arXiv · 2609.08145
The Roman eXtreme Deep Field (RXDF)
Abstract
The Roman eXtreme Deep Field (RXDF) program is one of the five General Astrophysics Survey (GAS) programs approved for observing time with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in Cycles 1 and 2. It has been allocated 386.41 hours to carry out an imaging survey to AB = 30 mag (5-sigma) over ~140x larger area than the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (HXDF) full-depth area (ACS+WFC3/IR). The RXDF will cover the full Roman wavelength range with 7 bands, reaching AB = 30 mag in RZYJH, 29 mag in F, and 28 mag in K, over a full-depth area of 678.75 arcmin^2 embedded in a total area of 1,243 arcmin^2, and far exceeding the depths of the Roman Core Community Surveys (CCS). The RXDF is within the Euclid Ultra Deep Field (EUDF) near the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP), a strategic long-term field for generational space facilities, with a wealth of multi-wavelength data including extensive coverage from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NEXUS Treasury program. The observations will cover 3 epochs at a 1-year cadence, each epoch divided into 3 sub-epochs ~10 days apart, enabling time-domain studies on time baselines from ~10 days to over ~2 years. The RXDF is uniquely positioned to address critical questions in reionization, large scale structure (LSS), growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), little red dots (LRDs), and high-z supernovae (SNe); the volumes probed by HST+JWST are too small at these extreme depths, and even the deepest CCS tiers are too shallow. In addition to our key objectives, a wealth of additional science will be enabled by engaging the community with our rapidly released datasets, revolutionizing a wide range of science for a lasting legacy. This short document, which is converted from the approved RXDF proposal, aims to provide the community with a summary of the program.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Haojing Yan, Anton M. Koekemoer, Yue Shen, Bangzheng Sun, Norman A. Grogin, Zihao Wu, Christian Kragh Jespersen, Rachel Somerville, Kyoung-Soo Lee, Dale D. Kocevski, Adam J. Burgasser, Pedro H. Bernardinelli, Yicheng Guo, Charles Steinhardt, Xiaohui Fan, Duncan Farrah, Gisella De Rosa, Feige Wang, Jinyi Yang, Lifan Wang, Fengwu Sun, Christopher N. A. Willmer, John David Silverman, Steven L. Finkelstein, Seth H. Cohen, Rolf A. Jansen, Rogier A. Windhorst, Brent M. Smith, Stefano Casertano, Anthony H. Gonzalez, Michael A. Strauss, Ray A. Lucas, Katherine E. Whitaker, Mingyang Zhuang, Rodrigo Angulo, Chloe Aurin, Micaela Bagley, Franz E. Bauer, Jessica M. Berkheimer, Rachel Bezanson, Alejandro S. Borlaff, Rebecca A. A. Bowler, Larry D. Bradley, W. N. Brandt, Denis Burgarella, Timothy Carleton, Delondrae D. Carter, Caitlin M. Casey, Christopher J. Conselice, Kyle W. Cook, Jeff Cooke, David A. Coulter, Tyler Desjardins, Tim Dewachter, Nicole E. Drakos, Simon P. Driver, Qiao Duan, Eiichi Egami, Andreas Faisst, Travis C. Fischer, Adriano Fontana, Ori Fox, Brenda Frye, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Eric Gawiser, Mauro Giavalisco, Yuichi Harikane, Thomas Harvey, Nimish P. Hathi, Benne W. Holwerda, Taylor Hutchison, Olivier Ilbert, Akio K. Inoue, Lucy R. Ivey, Kartheik Iyer, Mathilde Jauzac, Ignas Juodzbalis, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Daichi Kashino, Susan Kassin, Patrick Kelly, Kotaro Kohno, Stephanie LaMassa, Erini Lambrides, Rebecca Larson, Junyao Li, Zhiyuan Ma, Sangeeta Malhotra, Elizabeth McGrath, Peter Melchior, Marcio Melendez, Hironao Miyatake, Bahram Mobasher, Mireia Montes, Thomas Moore, Takahiro Morishita, Takashi Moriya, Leonidas Moustakas, Rohan Naidu, Rosalia O'Brien. 2026-09-08. The Roman eXtreme Deep Field (RXDF). https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08145
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.