The Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) Survey

Abstract

Abstract We present the Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) Survey, a deep slitless spectroscopic and imaging Cycle 1 JWST treasury survey designed to constrain feedback mechanisms in low-mass galaxies across cosmic time. NGDEEP targets the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) with NIRISS slitless spectroscopy ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>f</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>lim</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi>line</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> <mml:mi>σ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>≈</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.2</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> </mml:math> 10 −18 erg s −1 cm −2 ) to measure metallicities and star formation rates (SFRs) for low-mass galaxies through the peak of the cosmic SFR density (0.5 &lt; z &lt; 4). In parallel, NGDEEP targets the HUDF-Par2 parallel field with NIRCam ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>lim</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> <mml:mi>σ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>30.6</mml:mn> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>30.9</mml:mn> </mml:math> ) to discover galaxies to z &gt; 12, constraining the slope of the faint end of the rest-ultraviolet luminosity function. NGDEEP overlaps with the deepest HST Advanced Camera for Surveys optical imaging in the sky, F435W in the HUDF ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>lim</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">F</mml:mi> <mml:mn>435</mml:mn> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">W</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>29.6</mml:mn> </mml:math> ) and F814W in HUDF-Par2 ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>lim</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">F</mml:mi> <mml:mn>814</mml:mn> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">W</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>30</mml:mn> </mml:math> ), making this a premier HST+JWST deep field. As a treasury survey, NGDEEP data are public immediately, and we will rapidly release data products and catalogs in the spirit of previous deep-field initiatives. In this paper we present the NGDEEP survey design, summarize the science goals, and detail plans for the public release of NGDEEP reduced data products.