The Rise of Faint, Red Active Galactic Nuclei at z > 4: A Sample of Little Red Dots in the JWST Extragalactic Legacy Fields

Abstract We present a sample of 341 “little red dots” (LRDs) spanning the redshift range z ∼ 2–11 using data from the CEERS, PRIMER, JADES, UNCOVER, and NGDEEP surveys. Unlike past use of color indices to identify LRDs, we employ continuum slope fitting using shifting bandpasses to sample the same rest-frame emission blueward and redward of the Balmer break. This enables the detection of LRDs over a wider redshift range and with less contamination from galaxies with strong breaks that otherwise lack a rising red continuum. The redshift distribution of our sample increases at z < 8 and then undergoes a rapid decline at z ∼ 4.5, which may tie the emergence of these sources to the inside-out growth that…

• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  Awards: 5-03127, ERS-01345, NAS 5-03127, JWST-AR-02446, JWST-ERS-01345
• ST
  Space Telescope Science Institute

  Awards: JWST-AR-02446, 5-03127, JWST-ERS-01345, NAS 5-03127
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: CMS-CSST-2021-A06, 11950410493, 12073003, 11991052, 11721303, 12003003, CMS-CSST-2021-A04