arXiv subjects

Fabio Pacucci

Publications and source records attributed to Fabio Pacucci.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2026

Exploring the Relationship Between Bars, Star Formation Activity, and Host Galaxy Properties from $\mathbf{z \sim 0}$ to $\mathbf{z \sim 2}$

We present the most comprehensive study to date of the relationship between bars, star formation, and galaxy properties from $z \sim$ 0 to $z \sim$ 2. We use a mass-complete sample of 1,171 galaxies from the JWST CEERS survey with $M_\star > 10^{10} M_\odot$ and repeat the analysis using COSMOS-Web data. Our results are: 1) At high redshift ($z \sim$ $1-2$) barred galaxies tend to have high sSFRs and low Sérsic indices ($n \leq 2$), while at low redshifts barred galaxies emerge with both low sSFR and higher $n$, suggestive of quiescent galaxies with bulges. 2) The fractional contribution of barred quiescent galaxies to the bar fraction rises steeply from $z \sim$ 2 to $z \sim$ 0, while that of barred actively star-forming galaxies falls. 3) The fraction of quiescent galaxies that are barred rises steeply over the last 10 Gyr. 4) Our empirical results show good agreement with the TNG50-1 simulations for bars with $a_{\mathrm{bar}}$ $>$ 1.5 kpc. Our results allow for the possibility that bar-driven secular evolution may lead to quiescence and/or that bars are more likely to persist and grow in gas-poor, quiescent galaxies. The steep rise in the quiescent bar fraction over 10 Gyr may represent an evolutionary sequence whereby gas-rich disks at high redshift first develop short, dynamically young bars and over time, repeated bar-driven gas inflows lead to central starbursts and declining gas fractions that strengthen the bar as the galaxy transitions toward quiescence.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

A Rapid Evolution in the Observed Mbh/M* Relation at z > 3 Revealed via Spectro-photometric SED-Modeling

Spectroscopic observations from JWST have uncovered a plethora of active galactic nuclei (AGN) at z > 4 with black hole (BH) mass (Mbh) to stellar mass (M*) ratios significantly above the local relation when using standard virial mass scaling relations. However, M* estimates of AGN may be inaccurate due to limitations in spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting codes, exemplified by a lack of physically-motivated AGN line emission models. Here, we fit NIRSpec/PRISM spectra of 39 galaxies at z ~ 3.5-7 selected as broad-line AGN from the CEERS and RUBIES surveys. Applying kinematic decompositions from NIRSpec/G395M spectra, we fit their continuum and narrow-component line fluxes using the BEAGLE-AGN SED fitting tool. While limitations of BEAGLE-AGN make it difficult to model little red dots (LRDs), we find that M* estimates of non-LRDs are, surprisingly, only modestly impacted by the inclusion or not of AGN narrow-line region (NLR) and continuum emission model components. We further find that non-LRD AGN at z < 3.5 are consistent with the local Mbh/M* relation while those at z > 4.5 display elevated ratios. While we cannot rule out observational biases or systematic uncertainties as partial causes, this transition over just ~500 Myr is driven entirely by changes in M* rather than an evolving Mbh distribution. These findings are consistent with models in which rapid BH growth results in elevated Mbh/M* ratios at early times, with a swift late-time assembly of host galaxies returning sources to the local relation at z < 4.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

The case for super-Eddington accretion in JWST broad-line AGN during the first billion years

A multitude of JWST studies reveal a surprising over-abundance of over-massive accreting super-massive black holes (SMBHs) -- leading to a deepening tension between theory and observation in the first billion years of cosmic time. Across X-ray to infrared wavelengths, models built off of pre-JWST predictions fail to easily reproduce observed AGN signatures (or lack thereof), driving uncertainty around the true nature of these sources. Using a sample of JWST AGN identified via their broadened H$α$ emission and covered by the deepest X-ray surveys, we find neither any measurable X-ray emission nor any detection of high-ionization emission lines frequently associated with accreting SMBHs. We propose that these sources are accreting at or beyond the Eddington limit, which reduces the need for efficient production of heavy SMBH seeds at cosmic dawn. Using a theoretical model of super-Eddington accretion, we can produce the observed relative dearth of both X-ray and ultraviolet emission, as well as the high Balmer decrements, without the need for significant dust attenuation. This work indicates that super-Eddington accretion is easily achieved through-out the early Universe, and further study is required to determine what environments are required to trigger this mode of black hole growth.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

AGNBoost: A Machine Learning Approach to AGN Identification with JWST/NIRCam+MIRI Colors and Photometry

We present AGNBoost, a machine learning framework utilizing XGBoostLSS to identify AGN and estimate redshifts from JWST NIRCam and MIRI photometry. AGNBoost constructs 66 input features from 7 NIRCam and 4 MIRI bands to predict the fraction of mid-IR $3$--$30\,μ$m emission attributable to an AGN power law ($\text{frac}_{\text{AGN}}$) and photometric redshift. Each model is trained on $10^6$ simulated galaxies from CIGALE. Models are tested on mock CIGALE galaxies, an independent set of empirically-derived templates, and 748 observations from the JWST MIRI EGS Galaxy and AGN (MEGA) survey. On idealized noise-free mock CIGALE galaxies, AGNBoost achieves $15\%$ outlier fractions of $1.63\%$ ($\text{frac}_{\text{AGN}}$) and $0.15\%$ (redshift), with $σ_{\text{RMSE}} = 0.045$ for $\text{frac}_{\text{AGN}}$ and $σ_{\text{NMAD}} = 0.004$ for redshift. When realistic photometric uncertainties are introduced, performance remains robust with median predictions on the 1:1 relation, though outlier fractions increase to $4.38\%$ and $3.35\%$, respectively. On the independent template set, AGNBoost identifies $92.6\%$ of AGN candidates with $\text{frac}_{\text{AGN}} > 0.3$ and $100\%$ with $\text{frac}_{\text{AGN}} > 0.5$, demonstrating generalization beyond the training distribution. On MEGA galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts, AGNBoost achieves $σ_{\text{NMAD}} = 0.056$ and $19.79\%$ outliers. AGNBoost $\text{frac}_{\text{AGN}}$ estimates broadly agree with CIGALE fitting ($σ_{\text{RMSE}} = 0.178$, $11.96\%$ outliers). The flexible framework allows straightforward incorporation of additional photometric bands and re-training for other variables. AGNBoost's computational efficiency makes it well-suited for wide-sky surveys requiring rapid AGN identification and redshift estimation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Extreme Emission Line Galaxies in CEERS Are Powered by Star Formation, not AGN

We present a spectroscopic study of photometrically identified extreme emission-line galaxies (EELGs) with observed-frame equivalent widths (EWs) >5000 A of either H alpha or H beta + [OIII] in the CEERS legacy deep field utilizing JWST NIRSpec spectroscopy from the CAPERS, RUBIES, THRILS and CEERS surveys. This master sample allows for performance tests of photometric selections and unveils what types of sources, either AGN or young star formation, were producing excessive ionizing radiation in the early Universe. We identify AGN through broad H alpha emission-lines and report 6 new broad-line AGN at 3.5<z<7 identified by the deep (~8 hr) G395M THRILS survey. We investigate the photometrically selected EELGs in a color-color plot designed for ``Little Red Dot'' selection and demonstrate that it effectively removes AGN with non-extreme lines from the sample. EELGs with and without broad lines show similar optical line ratios. We compare emission-line morphology to EWs and continuum morphologies and find that [OIII] morphology is more compact at higher EW. ~10% of photometrically selected EELGs have broad Balmer lines, jumping to 35% in deep spectroscopy which indicates a significant fraction of photometrically selected EELGs may host AGN. However, many AGN selected as EELGs have incorrectly high photometric EWs. For sources with extreme emission-line EWs that pass our photometric criteria and host an AGN, we find that the narrow H alpha component dominates over the broad, especially in the highest-EW sources. This implies that even when an AGN is present, it does not dominate the extreme emission.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

A Morphology Catalog of Galaxies in CEERS: Evolution in the Size and Color Gradients of Galaxies Since Cosmic Dawn

We present measurements of morphological parameters from fitting 53,885 galaxies detected to a magnitude limit of F356W$< 28.5$ in the CEERS NIRCam imaging with galfit in six broadband filters: F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, and F444W. We provide a public catalog of Sérsic index, effective semi-major axis, axis ratio, integrated magnitude, and position angle for these galaxies in each of the filters. Uncertainties in the measured parameters are estimated from simulated galaxies that have similar noise and background properties as the observed galaxies. We compare our measurements with those in the CANDELS/EGS field measured with HST/WFC3 and find that the sizes agree to within 0.09 dex and the Sérsic indices agree to within 0.13 dex. We further present the evolution in the size-mass relation, and find that the evolution to $z\sim9$ is consistent with previous results derived at lower redshift. Finally, we look at the color gradients of galaxies at $1 2.5$), the color gradients are nearly flat with no dependence on mass, indicating that the stellar populations are more uniform throughout. The structural measurements presented are accurate to $20\%$ or better for most galaxies with F356W $<27.0$ mag and will enable further studies of galaxy morphology to $z\sim10$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

A Path to an All-Sky Survey with Roman

A deep, space-based, all-sky near-infrared survey carried out with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope would constitute a foundational astronomical infrastructure for decades to come. In this white paper, we present a concrete and feasible path to imaging the entire sky at $\sim0.1''$ resolution, beginning with high-impact fields in Cycle 1 and scaling to ultra-wide coverage within the nominal mission. This first-epoch survey will reach $\mathrm{H}\sim25.5$ AB mag (5$σ$) and maximize synergies with contemporaneous observatories, while preserving substantial time for other ambitious Roman programs. We outline representative scheduling scenarios and an example Cycle 1 program that triples early Roman-LSST overlap and delivers high-value community data products such as LSST forced photometry, joint \textit{Gaia}-Roman astrometry, and catalogs of Galactic substructure, stong lenses, and other rare systems. The Cycle 1 program will lay the foundation for an eventual all-sky survey, while also delivering high-impact early science. We invite broad community participation in shaping and carrying out both the initial program and the long-term vision of an all-sky Roman survey.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Dynamical Evidence for a Billion Solar Mass Black Hole in Galaxy NGC 4061 from ALMA $^{12}$CO(2-1) Kinematics

We present the first robust dynamical measurement of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass in the massive early-type galaxy NGC 4061 using high-spatial-resolution ALMA observations of the $^{12}$CO(2-1) emission. By combining archival Cycle 6 data with new Cycle 7 observations, we achieve a synthesized beam of $0''.16 \times 0''.13$, comparable to the expected sphere of influence of the central black hole. The molecular gas forms a regularly rotating circumnuclear disk aligned with the prominent dust lane seen in HST imaging. We model the full three-dimensional ALMA data cube using the KinMS forward-modeling framework, exploring both data-driven and analytic prescriptions for the gas surface brightness distribution. Our Bayesian analysis yields a best-fitting SMBH mass of $M_{\rm BH} = (1.17^{+0.08}_{-0.10}\,[{\rm stat.}] \pm 0.43\,[{\rm syst.}]) \times 10^{9}$ M$_\odot$ and an $I$-band stellar mass-to-light ratio of $M/L_{\rm F814W} = 3.46^{+0.07}_{-0.06}\,[{\rm stat.}] \pm 0.10\,[{\rm syst.}]$ M$_\odot$/L$_\odot$. The inferred black hole mass is fully consistent across different modeling assumptions and remains insensitive to plausible radial variations in the $M/L_{\rm F814W}$ profile. Our results resolve the long-standing discrepancy between previous indirect mass estimates based on conflicting stellar velocity dispersion measurements and demonstrate that the exceptionally large dispersion reported in the literature is likely spurious. This study highlights the power of high-resolution ALMA molecular gas kinematics for precision SMBH mass measurements at the high-mass end of the local black hole mass function.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

The Little Red Dots Are Direct Collapse Black Holes

The discovery by JWST of a substantial population of compact "Little Red Dots" (LRDs) presents a major puzzle: their observed spectra defy standard astrophysical interpretations. Here, we show that LRD spectra are naturally reproduced by emission from an accreting Direct Collapse Black Hole (DCBH). Using radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, we follow the growth of the DCBH seed via a dense, compressionally heated, collisionally ionized accretion flow. The model self-consistently reproduces the screen responsible for the observed Balmer absorption, while allowing UV/optical emission to partially escape, along with reprocessed infrared radiation. Crucially, this structure is not a blackbody and requires no stellar contribution: the UV continuum originates entirely from reprocessed DCBH radiation, attenuated only by a small amount of dust with an extinction curve consistent with high-redshift galaxies. This single framework simultaneously explains the key observational puzzles of LRDs: (a) weak X-ray emission, (b) metal and high-ionization lines alongside absent star-formation features, (c) overmassive black holes, (d) compact morphology, (e) abundance and redshift evolution -- linking them directly to pristine atomic-cooling halos, (f) long-lived ($>100$ Myr), slowly variable phases driven by radiation pressure. Our findings indicate that JWST is witnessing the widespread formation of heavy black hole seeds in the early Universe.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization Are All Bark and No Bite -- Plenty of Ionizing Photons, Low Escape Fractions

Early results from JWST suggest that epoch-of-reionization (EoR) galaxies produce copious ionizing photons, which, if they escape efficiently, could cause reionization to occur too early. We study this problem using \jwst\ imaging and prism spectroscopy for 412 galaxies at 4.5 < z < 9.0. We fit these data simultaneously with stellar-population and nebular-emission models that include a parameter for the fraction of ionizing photons that escape the galaxy, $f_\mathrm{esc}$. We find that the ionization production efficiency, $ξ_\mathrm{ion}$ = Q(H) / L(UV), increases with redshift and decreasing UV luminosity, but shows significant scatter, $σ( \log ξ_\mathrm{ion})$ = 0.3 dex. The inferred escape fractions averaged over the population are low, ranging from $\langle f_\mathrm{esc} \rangle$ = $2.6\pm 1.4$\% at 6 < z < 9 to $6.5\pm 2.2$\% at 4.5 < z < 6 with weak or no indication of evolution with redshift. This implies that in our models most of the ionizing photons need to be absorbed to account for the nebular emission. We compute the impact of our results on reionization, including the distributions for $ξ_\mathrm{ion}$ and $f_\mathrm{esc}$, and the evolution and uncertainty of the UV luminosity function. Considering galaxies brighter than M(UV) < -16 mag, we would produce an IGM hydrogen-ionized fraction of $x_e = 0.5$ at 5.3 < z < 5.8, possibly too late compared to constraints from from QSO sightlines. Including fainter galaxies, M(UV) < -14 mag, we obtain $x_e = 0.5$ at 6.0 < z < 8.1, fully consistent with QSO and CMB data. This implies that EoR galaxies produce plenty of ionizing photons, but these do not efficiently escape. This may be a result of high gas column densities combined with burstier star-formation histories, which limit the time massive stars are able to clear channels through the gas for ionizing photons to escape.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

The Properties of Little Red Dot Galaxies in the ASTRID Simulation

We present simulated counterparts of the ``Little Red Dot'' (LRD) galaxies observed with JWST, using the large cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, ASTRID. We create mock observations of the galaxies ($5 \leq z \leq 8$) in ASTRID, and find seventeen which fit the color and size criteria of LRDs. These LRDs are galaxies with high stellar masses ($\rm log(M_*/M_{\odot}) \geq 9.7$), and massive black holes ($\rm log(M_{BH}/M_{\odot}) \geq 6.8$). The host galaxies are dense, with stellar half mass radii ($\rm 325\,pc \leq r_{{\rm half},*} \leq 620\,pc$), and dust attenuation in the F444W band above 1.25. Their star formation has been recently quenched. They host relatively bright AGN that are dust-obscured and contribute significantly to the rest-frame optical red slope and have relatively low luminosity in the rest-frame ultraviolet, where the host galaxy's stars are more dominant. These LRDs are in an evolutionary phase of miniquenching that is the result of AGN feedback from their massive black holes. The LRDs in ASTRID are bright with F444W magnitudes of $23.5-25.5$. The less massive and fainter galaxies in ASTRID lack the dust concentration necessary to produce the red slope of an LRD, though this could be an effect of limited resolution. Most of the highest Eddington black holes are not LRDs due to insufficient dust attenuation from their host galaxies, which are also experiencing relatively high star formation rates. This results in their spectra being too flat, despite their highly accreting black holes.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Mysteries of Capotauro: investigating the puzzling nature of an extreme F356W-dropout

JWST has uncovered a diverse population of extreme near-infrared dropouts, including ultra high-redshift ($z>15$) galaxy candidates, dust-obscured galaxies challenging dust production theories, sources with strong Balmer breaks - possibly compact AGN in dense environments - and cold, sub-stellar Galactic objects. This work presents Capotauro, a F356W-dropout in the CEERS survey with F444W AB magnitude of $\sim27.68$ and a sharp $>3$ mag flux drop between $3.5{-}4.5\,μ$m, undetected below $3.5\,μ$m. We combine JWST/NIRCam, MIRI, and NIRSpec/MSA data with HST/ACS and WFC3 observations to perform a spectro-photometric analysis of Capotauro using multiple SED-fitting codes. Our setup tests $z\geq15$ as well as $z<10$ dusty, Balmer-break or strong-line galaxy solutions, and the possibility of Capotauro being a Milky Way sub-stellar object. Among extragalactic options, our analysis favors interpreting the sharp drop as a Lyman break at $z\sim32$, consistent with the epoch of formation of the first stars and black holes, with only $\sim0.5\%$ of the posterior volume at $z<25$. Lower-redshift solutions struggle to reproduce the extreme break, suggesting that if Capotauro lies at $z<10$, it must show a non-standard combination of strong dust attenuation and/or Balmer breaks, making it a peculiar interloper. Alternatively, its properties match a very cold (Y2-Y3 type) brown dwarf or a free-floating exoplanet with a record-breaking combination of low temperature and large distance ($T_{\mathrm{eff}}<300\,\mathrm{K}$, $d\gtrsim130\,\mathrm{pc}$, up to $\sim2\,\mathrm{kpc}$). While current data cannot determine its nature, Capotauro emerges as a remarkably unique object in all plausible scenarios, and a compelling target for follow-up.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

From ASTRID to BRAHMA -- The role of overmassive black holes in little red dots in cosmological simulations

We leverage the overmassive black holes ($\rm M_{BH}/M_{\ast} \approx0.1$) present in a realization of the BRAHMA cosmological hydrodynamic simulation suite to investigate their role in the emission of the unique ``little red dot'' (LRD) objects identified by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We find that these black holes can produce LRD-like observables when their emission is modeled with a dense gas cloud shrouding the active galactic nucleus (AGN). Between redshifts 5 and 8, we find the number density of LRDs in this simulation to be $\rm 2.04 \pm 0.32 \times 10^{-4} \space Mpc^{-3}$, which is broadly consistent with current estimates for the total LRD population from JWST. Their emission in the rest-frame visible spectrum is dominated by their AGN, which induces the red color indicative of LRDs via a very strong Balmer break. Additionally, the elevated mass of the black holes reduces the temperature of their accretion discs. This shifts the peak of the AGN emission towards longer wavelengths, and increases their brightness in the rest-frame visible spectrum relative to lower mass black holes accreting at the same rate. These simulated LRDs have very minimal dust attenuation ($\rm A_V = 0.21 \pm 0.12$), limiting the amount of dust re-emission that would occur in the infrared, making them very likely to fall below the observed detection limits from observatories like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). In contrast to the BRAHMA box, the ASTRID simulation produces systematically smaller black holes and predicts LRD number densities that are more than two orders of magnitude lower than current measurements. We therefore conclude that the presence of black holes that are overmassive relative to their host galaxy, and enshrouded in dense gas, is necessary for AGN-dominated LRD models to reproduce both the observed properties and abundances of JWST LRD populations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Testing Photometric Techniques for Measuring the Rest-Frame UV Spectral Slope Against JWST PRISM Spectroscopy

We present a sample of 53 galaxy spectra at z_spec ~ 5-12 from the JWST CEERS and RUBIES surveys, combining NIRSpec PRISM spectroscopy with NIRCam photometry. We aim to use these data to establish best practices for measuring the UV spectral slope ($β$) in the era of JWST. We adopt power-law fits to the rest-frame UV continuum from the spectroscopic data as our fiducial, or `true', $β$ values, and compare them to photometric estimates derived through four methods: (1) photometric power-law fitting, (2) power-law fitting to an SED model fitted to the photometry, (3) single-color fitting near the Lyman break, and (4) single-color fitting at fixed rest-frame wavelengths. We find that photometric power-law fitting most closely recovers the spectroscopic slopes, with minimal bias and scatter. SED fitting performs moderately well, and can be preferable in cases of low signal-to-noise where photometric power-law fitting may become unreliable. Single-color estimates, while commonly used in past studies, show the most significant deviations and are not recommended when more than a single color is available. Our results highlight the limitations and strengths of each approach and provide practical guidance for measuring $β$ from photometry when spectra are unavailable or are of insufficient quality.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Beyond the Monsters: A More Complete Census of Black Hole Activity at Cosmic Dawn

JWST has revealed an abundance of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN) at high redshifts ($z > 3$), pushing the limits of black hole (BH) science in the early Universe. Results have claimed that these BHs are significantly more massive than expected from the BH mass-host galaxy stellar mass relation derived from the local Universe. We present a comprehensive census of the BH populations in the early Universe through a detailed stacking analysis of galaxy populations, binned by luminosity and redshift, using JWST spectroscopy from the CEERS, JADES, RUBIES, and GLASS extragalactic deep field surveys. Broad H$α$ detections in $31\%$ of the stacked spectra (5/16 bins) imply median BH masses of $10^{5.21} - 10^{6.13}~ \rm{M_{\odot}}$ and the stacked SEDs of these bins indicate median stellar masses of $10^{7.84} - 10^{8.56} ~\rm{M_{\odot}}$. This suggests that the median galaxy hosts a BH that is at most a factor of 10 times over-massive compared to its host galaxy and lies closer to the locally derived $M_{BH}-M_*$ relation. We investigate the seeding properties of the inferred BHs and find that they can be well-explained by a light stellar remnant seed undergoing moderate Eddington accretion. Our results indicate that individual detections of AGN are more likely to sample the upper envelope of the $M_{BH}-M_*$ distribution, while stacking on ``normal" galaxies and searching for AGN signatures can overcome the selection bias of individual detections.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Investigating the Growth of Little Red Dot Descendants at z<4 with the JWST

One of JWST's most remarkable discoveries is a population of compact red galaxies known as Little Red Dots (LRDs). Their existence raises many questions about their nature, origin, and evolution. These galaxies show a steep decline in number density-nearly two orders of magnitude-from $z=6$ to $z=3$. In this study, we explore their potential evolution by identifying candidate descendants in CEERS, assuming a single evolutionary path: the development of a blue star-forming outskirt around the red compact core. Our color-magnitude selection identifies galaxies as red as LRDs at $z<4$, surrounded by young, blue stellar outskirts. Morphological parameters were derived from single Sérsic profile fits; physical properties were obtained from SED fitting using a stellar-only model. These "post-LRD" candidates show LRD-like features with $M_\ast \sim 10^{10} \ M_\odot $, central densities ($ Σ_\ast \sim 10^{11} \ M_\odot \ \text{kpc}^{-2}$ ), compact sizes, and red rest-frame colors, but with an added extended component. Their number density at $z = 3 \pm 0.5$ ( $ \sim 10^{-4.15} \, \text{Mpc}^{-3} $) matches that of LRDs at $5 < z < 7$ , supporting a possible evolutionary link. We observe a redshift-dependent increase in outskirts mass fraction and galaxy size-from $\sim 250$ pc at $ z = 5 $ to $\sim 600$ pc at $ z = 3 $-suggesting global stellar growth. Meanwhile, the core remains red and compact, but the V-shaped SED fades as the outskirts grow. These findings support an evolutionary scenario in which LRDs gradually acquire an extended stellar component over cosmic time by cold accretion. This may explain the apparent decline in their observed number density at lower redshift.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Witnessing downsizing in the making: quiescent and breathing galaxies at the dawn of the Universe

[Shortened for arXiv] We conduct a systematic search for $\log(M_\ast/M_\odot) \geq 9.5$ quiescent galaxies at $z > 3$ in six extragalactic deep fields observed with NIRCam, with the goal of extracting their physical and statistical features in a uniform and self-consistent manner. We exploit the ASTRODEEP-JWST photometric catalogs to single out robust candidates, including sources quenched only a few tens of Myr before the observation. We apply a SED-fitting procedure which explores three functional forms of star formation history and the $χ^2$ probabilities of the solutions, with additional checks to minimise the contamination from interlopers, tuning our selection criteria against available spectroscopic data from the DAWN archive and simulated catalogs. We select 633 candidates, which we rank by a reliability parameter based on the probabilities of the quiescent and alternative star-forming solutions, with 291 candidates tagged as "gold". According to the best-fit models, 79\% of the massive ($\log(M_\ast/M_\odot) \geq 10.5$) quiescent galaxies at $3 < z < 5$ stopped forming stars at least 150 Myr before the time of observation, while 89\% of low-mass sources have been quenched for less than 150 Myr. The abundance of low-mass old quiescent systems does not increase significantly with time from $z = 5$ to 3: low-mass objects seem to be experiencing a short episode of quenching followed by rejuvenation (``breathing''), consistent with a downsizing scenario of galaxy formation. We also find an abrupt drop in the density of massive quiescent candidates at $z > 5$. We derive estimates for the number density of early passive galaxies up to $z = 10$ and compare them against various models: tensions with data remain in the modeling of the observed bimodality of time passed since quenching as a function of mass.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Heavy black hole seed survivors in dwarf galaxies: a case study of Leo I

The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with mass $M_\bullet > 10^9 \, \rm M_\odot$ hosted by high-redshift galaxies have challenged our understanding of black hole formation and growth, as several pathways have emerged attempting to explain their existence. The "heavy-seed" pathway eases the problem with the progenitors of these SMBHs having birth masses up to ${\sim} 10^5~{\rm M_\odot}$. Here, we investigate the possibility that a local dwarf galaxy, Leo I, harbors a heavy-seed descendant. Using Monte-Carlo merger trees to generate the merger histories of 1,000 dark matter halos similar to the Milky Way (MW; with a mass of ${\sim} 10^{12}~{\rm M_\odot}$ at redshift $z{=}0$). We search for Leo-like satellite halos among these merger trees, and investigate the probability that the progenitors of some of these satellites formed a heavy seed. We derive the likelihood of such "heavy seed survivors" (HSSs) across various formation and survival criteria as well as Leo-similarity criteria. We find that the virial temperature for the onset of atomic cooling and rapid gas infall that yields heavy seeds, $T_{\rm act}$, has the largest impact on the number of HSSs. We find HSSs in a fraction $0.7\%$, $18.1\%$, and $96.5\%$ of MW-like halos when $T_{\rm act}$ is set to $9,000$K, $7,000$K, and $5,000$K respectively. This suggests that Leo I could be hosting a heavy seed and could provide an opportunity to disentangle heavy seeds from other SMBH formation mechanisms.

astro-ph.GA↗