Accelerated evolution of galaxy host halo masses during Cosmic Dawn from deep JWST clustering
Abstract
We present the deepest clustering analysis of early galaxies to date, analyzing $N_{\rm{g}} \simeq 6500$ photometrically-selected Lyman Break Galaxies from JWST's Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) to reveal how galaxies and dark matter evolved during cosmic dawn ($5 \leq z < 11$). Using halo occupation distribution (HOD) modeling of the two-point angular correlation function, we trace the galaxy-halo relationships across the first billion years of cosmic history. Our analysis reveals that galaxies at $z = 10.6$ reside in dark matter halos over an order of magnitude less massive ($M_{\rm{h}} \sim 10^{10.12} M_{\odot}$) than their counterparts at $z = 5.5$ ($M_{\rm{h}} \sim 10^{11.45} M_{\odot}$), while exhibiting correspondingly higher effective bias values ($b_{\rm{g}}^{\rm{eff}} = 8.13^{+0.04}_{-0.02}$ compared to $5.64^{+0.10}_{-0.13}$). Correspondingly, the satellite galaxy fraction hints at a declining trend with decreasing redshift, reaching $
Fields of Study & Subjects
Galaxies: Formation
Evolution
Phenomena
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Publication details
- Journal / source
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Publication date
- 5 January 2026
- Document type
- Preprint