EPOCHS-DR2 I: Expanded data release and properties of 6.5<z<16.5 photometrically selected galaxies across NIRCam deep fields covering about700, arcmin squared with the galfind software

arXiv:2609.24987 · astro-ph.GA · Submitted 2026-09-21 · Read on arXiv

astro-ph.GA

Submitted: 2026-09-21

Updated: 2026-09-21

Comments: 38 pages, 11 figures, 8 tables, Submitted to ApJ

Code: https://github.com/chriswillott/jwst

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: We present the sample of 2452 star forming galaxies at 6.5<z phot<16.5 produced using the photometric pipeline across about650-740 arcmin squared in six of the most widely used deep, blank field

Terminology

Abstract

We present the sample of 2452 star forming galaxies at 6.5<z phot<16.5 produced using the photometric pipeline across about650-740 arcmin squared in six of the most widely used deep, blank field /NIRCam imaging surveys. 293 galaxies are spectroscopically confirmed and a spectroscopic--photometric redshift comparison yields a normalized median absolute deviation, σ NMAD=0.017, an η=4.3% outlier rate, and a mean offset Δz=-0.022. We find 34 little red dots (LRDs) with ``V--shaped'' SEDs, as well as 69 L--type, 36 T--type, and 2 compact Y--type brown dwarf candidates, which we remove from our sample. The fiducial sample yields a flattening β UV-M UV relation with only moderately blue median β UV(M UV=-19)=-2.32+0.08-0.07 at z 12.5, implying dust-polluted stellar populations at the highest redshifts. A ``gold'' sample of 62 sources are identified at z phot>10.5, about85% of which are without NIRSpec follow-up, including 15 candidates at z phot>13.5 across a diverse range of proper sizes 30, pc r c 1.5, kpc and UV slopes-4.0 β UV-1.5. Two very promising candidates stand out, GS-W-4608 and GN-Med-1881, with β UV-3, 1.6, mag break colors, and F335M and F410M detections which improve their high-redshift solution robustness. Complementary to our high-redshift sample, this public data release provides the community with optical/NIR catalogs, empirical PSFs, and,, and SED fitting results, enhancing the legacy value of photometric JWST data in the upcoming era of wide-field imaging datasets with Euclid and Roman.

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