Toward Reconciling Reionization with JWST: The Role of Bright Galaxies and Strong Feedback

Abstract The elevated UV luminosity functions (UVLFs) from recent James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations have challenged the viability of existing theoretical models. To address this, we use a semianalytical framework—which couples a physically motivated source model derived from radiative transfer hydrodynamic simulations of reionization with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampler—to perform a joint calibration to JWST galaxy surveys (UVLF, ϕ UV , and UV luminosity density, ρ UV ) and reionization-era observables (ionizing emissivity, N ̇ ion , neutral hydrogen fraction, x HI , and Thomson optical depth, τ ). We find that models with weak feedback and a higher contribution from faint galaxies reproduce the reionization observables but struggle to match the elevated JWST UVLF at z > 9. In contrast, models with stronger feedback (i.e., rapid redshift evolution) and a higher contribution from bright galaxies successfully reproduce JWST UVLF at z ≥ 10 but overestimate the bright end at z < 9. The strong-feedback model constrained by the JWST UVLF predicts a more gradual and extended reionization history, as opposed to the sudden reionization seen in the weak-feedback models. This extended nature of reionization ( z ∼ 16–6) yields an optical depth consistent (at 2 σ ) with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraint, thereby alleviating the photon budget crisis. In both scenarios, reionization is complete by z ∼ 6, consistent with current data. Our analysis highlights the importance of accurately modeling feedback and ionizing emissivities from different source populations during the first billion years after the Big Bang.