A NIRCam-dark Galaxy Detected with the MIRI/F1000W Filter in the MIDIS/JADES Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Author(s): Pablo G. Pérez-González, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Karina I. Caputi, Javier Álvarez-Márquez, Marianna Annunziatella, Danial Langeroodi, Thibaud Moutard, Leindert Boogaard, Edoardo Iani, Jens Melinder, Luca Costantin, Göran Östlin, Luis Colina, Thomas R. Greve, Gillian Wright, Almudena Alonso-Herrero, Arjan Bik, Sarah E.I. Bosman, Alejandro Crespo Gómez, Daniel Dicken, Andreas Eckart, Macarena García-Marín, Steven Gillman, Manuel Güdel, Thomas Henning, Jens Hjorth, Iris Jermann, Álvaro Labiano, Romain A. Meyer, Florian Peiβker, John P. Pye, Thomas P. Ray, Tuomo Tikkanen, Fabian Walter, Paul P. van der Werf
Abstract: We report the discovery of Cerberus, an extremely red object detected with the MIRI Deep Imaging Survey (MIDIS) observations in the F1000W filter of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The object is detected at signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) ∼ 6, with F1000W ∼ 27 mag, and undetected in the NIRCam data gathered by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), fainter than the 30.0-30.5 mag 5σ detection limits in individual bands, as well as in the MIDIS F560W ultradeep data (∼29 mag, 5σ). Analyzing the spectral energy distribution built with low-S/N (<5) measurements in individual optical-to-mid-infrared filters and higher-S/N (≳5) measurements in stacked NIRCam data, we discuss the possible nature of this red NIRCam-dark source using a battery of codes. We discard the possibility of Cerberus being a solar system body based on the <0.″016 proper motion in the 1 yr apart JADES and MIDIS observations. A substellar Galactic nature is deemed unlikely, given that the Cerberus’s relatively flat NIRCam-to-NIRCam and very red NIRCam-to-MIRI flux ratios are not consistent with any brown dwarf model. The extragalactic nature of Cerberus offers three possibilities: (1) a z ∼ 0.4 galaxy with strong emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—the very low inferred stellar mass, M _⋆ = 10⁵-10⁶ M _⊙, makes this possibility highly improbable; (2) a dusty galaxy at z ∼ 4 with an inferred stellar mass M _⋆ ∼ 10⁸ M _⊙; and (3) a galaxy with observational properties similar to those of the reddest little red dots discovered around z ∼ 7, but Cerberus lying at z ∼ 15, with the rest-frame optical dominated by emission from a dusty torus or a dusty starburst.
Organisation(s): Department of Astrophysics
External organisation(s): European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA), University of Groningen, University of Copenhagen, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Oskar Klein Centre, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), University College London, The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Scientific Software Center, Universität zu Köln, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Université de Genève, University of Leicester, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Leiden University
Journal: Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume: 969
No. of pages: 12
ISSN: 2041-8205
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad517b
Publication date: 07-2024
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 103003 Astronomy, 103004 Astrophysics
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/c806c864-5151-4616-ac74-893e7bdc210f

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