| Title: |
PEARLS: 21 Transients Found in the Three-epoch NIRCam Observations in the Continuous Viewing Zone of the James Webb Space Telescope |
| Authors: |
Haojing Yan; Bangzheng Sun; Zhiyuan Ma; Lifan Wang; Christopher N. A. Willmer; Wenlei Chen; Norman A. Grogin; John F. Beacom; S. P. Willner; Seth H. Cohen; Rogier A. Windhorst; Rolf A. Jansen; Cheng Cheng; Jia-Sheng Huang; Min Yun; Hansung B. Gim; Heidi B. Hammel; Stefanie N. Milam; Anton M. Koekemoer; Lei Hu; José M. Diego; Jake Summers; Jordan C. J. D’Silva; Dan Coe; Christopher J. Conselice; Simon P. Driver; Brenda Frye; Madeline A. Marshall; Rafael Ortiz III; Nor Pirzkal; Aaron Robotham; Russell E. Ryan Jr.; Rachel Honor; Rosalia O’Brien; Giovanni G. Fazio; Nathan J. Adams; Massimo Ricotti; Payaswini Saikia; Nimish P. Hathi; Brent Smith; Benne W. Holwerda; Patrick Kelly |
| Source: |
The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 998, Iss 1, p 115 (2026) |
| Publisher Information: |
IOP Publishing |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
| Subject Terms: |
Transient detection; Transient sources; Supernovae; Galaxy evolution; Astrophysics; QB460-466 |
| Description: |
We present 21 transients from our three-epoch, four-band NIRCam observations covering 14.16 arcmin ^2 in the Spitzer IRAC Dark Field (IDF), taken by the JWST Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science program with a time cadence of ∼6 months. A separate Hubble Space Telescope program provided Advanced Camera for Surveys optical imaging contemporaneous with the second and third epochs of the NIRCam observations. The NIRSpec spectroscopy on three transients confirmed a Type Ia supernova at z = 1.63 and the host galaxies of the other two at z = 2.64 and 1.90, respectively. Combining these with the photometric redshifts ( z _ph ) of the host galaxies in the rest of the sample, we find that the transients are in either a “mid- z ” group at z > 1.6 with M _V ≲ − 16.0 mag or a “low- z ” group at z < 0.4 with M _H ≳ − 14.0 mag. The mid- z transients are consistent with supernovae. In contrast, the low- z transients’ luminosities fall in the range of the so-called “gap transients” between supernovae and novae. However, this latter conclusion is only tentative due to possible catastrophic failures in z _ph that could bias them to low- z . Conversely, if they are indeed at z < 0.4, it would be worth studying similar transients in the future. Our work further demonstrates the power of NIRCam in transient science and also shows that it would be more fruitful to carry out a long-term monitoring program with more passbands, a higher cadence, and prompt follow-up spectroscopy. Being in the continuous viewing zone of the JWST, the IDF is an ideal field for this purpose. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae2c5d; https://doaj.org/toc/1538-4357; https://doaj.org/article/3a672042d0764ab08cdea0147ce1cf5e |
| DOI: |
10.3847/1538-4357/ae2c5d |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae2c5d; https://doaj.org/article/3a672042d0764ab08cdea0147ce1cf5e |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.4AD92179 |
| Database: |
BASE |