Understand
We present the JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS), a JWST imaging programme exploiting the wavelength coverage and sensitivity of NIRCam to extend narrow-band rest-optical emission line selection into the epoch of reionization (EoR) for the first time, and to enable unique studies of the resolved ionised gas morphology in individual galaxies across cosmic history.
- The primary JELS observations comprise $\sim4.7\mu$m narrow-band imaging over $\sim63$ arcmin$^{2}$ designed to enable selection of H$\alpha$ emitters at z~6.1 and a host of novel emission-line samples, including [OIII] ($z\sim8.3$) and Paschen $\alpha/\beta$ ($z\sim1.5/2.8$).
- For the F466N/F470N narrow-band observations, the emission-line sensitivities achieved are up to $\sim2\times$ more sensitive than current slitless spectroscopy surveys (5$\sigma$ limits of 0.8-1.2$\times10^{-18}\,\text{erg s}^{-1}\text{cm}^{-2}$), corresponding to unobscured H$\alpha$ star-formation rates (SFRs) of 0.9-1.3 $\text{M}_{\odot}\text{yr}^{-1}$ at z~6.1, extending emission-line selections in the EoR to fainter populations.
- Simultaneously, JELS also adds F200W broadband and F212N narrow-band imaging (H$\alpha$ at z~2.23) that probes SFRs $\gtrsim5\times$ fainter than previous ground-based narrow-band studies ($\sim0.2\text{M}_{\odot}\text{yr}^{-1}$), offering an unprecedented resolved view of star formation at cosmic noon.