging, including 31 new galaxy candidates at z _phot > 12. We also investigate potential contamination by stellar objects, and do not find strong evidence from spectral energy distribution fitting that these faint high-redshift galaxy candidates are low-mass stars. Using 42 sources in our sample with measured spectroscopic redshifts from NIRSpec and FRESCO, we find excellent agreement to our photometric redshift estimates, with no catastrophic outliers and an average difference of 〈Δ z = z _phot − z _spec 〉 = 0.26. These sources comprise one of the most robust samples for probing the early buildup of galaxies within the first few hundred million years of the Universe’s history.

We characterize the earliest galaxy population in the JADES Origins Field, the deepest imaging field observed with JWST. We make use of ancillary Hubble Space Telescope optical images (five filters spanning 0.4–0.9 μ m) and novel JWST images with 14 filters spanning 0.8−5 μ m, including seven medium-band filters, and reaching total exposure times of up to 46 hr per filter. We combine all our data at >2.3 μ m to construct an ultradeep image, reaching as deep as ≈31.4 AB mag in the stack and 30.3–31.0 AB mag (5 σ , r = 0.″1 circular aperture) in individual filters. We measure photometric redshifts and use robust selection criteria to identify a sample of eight galaxy candidates at redshifts z = 11.5−15. These objects show compact half-light radii of R _1/2 ∼ 50−200 pc, stellar masses of M _⋆ ∼ 10 ^7 −10 ^8 M _☉ , and star formation rates ∼ 0.1−1 M _☉ yr ^−1 . Our search finds no candidates at 15 < z < 20, placing upper limits at these redshifts. We develop a forward-modeling approach to infer the properties of the evolving luminosity function without binning in redshift or luminosity that marginalizes over the photometric redshift uncertainty of our candidate galaxies and incorporates the impact of nondetections. We find a z = 12 luminosity function in good agreement with prior results, and that the luminosity function normalization and UV luminosity density decline by a factor of ∼2.5 from z = 12 to z = 14. We discuss the possible implications of our results in the context of theoretical models for evolution of the dark matter halo mass function.

We present JWST NIRCam nine-band near-infrared imaging of the luminous z = 10.6 galaxy GN-z11 from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey of the GOODS-N field. We find a spectral energy distribution (SED) entirely consistent with the expected form of a high-redshift galaxy: a clear blue continuum from 1.5 to 4 μ m with a complete dropout in F115W. The core of GN-z11 is extremely compact in JWST imaging. We analyze the image with a two-component model, using a point source and a Sérsic profile that fits to a half-light radius of 200 pc and an index n = 0.9. We find a low-surface-brightness haze about 0.″4 to the northeast of the galaxy, which is most likely a foreground object but might be a more extended component of GN-z11. At a spectroscopic redshift of 10.60 (Bunker et al. 2023 ), the comparison of the NIRCam F410M and F444W images spans the Balmer jump. From population-synthesis modeling, here assuming no light from an active galactic nucleus, we reproduce the SED of GN-z11, finding a stellar mass of ∼10 ^9 M _⊙ , a star formation rate of ∼20 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , and a young stellar age of ∼20 Myr. Since massive galaxies at high redshift are likely to be highly clustered, we search for faint neighbors of GN-z11, finding nine galaxies out to ∼5 comoving Mpc transverse with photometric redshifts consistent with z = 10.6, and a tenth more tentative dropout only 3″ away. This is consistent with GN-z11 being hosted by a massive dark-matter halo (≈8 × 10 ^10 M _⊙ ), though lower halo masses cannot be ruled out.

We present a sample of four emission-line galaxies at z = 6.11–6.35 that were serendipitously discovered using the commissioning data for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRCam wide-field slitless spectroscopy mode. One of them (at z = 6.11) has been reported previously, while the others are new discoveries. These sources are selected by the secure detections of both [O iii ] λ 5007 and H α lines with other fainter lines, which were tentatively detected in some cases (e.g., [O ii ] λ 3727, [O iii ] λ 4959). In the [O iii ]/H β –[N ii ]/H α Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich diagram, these galaxies occupy the same parameter space as that of z ∼ 2 star-forming galaxies, indicating that they have been enriched rapidly to subsolar metallicities (∼0.4 Z _⊙ ), similar to galaxies with comparable stellar masses at much lower redshifts. The detection of strong H α lines suggests a higher ionizing photon production efficiency within galaxies in the early universe. We find brightening of the [O iii ] λ 5007 line-luminosity function (LF) from z = 3 to 6, and weak or no redshift evolution of the H α line LF from z = 2 to 6. Both LFs are underpredicted at z ∼ 6 by a factor of ∼10 in certain cosmological simulations. This further indicates a global Ly α photon escape fraction of 7%–10% at z ∼ 6, which is slightly lower than previous estimates through the comparison of the UV-derived star formation rate density and Ly α luminosity density. Our sample recovers ${66}_{-44}^{+128}$ % of z = 6.0–6.6 galaxies in the survey volume with stellar masses greater than 5 × 10 ^8 M _⊙ , suggesting the ubiquity of strong H α and [O iii ] line emitters in the Epoch of Reionization, which will be further uncovered in the era of JWST.

JWST has revolutionized the field of extragalactic astronomy with its sensitive and high-resolution infrared view of the distant Universe. Adding to the new legacy of JWST observations, we present the first NIRCam imaging data release from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), providing nine filters of infrared imaging of ∼25 arcmin ^2 covering the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and portions of Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey South. Utilizing 87 on-sky dual-filter hours of exposure time, these images reveal the deepest ever near-infrared view of this iconic field. We supply carefully constructed nine-band mosaics of the JADES bands, as well as matching reductions of five additional bands from the JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey. Combining with existing Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we provide 23-band space-based photometric catalogs and photometric redshifts for ≈47,500 sources. To promote broad engagement with JADES, we have created an interactive FitsMap website to provide an interface for professional researchers and the public to experience these JWST data sets. Combined with the first JADES NIRSpec data release, these public JADES imaging and spectroscopic data sets provide a new foundation for discoveries of the infrared Universe by the worldwide scientific community.