Large Area Survey for z = 7 Galaxies in SDF and GOODS-N: Implications for Galaxy Formation and Cosmic Reionization

We present results of our large area survey for z'-band dropout galaxies at z = 7 in a 1568 arcmin² sky area covering the SDF and GOODS-N fields. Combining our ultra-deep Subaru/Suprime-Cam z'- and y-band (λ_eff = 1 μm) images with legacy data of Subaru and Hubble Space Telescope, we have identified 22 bright z-dropout galaxies down to y = 26, one of which has a spectroscopic redshift of z = 6.96 determined from Lyα emission. The z = 7 luminosity function yields the best-fit Schechter parameters of phi* = 0.69^+2.62 _-0.55 × 10^-3 Mpc^-3, M*_UV = -20.10 ± 0.76 mag, and α = -1.72 ± 0.65, and indicates a decrease from z = 6 at a >95% confidence level. This decrease is beyond the cosmic variance in our two fields, which is estimated to be a factor of lsim2. We have found that the cosmic star formation rate density drops from the peak at z = 2-3 to z = 7 roughly by a factor of ~10 but not larger than ~100. A comparison with the reionization models suggests either that the universe could not be totally ionized by only galaxies at z = 7, or more likely that properties of galaxies at z = 7 are different from those at low redshifts having, e.g., a larger escape fraction (gsim0.2), a lower metallicity, and/or a flatter initial mass function. Our SDF z-dropout galaxies appear to form 60 Mpc long filamentary structures, and the z = 6.96 galaxy with Lyα emission is located at the center of an overdense region consisting of four UV bright dropout candidates, which might suggest an existence of a well-developed ionized bubble at z = 7.

Based on data obtained with the Subaru Telescope, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and Spitzer Space Telescope. The Subaru Telescope is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. HST is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. The Spitzer Space Telescope is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA.