Abstract

Theoretical and numerical modeling of the assembly of dark-matter halos predicts that the most massive and luminous galaxies at high redshift are surrounded by overdensities of fainter companions. We test this prediction with Hubble Space Telescope observations acquired by our Brightest-of-Reionizing Galaxies (BoRG) survey, which identified four very bright z ~ 8 candidates as Y ₀₉₈-dropout sources in four of the 23 non-contiguous Wide Field Camera 3 fields observed. We extend here the search for Y ₀₉₈-dropouts to fainter luminosities (M _* galaxies with M _AB ~ -20), with detections at >=5σ confidence (compared to the 8σ confidence threshold adopted earlier) identifying 17 new candidates. We demonstrate that there is a correlation between number counts of faint and bright Y ₀₉₈-dropouts at >=99.84% confidence. Field BoRG58, which contains the best bright z ~ 8 candidate (M _AB = -21.3), has the most significant overdensity of faint Y ₀₉₈-dropouts. Four new sources are located within 70'' (corresponding to 3.1 comoving Mpc at z = 8) from the previously known brighter z ~ 8 candidate. The overdensity of Y ₀₉₈-dropouts in this field has a physical origin to very high confidence (p > 99.975%), independent of completeness and contamination rate of the Y ₀₉₈-dropout selection. We modeled the overdensity by means of cosmological simulations and estimate that the principal dark-matter halo has mass M_h ≈ (4-7) × 10¹¹ M _⊙ (~5σ density peak) and is surrounded by several M_h ≈ 10¹¹ M _⊙ halos which could host the fainter dropouts. In this scenario, we predict that all halos will eventually merge into a M_h > 2 × 10¹⁴ M _⊙ galaxy cluster by z = 0. Follow-up observations with ground- and space-based telescopes are required to secure the z ~ 8 nature of the overdensity, discover new members, and measure their precise redshift.

Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with Program 11700.