A joint measurement of galaxy luminosity functions and large-scale field densities during the Epoch of Reionization

Abstract

ABSTRACT One of the most exciting advances of the current generation of telescopes has been the detection of galaxies during the epoch of reionization, using deep fields that have pushed these instruments to their limits. It is essential to optimize our analyses of these fields in order to extract as much information as possible from them. In particular, standard methods of measuring the galaxy luminosity function discard information on large-scale dark matter density fluctuations, even though this large-scale structure drives galaxy formation and reionization during the Cosmic Dawn. Measuring these densities would provide a bedrock observable, connecting galaxy surveys to theoretical models of the reionization process and structure formation. Here, we use existing Hubble deep field data to simultaneously fit the universal luminosity function and measure large-scale densities for each Hubble deep field at z = 6–8 by directly incorporating priors on the large-scale density field and galaxy bias. Our fit of the universal luminosity function is consistent with previous methods but differs in the details. For the first time, we measure the underlying densities of the survey fields, including the most over/underdense Hubble fields. We show that the distribution of densities is consistent with current predictions for cosmic variance. This analysis on just 17 fields is a small sample of what will be possible with the James Webb Space Telescope, which will measure hundreds of fields at comparable (or better) depths and at higher redshifts.