English

MIDIS: Strong H$\beta$+[OIII] Line Emitters at $z \geq 9$

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-04-07 v1

Abstract

We present a search for strong Hβ\beta+[O III] emitters at z=9.411.3z=9.4-11.3 in the HUDF using ultra-deep JWST/MIRI F560W imaging from the MIDIS survey. Three galaxies are identified via pronounced F560W flux excesses, consistent with strong rest-frame optical line emission. SED modelling yields rest-frame Hβ\beta+[O III] equivalent widths of 6001300\sim 600-1300AA (median 1260\simeq 1260AA), placing these sources among the most extreme known at these epochs. Combining these with a literature sample of 16 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at z9z\geq 9, we find a median EWrestHβ+[OIII]1300{\rm EW}^{\rm H\beta+[O III]}_{\rm rest}\simeq 1300AA, similar to values at z69z\sim6-9. We find no evidence for either a strong increase or decline in EW beyond z9z\sim9. A tentative trend of higher EW with increasing UV luminosity is observed, while no statistically significant anti-correlation with stellar mass is found. We place a first constraint on the Hβ\beta+[O III] luminosity function at z911z\simeq9-11 (Φ103.4Mpc3dex1\Phi\sim10^{-3.4}\,{\rm Mpc^{-3}\,dex^{-1}} at log(LHβ+[OIII]/ergs1)=42.5\log( L_{\rm H\beta+[OIII]}/{\rm erg\,s^{-1}})=42.5), consistent with a decline relative to z78z\sim7-8. The MIDIS sources have log(ξion/Hzerg1)=25.125.4\log(\xi_{\rm ion}/{\rm Hz\,erg^{-1}})=25.1-25.4. We find significant correlations between ξion\xi_{\rm ion} and EW and β\beta, but not with UV luminosity, consistent with trends at lower redshift. These results suggest that the physical conditions governing nebular emission and ionising efficiency are already in place at z911z\sim9-11, extending trends established at z69z\sim6-9.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.04284,
  title  = {MIDIS: Strong H$\beta$+[OIII] Line Emitters at $z \geq 9$},
  author = {Thomas R. Greve and Steven Gillman and Pierluigi Rinaldi and Iris Jermann and Jens Melinder and Göran Östlin and Pablo G. Pérez-González and Luis Colina and Fabian Walter and Javier Álvarez-Márquez and Martin J. Ward and Alejandro Crespo Gómez and John P. Pye and Tuomo V. Tikkanen and Edoardo Iani and Roman A. Meyer and Leindert A. Boogaard and Jens Hjorth and Danial Langeroodi and Paul van der Werf and Sarah E. I. Bosman and Karina I. Caputi and Luca Costantin and Marianna Annunziatella and Arjan Bik and Álvaro Labiano and Thomas Henning},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.04284},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

19 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to MNRAS