arXiv subjects

Adam Muzzin

Publications and source records attributed to Adam Muzzin.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

The JWST-SUSPENSE Ultradeep Spectroscopic Program: Survey Overview and Star-Formation Histories of Quiescent Galaxies at 1 < z < 3

We present an overview and first results from the Spectroscopic Ultradeep Survey Probing Extragalactic Near-infrared Stellar Emission (SUSPENSE), executed with NIRSpec on JWST. The primary goal of the SUSPENSE program is to characterize the stellar, chemical, and kinematic properties of massive quiescent galaxies at cosmic noon. In a single deep NIRSpec/MSA configuration, we target 20 distant quiescent galaxy candidates ($z=1-3$, $H_{AB}\le23$), as well as 53 star-forming galaxies at $z=1-4$. With 16~hr of integration and the G140M-F100LP dispersion-filter combination, we observe numerous Balmer and metal absorption lines for all quiescent candidates. We derive stellar masses (log$M_*/M_{\odot}\sim10.2-11.5$) and detailed star-formation histories (SFHs) and show that all 20 candidate quiescent galaxies indeed have quenched stellar populations. These galaxies show a variety of mass-weighted ages ($0.8-3.3$~Gyr) and star formation timescales ($\sim0.5-4$~Gyr), and four out of 20 galaxies were already quiescent by $z=3$. On average, the $z>1.75$ $[z<1.75]$ galaxies formed 50\% of their stellar mass before $z=4$ $[z=3]$. Furthermore, the typical SFHs of galaxies in these two redshift bins ($z_{\text{mean}}=2.2~[1.3]$) indicate that galaxies at higher redshift formed earlier and over shorter star-formation timescales compared to lower redshifts. Although this evolution is naturally explained by the growth of the quiescent galaxy population over cosmic time, number density calculations imply that mergers and/or late-time star formation also contribute to the evolution. In future work, we will further unravel the early formation, quenching, and late-time evolution of these galaxies by extending this work with studies on their chemical abundances, resolved stellar populations and kinematics.

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arXiv2024

CANUCS: An Updated Mass and Magnification Model of Abell 370 with JWST

We report an updated mass and magnification model of galaxy cluster Abell 370 using new NIRCam and NIRISS data from the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). Using Lenstool and a combination of archival HST and MUSE data with new JWST data as constraints, we derive an improved gravitational lensing model and extract magnifications of background galaxies with uncertainties. Using our best fit model, we perform a search for new multiply imaged systems via predicted positions. We report no new multiply imaged systems with identifiable redshifts, likely due to already very deep HST and Spitzer data, but confirm a $z\sim8$ multiply imaged system by measuring its redshift with NIRISS and NIRSpec spectra. We find that the overall shape of the critical curve for a source at $z = 9.0$ is similar to previous models of Abell 370, with small changes. We investigate the $z\sim8$ galaxy with two images observable with an apparent magnitude in the F125W band of $26.0\pm0.2$ and $25.6\pm0.1$. After correcting for the magnifications of the images, 7.2$^{+0.2}_{-1.2}$ and 8.7$^{+0.4}_{-0.4}$, we use SED fitting to find an intrinsic stellar mass of log($M^*/M_{\odot})$ = 7.35$^{+0.04}_{-0.05}$, intrinsic SFR of 3.5$^{+2.2}_{-1.4}$ M$_{\odot}$/yr, and $M_{UV}$ of -21.3$^{+0.2}_{-0.2}$, which is close to the knee of the luminosity function at that redshift. Our model, and corresponding magnification, shear, and convergence maps are available on request and will be made publicly available on MAST in a CANUCS data release (DOI: 10.17909/ph4n-6n76).

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arXiv2024

A Measurement of the Assembly of Milky Way Analogues at Redshifts $0.5 < z < 2$ with Resolved Stellar Mass and Star-Formation Rate Profiles

The resolved mass assembly of Milky-Way-mass galaxies has been previously studied in simulations, the local universe, and at higher redshifts using infrared (IR) light profiles. To better characterize the mass assembly of Milky Way Analogues (MWAs), as well as their changes in star-formation rate and color gradients, we construct resolved stellar mass and star-formation rate maps of MWA progenitors selected with abundance matching techniques up to z $\sim$ 2 using deep, multi-wavelength imaging data from the Hubble Frontier Fields. Our results using stellar mass profiles agree well with previous studies that utilize IR light profiles, showing that the inner 2 kpc of the galaxies and the regions beyond 2 kpc exhibit similar rates of stellar mass growth. This indicates the progenitors of MWAs from $z\sim 2$ to the present do not preferentially grow their bulges or their disks. The evolution of the star-formation rate (SFR) profiles indicate greater decrease in SFR density in the inner regions versus the outer regions. S\'ersic parameters indicate modest growth in the central regions at lower redshifts, perhaps indicating slight bulge growth. However, the S\'ersic index does not rise above $n \sim 2$ until $z < 0.5$, meaning these galaxies are still disk dominated systems. We find that the half-mass radii of the MWA progenitors increase between $1.5 < z < 2$, but remain constant at later epochs ($z < 1.5$). This implies mild bulge growth since $z\sim 2$ in MWA progenitors, in line with previous MWA mass assembly studies.

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arXiv2024

The Firefly Sparkle: The Earliest Stages of the Assembly of A Milky Way-type Galaxy in a 600 Myr Old Universe

The most distant galaxies detected by JWST are assembling in a Universe that is less than 5\% of its present age. At these times, the progenitors of galaxies like the Milky Way are expected to be about 10,000 times less massive than they are now, with masses quite comparable to that of massive globular clusters seen in the local Universe. Composed today primarily of old stars and correlating with the properties of their parent dark matter halos, the first globular clusters are thought to have formed during the earliest stages of galaxy assembly. In this article we explore the connection between star clusters and galaxy assembly by showing JWST observations of a strongly lensed galaxy at zspec = 8.304, exhibiting a network of massive star clusters (the 'Firefly Sparkle') cocooned in a diffuse arc. The Firefly Sparkle exhibits the hallmarks expected of a future Milky Way-type galaxy captured during its earliest and most gas-rich stage of formation. The mass distribution of the galaxy seems to be concentrated in ten distinct clusters, with individual cluster masses that straddle the boundary between low-mass galaxies and high-mass globular clusters. The cluster ages suggest that they are gravitationally bound with star formation histories showing a recent starburst possibly triggered by the interaction with a companion galaxy at the same redshift at a projected distance of $\sim$2 kpc away from the Firefly Sparkle. The central star cluster shows nebular-dominated spectra consistent with high temperatures and a top-heavy initial mass function, the product of formation in a very metal poor environment. Combined with abundance matching that suggests that this is likely to be a progenitor of galaxies like our own, the Firefly Sparkle provides an unprecedented case study of a Milky Way-like galaxy in the earliest stages of its assembly in only a 600 million year old Universe.

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arXiv2024

The first quenched galaxies, when and how?

Many quiescent galaxies discovered in the early Universe by \textit{JWST} raise fundamental questions on when and how these galaxies became and stayed quenched. Making use of the latest version of the semi-analytic model GAEA that provides good agreement with the observed quenched fractions up to $z\sim 3$, we make predictions for the expected fractions of quiescent galaxies up to $z\sim 7$ and analyze the main quenching mechanism. We find that in a simulated box of $685~{\rm Mpc}$ on a side, the first quenched massive ($M_{\star} \sim 10^{11} {\rm M}_{\odot}$), Milky Way mass, and low mass ($M_{\star} \sim 10^{9.5} {\rm M}_{\odot}$ ) galaxies appear at $z\sim 4.5$, $z\sim 6.2$, and before $z = 7$. Most quenched galaxies identified at early redshifts remain quenched for more than 1 Gyr. Independently of galaxy stellar mass, the dominant quenching mechanism at high redshift is accretion disk feedback (quasar winds) from a central massive black hole, which is triggered by mergers in massive and MW-mass galaxies, and by disk instabilities in low-mass galaxies. Environmental stripping becomes increasingly more important at lower redshift.

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arXiv2024

Exposing Line Emission: A First Look At The Systematic Differences of Measuring Stellar Masses With JWST NIRCam Medium Versus Wide Band Photometry

Photometrically derived stellar masses are known to suffer from systematic uncertainties, particularly due to nebular emission contributions to the spectral energy distribution. Using \emph{JWST} NIRCam imaging from the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS), we introduce a comparison study of photometrically-derived redshifts and stellar masses based on two photometric catalogs of the same field spanning $\sim$0.4-4.5$\mu$m: one consisting solely of wide band photometry, and another employing a combination of wide and medium band photometry. We find that \tilda70\% of galaxies have consistent photometric redshifts between both catalogs, with median stellar mass difference between the two catalogs of \lessthan\ 0.2 dex across all redshift bins. There are however a subset of galaxies (5\% at z\tilda2 up to 15\% at z\tilda6) where wide bands underestimate star formation rates and infer older stellar populations, leading to median stellar mass differences of \tilda0.7 dex. Examination of the SEDs for galaxies with inconsistent photometric redshifts shows this is caused by the inability of the wide bands to distinguish continuum emission from emission lines. Computing a stellar mass density with our sample we find that it is potentially underestimated using wide-band photometry by \tilda10-20\% at z \lessthan\ \ 4, and potentially overestimated by as much as a factor of 2-3 at z \greaterthan\ 5. These systematic differences caused by the poor spectral resolution of wide bands have implications for both ongoing and future planned observing programs which determine stellar mass and other physical properties of high redshift galaxies solely via wide band photometry.

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arXiv2024

$Spitzer$-selected $z > 1.3$ protocluster candidates in the LSST Deep Drilling Fields

We have identified 189 candidate $z > 1.3$ protoclusters and clusters in the LSST Deep Drilling Fields. This sample will enable the measurement of the metal enrichment and star formation history of clusters during their early assembly period through the direct measurement of the rate of supernovae identified through the LSST. The protocluster sample was selected from galaxy overdensities in a $Spitzer$/IRAC colour-selected sample using criteria that were optimised for protocluster purity using a realistic lightcone. Our tests reveal that $60-80\%$ of the identified candidates are likely to be genuine protoclusters or clusters, which is corroborated by a $\sim4\sigma$ stacked X-ray signal from these structures. We provide photometric redshift estimates for 47 candidates which exhibit strong peaks in the photo-$z$ distribution of their candidate members. However, the lack of a photo-$z$ peak does not mean a candidate is not genuine, since we find a stacked X-ray signal of similar significance from both the candidates that exhibit photo-$z$ peaks and those that do not. Tests on the lightcone reveal that our pursuit of a pure sample of protoclusters results in that sample being highly incomplete ($\sim4\%$) and heavily biased towards larger, richer, more massive, and more centrally concentrated protoclusters than the total protocluster population. Most ($\sim75\%$) of the selected protoclusters are likely to have a maximum collapsed halo mass of between $10^{13}-10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$, with only $\sim25\%$ likely to be collapsed clusters above $10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$. However, the aforementioned bias ensures our sample is $\sim50\%$ complete for structures that have already collapsed into clusters more massive than $10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$.

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arXiv2024

The FENIKS Survey: Multi-wavelength Photometric Catalog in the UDS Field, and Catalogs of Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Population Properties

We present the construction of a deep multi-wavelength PSF-matched photometric catalog in the UDS field following the final UKIDSS UDS DR11 release. The catalog includes photometry in 24 filters, from the MegaCam-uS (0.38 microns) band to the Spitzer-IRAC (8 microns) band, over ~ 0.9 sq. deg. and with a 5-sigma depth of 25.3 AB in the K-band detection image. The catalog, containing approximately 188,564 (136,235) galaxies at 0.2 < z < 8.0 with stellar mass > 10$^{8}$ solar masses and K-band total magnitude K < 25.2 (24.3) AB, enables a range of extragalactic studies. We also provide photometric redshifts, corresponding redshift probability distributions, and rest-frame absolute magnitudes and colors derived using the template-fitting code eazy-py. Photometric redshift errors are less than 3 to 4 percent at z < 4 across the full brightness range in K-band and stellar mass range 10$^{8}$-10$^{12}$ solar masses. Stellar population properties (e.g., stellar mass, star-formation rate, dust extinction) are derived from the modeling of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) using the codes FAST and Dense Basis.

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arXiv2024

Modelling and Subtracting Diffuse Cluster Light in JWST Images: A Relation between the Spatial Distribution of Globular Clusters, Dwarf Galaxies, and Intracluster Light in the Lensing Cluster SMACS 0723

We present a methodology for modeling and removing light from cluster galaxies and intracluster light (ICL) from $James\ Webb\ Space\ Telescope$ ($JWST$) images of gravitational lensing clusters. We apply our method to Webb's First Deep Field the SMACS 0723 Early Release Observations and use the ICL subtracted images to select a sample of globular clusters (GCs) and dwarf galaxies within the cluster. We compare the spatial distributions of these two samples with our models of the galaxy and ICL light, finding significant similarity. Specifically we find that GCs trace the diffuse ICL, while dwarf galaxies are centrally concentrated near the cluster center We quantify the relationship between the surface density of compact sources and total cluster light, demonstrating a significant, tight correlation. We repeat our methodology and compare distributions of GCs with dark matter surface density and find a comparable result. Our findings suggest a common origin for GCs and diffuse ICL, with stripping from massive galaxies as they merge with the cluster being a plausible scenario.

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arXiv2023

The stellar mass function of quiescent galaxies in 2 < z < 2.5 protoclusters

We present an analysis of the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF) of 14 known protoclusters between $2.0 < z < 2.5$ in the COSMOS field, down to a mass limit of $10^{9.5}$ M$_{\odot}$. We use existing photometric redshifts with a statistical background subtraction, and consider star-forming and quiescent galaxies identified from $(NUV - r)$ and $(r - J)$ colours separately. Our fiducial sample includes galaxies within 1 Mpc of the cluster centres. The shape of the protocluster SMF of star-forming galaxies is indistinguishable from that of the general field at this redshift. Quiescent galaxies, however, show a flatter SMF than in the field, with an upturn at low mass, though this is only significant at $\sim 2\sigma$. There is no strong evidence for a dominant population of quiescent galaxies at any mass, with a fraction of $< 15\%$ at $1\sigma$ confidence for galaxies with log$M_{\ast}/M_{\odot} < 10.5$. We compare our results with a sample of galaxies groups at $1 < z < 1.5$, and demonstrate that a significant amount of environmental quenching must take place between these epochs, increasing the relative abundance of high-mass ($\rm M > 10^{10.5} M_{\odot}$) quiescent galaxies by a factor of $\gtrsim$ 2. However, we find that at lower masses ($\rm M < 10^{10.5} M_{\odot}$), no additional environmental quenching is required.

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arXiv2023

A Steep Decline in the Galaxy Space Density Beyond Redshift 9 in the CANUCS UV Luminosity Function

We present a new sample of 158 galaxies at redshift $z>7.5$ selected from deep \jwst\ NIRCam imaging of five widely-separated sightlines in the CANUCS survey. Two-thirds of the pointings and 80\% of the galaxies are covered by 12 to 14 NIRCam filters, including seven to nine medium bands, providing accurate photometric redshifts and robustness against low redshift interlopers. A sample of 28 galaxies at $z>7.5$ with spectroscopic redshifts shows a low systematic offset and scatter in the difference between photometric and spectroscopic redshifts. We derive the galaxy UV luminosity function at redshifts 8 to 12, finding a slightly higher normalization than previously seen with \hst\ at redshifts 8 to 10. We observe a steeper decline in the galaxy space density from $z=8$ to $12$ than found by most \jwst\ Cycle 1 studies. In particular, we find only eight galaxies at $z>10$ and none at $z>12.5$, with no $z>10$ galaxies brighter than F277W AB=28 or $M_{\rm UV}=-20$ in our unmasked, delensed survey area of 53.4 square arcminutes. We attribute the lack of bright $z>10$ galaxies in CANUCS compared to GLASS and CEERS to intrinsic variance in the galaxy density along different sightlines. The evolution in the CANUCS luminosity function between $z=8$ and $12$ is comparable to that predicted by simulations that assume a standard star formation efficiency, without invoking any special adjustments.

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arXiv2023

$\Lambda$CDM not dead yet: massive high-z Balmer break galaxies are less common than previously reported

Early JWST observations that targeted so-called double-break sources (attributed to Lyman and Balmer breaks at $z>7$), reported a previously unknown population of very massive, evolved high-redshift galaxies. This surprising discovery led to a flurry of attempts to explain these objects' unexpected existence including invoking alternatives to the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmological paradigm. To test these early results, we adopted the same double-break candidate galaxy selection criteria to search for such objects in the JWST images of the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS), and found a sample of 19 sources over five independent CANUCS fields that cover a total effective area of $\sim60\,$arcmin$^2$ at $z\sim8$. However, (1) our SED fits do not yield exceptionally high stellar masses for our candidates, while (2) spectroscopy of five of the candidates shows that while all five are at high redshifts, their red colours are due to high-EW emission lines in star-forming galaxies rather than Balmer breaks in massive, evolved systems. Additionally, (3) field-to-field variance leads to differences of $\sim 1.5$ dex in the maximum stellar masses measured in the different fields, suggesting that the early single-field JWST observations may have suffered from cosmic variance and/or sample bias. Finally, (4) we show that the presence of even a single massive outlier can dominate conclusions from small samples such as those in early JWST observations. In conclusion, we find that the double-break sources in CANUCS are not sufficiently massive or numerous to warrant questioning the standard $\Lambda$CDM paradigm.

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arXiv2023

Bursty star formation and galaxy-galaxy interactions in low-mass galaxies 1 Gyr after the Big Bang

We use CANUCS JWST/NIRCam imaging of galaxies behind the gravitationally-lensing cluster MACS J0417.5-1154 to investigate star formation burstiness in low-mass ($M_\star\sim10^8\ M_\odot$) galaxies at $z\sim4.7-6.5$. Our sample of 123 galaxies is selected using the Lyman break selection and photometric emission-line excess methods. Sixty per cent of the 123 galaxies in this sample have H$\alpha$-to-UV flux ratios that deviate significantly from the range of $\eta_{1500}$ values consistent with smooth and steady star formation histories. This large fraction indicates that the majority of low-mass galaxies is experiencing bursty star formation histories at high redshift. We also searched for interacting galaxies in our sample and found that they are remarkably common ($\sim40$ per cent of the sample). Compared to non-interacting galaxies, interacting galaxies are more likely to have very low H$\alpha$-to-UV ratios, suggesting that galaxy-galaxy interactions enhance star formation burstiness and enable faster quenching (with timescales of $\lesssim100$ Myr) that follows the rapid rise of star formation activity. Given the high frequency of galaxy-galaxy interactions and the rapid SFR fluctuations they appear to cause, we conclude that galaxy-galaxy interactions could be a leading cause of bursty star formation in low-mass, high-$z$ galaxies. They could thus play a significant role in the evolution of the galaxy population at early cosmological times.

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arXiv2023

The UNCOVER Survey: A First-look HST+JWST Catalog of Galaxy Redshifts and Stellar Population Properties Spanning $0.2 \lesssim z \lesssim 15$

The recent UNCOVER survey with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) exploits the nearby cluster Abell 2744 to create the deepest view of our universe to date by leveraging strong gravitational lensing. In this work, we perform photometric fitting of more than 50,000 robustly detected sources out to $z \sim 15$. We show the redshift evolution of stellar ages, star formation rates, and rest-frame colors across the full range of $0.2 \lesssim z \lesssim 15$. The galaxy properties are inferred using the Prospector Bayesian inference framework using informative Prospector-$\beta$ priors on masses and star formation histories to produce joint redshift and stellar population posteriors, and additionally lensing magnification is performed on-the-fly to ensure consistency with the scale-dependent priors. We show that this approach produces excellent photometric redshifts with $\sigma_{\rm NMAD} \sim 0.03$, of a similar quality to the established photometric redshift code EAzY. In line with the open-source scientific objective of the Treasury survey, we publicly release the stellar population catalog with this paper, derived from the photometric catalog adapting aperture sizes based on source profiles. This release includes posterior moments, maximum-likelihood spectra, star-formation histories, and full posterior distributions, offering a rich data set to explore the processes governing galaxy formation and evolution over a parameter space now accessible by JWST.

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arXiv2023

Star Formation at the Epoch of Reionization with CANUCS: The ages of stellar populations in MACS1149-JD1

We present measurements of stellar populations properties of a z = 9.1 gravitationally lensed galaxy MACS1149-JD1 using deep JWST NIRISS slitless spectroscopy as well as NIRISS and NIRCam imaging from the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). The galaxy is split into four components. Three magnified (${\mu}$ ~ 17) star-forming components are unresolved, giving intrinsic sizes of < 50pc. In addition, the underlying extended component contains the bulk of the stellar mass, formed the majority of its stars ~ 50Myr earlier than the other three components and is not the site of the most active star formation currently. The NIRISS and NIRCam resolved photometry does not confirm a strong Balmer break previously seen in Spitzer. The NIRISS grism spectrum has been extracted for the entire galaxy and shows a clear continuum and Lyman-break, with no Lyman-${\alpha}$ detected.

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arXiv2023

Most of the photons that reionized the Universe came from dwarf galaxies

The identification of sources driving cosmic reionization, a major phase transition from neutral Hydrogen to ionized plasma around 600-800 Myr after the Big Bang (Dayal et al. 2018, Mason et al. 2019, Robertson et al. 2022), has been a matter of intense debate (Robertson et al. 2022). Some models suggest that high ionizing emissivity and escape fractions ($f_{\rm esc}$) from quasars support their role in driving cosmic reionization (Madau & Haardt 2015, Mitra et al. 2018). Others propose that the high $f_{\rm esc}$ values from bright galaxies generates sufficient ionizing radiation to drive this process (Naidu et al. 2020). Finally, a few studies suggest that the number density of faint galaxies, when combined with a stellar-mass-dependent model of ionizing efficiency and $f_{\rm esc}$, can effectively dominate cosmic reionization (Finkelstein et al. 2019, Dayal et al. 2020). However, so far, low-mass galaxies have eluded comprehensive spectroscopic studies owing to their extreme faintness. Here we report an analysis of eight ultra-faint galaxies (in a very small field) during the epoch of reionization with absolute magnitudes between $M_{\rm UV}$ $\sim -17$ to $-15$ mag (down to 0.005 $L^{\star}$. We find that faint galaxies during the Universe's first billion years produce ionizing photons with log($\xi_{\mathrm{ion}}$/ Hz erg$^{-1}$) =$25.80\pm 0.14$, a factor of 4 higher than commonly assumed values (Robertson et al. 2015). If this field is representative of the large scale distribution of faint galaxies, the rate of ionizing photons exceeds that needed for reionization, even for escape fractions of order five per cent.

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arXiv2023

Elent\'ari: A $z\sim3.3$ Proto-Supercluster in COSMOS

Motivated by spectroscopic confirmation of three overdense regions in the COSMOS field at $z\sim3.35$, we analyze the uniquely deep multi-wavelength photometry and extensive spectroscopy available in the field to identify any further related structure. We construct a three dimensional density map using the Voronoi tesselation Monte Carlo method and find additional regions of significant overdensity. Here we present and examine a set of six overdense structures at $3.20 5\sigma$ overdensity separated by up to 70 cMpc, suggestive of a proto-supercluster similar to the Hyperion system at $z\sim2.45$. Upcoming photometric surveys with JWST such as COSMOS-Web, and further spectroscopic follow-up will enable more extensive analysis of the evolutionary effects that such an environment may have on its component galaxies at these early times.

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arXiv2023

The FENIKS Survey: Spectroscopic Confirmation of Massive Quiescent Galaxies at z ~ 3-5

The measured ages of massive, quiescent galaxies at $z\sim 3-4$ imply that massive galaxies quench as early as $z\sim 6$. While the number of spectroscopic confirmations of quiescent galaxies at $z < 3$ has increased over the years, there are only a handful at $z > 3.5$. We report spectroscopic redshifts of one secure ($z=3.757$) and two tentative ($z = 3.336$, $z=4.673$) massive ($\log(M_\ast/M_\odot) > 10.3$) quiescent galaxies with 11 hours of Keck/MOSFIRE $K$-band observations. Our candidates were selected from the FENIKS survey, which uses deep Gemini/Flamingos-2 $K_b$ $K_r$ imaging optimized for increased sensitivity to the characteristic red colors of galaxies at $z > 3$ with strong Balmer/4000 \AA\ breaks. The rest-frame $UVJ$ and $(ugi)_s$ colors of 3/4 quiescent candidates are consistent with $1-2$ Gyr old stellar populations. This places these galaxies as the oldest objects at these redshifts, and challenges the notion that quiescent galaxies at $z > 3$ are all recently-quenched, "post-starburst" galaxies. Our spectroscopy shows that the other quiescent-galaxy candidate is a broad-line AGN ($z = 3.594$) with strong, redshifted $H\beta$+[O III] emission with a velocity offset $>1000$ km/s, indicative of a powerful outflow. The star-formation history of our highest redshift candidate suggests that its progenitor was already in place by $z \sim 7-11$, reaching $\sim$ 10$^{11} M_{\odot}$ by $z \simeq 8$. These observations reveal the limit of what is possible with deep near-infrared photometry and targeted spectroscopy from the ground and demonstrate that secure spectroscopic confirmation of quiescent galaxies at $z > 4$ is only feasible with JWST.

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