Date Published:
June 1, 2018
Abstract:
We present an original phenomenological model to describe the evolutionof galaxy number counts, morphologies, and spectral energy distributionsacross a wide range of redshifts (0.2< z< 15) and stellar masses[{log}(M/{M}
⊙ )≥slant 6]. Our model follows observedmass and luminosity functions of both star-forming and quiescentgalaxies, and reproduces the redshift evolution of colors, sizes, starformation, and chemical properties of the observed galaxy population.Unlike other existing approaches, our model includes a self-consistenttreatment of stellar and photoionized gas emission and dust attenuationbased on the BEAGLE tool. The mock galaxy catalogs generated with ournew model can be used to simulate and optimize extragalactic surveyswith future facilities such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST),and to enable critical assessments of analysis procedures,interpretation tools, and measurement systematics for both photometricand spectroscopic data. As a first application of this work, we makepredictions for the upcoming JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey(JADES), a joint program of the JWST/NIRCam and NIRSpec Guaranteed TimeObservations teams. We show that JADES will detect, with NIRCam imaging,1000s of galaxies at z ≳ 6, and 10s at z ≳ 10 at{m}
{AB}≲ 30 (5σ) within the 236 arcmin
2of the survey. The JADES data will enable accurate constraints on theevolution of the UV luminosity function at z > 8, and resolve thecurrent debate about the rate of evolution of galaxies at z ≳ 8.Ready-to-use mock catalogs and software to generate new realizations arepublicly available as the JAdes extraGalactic Ultradeep ArtificialRealizations (JAGUAR) package.
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