A GLIMPSE into the very faint end of the Hβ+[O III]λλ4960,5008 luminosity function at z ∼ 7 – 9 behind Abell S1063

¹ Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290, Versoix, Switzerland
² CNRS, IRAP, 14 Avenue E. Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France
³ Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014, Paris, France
⁴ Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva, 84105, Israel
⁵ Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
⁶ Department of Astronomy, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, AlbaNova University Center, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
⁷ David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3H4, Canada
⁸ Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, 50 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3H4, Canada
⁹ Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Denmark, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 128, København N, DK-2200, Denmark

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Received: 14 August 2025
Accepted: 10 February 2026

Abstract

We used the ultra-deep GLIMPSE JWST/NIRCam survey to constrain the faint end of the [O III]+Hβ luminosity function (LF) down to 10³⁹erg s⁻¹ at z ∼ 7 − 9 behind the lensed Hubble Frontier Field galaxy cluster Abell S1063. We applied a spectral energy distribution fitting on a Lyman-break galaxy selected sample of 164 lensed galaxies and measured their combined Hβ+[O III]λλ4960, 5008 flux to build the emission line LF. We found a [O III]+Hβ LF with a faint-end slope (α = −1.78^+0.06_−0.06 for z = 7 − 8 and α = −1.55^+0.11_−0.11 for z = 8 − 9), which is flatter than the UV LF at similar redshifts (α ≤ −2) and suggests a lower number density of weak [O III]+Hβ emitting galaxies at fixed M_UV. We analysed several possible explanations: (i) a decrease in the [O III]+Hβ-to-UV ratio due to bursty star formation histories (SFHs), (ii) the effect of metallicity on the [O III]-to-Hβ ratio, or (iii) signs of a faint-end turnover in the UV LF. Under the assumption of an evolving [O III]-to-Hβ ratio, we separated the contribution of [O III]λ5008 and Hβ and obtained a flatter [O III]λ5008 LF (α = −1.66^+0.05_−0.05 for z = 7 − 8 and α = −1.45^+0.09_−0.10 for z = 8 − 9) but steeper Hβ LF ($\alpha =-1.{95}_{-0.08}^{+0.08}$ for z = 7 − 8 and α = −1.68^+0.13_−0.14 for z = 8 − 9). The combination of a decreasing metallicity and bursty SFH can reconcile the observed differences between the UV and [O III]+Hβ LF. By converting this LF into the ionising photon-production rate Ṅ_ion, we show that galaxies with L_Hα ≥ 10³⁹ erg s⁻¹, that is, with a star formation rate (SFR) (Hα)  ≥  5 × 10⁻³ M_⊙ yr⁻¹) cause 31%−90% and 46%−156% of the ionising photon budget (at 7 < z < 8 and 8 < z < 9), when we assume a constant escape fraction of Lyman-continuum photon (f_esc = 0.14). The shape of the LF further shows the negligible contribution of faint galaxies to the Ṅ_ion. Additionally, we derived the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD), finding results consistent with previous estimates. However, the sensitivity of GLIMPSE to lower SFRs reinforces the conclusion that very faint galaxies contribute very little to Ṅ_ion and the SFRD. Our results suggests that GLIMPSE has detected the bulk of the total [O III]+Hβ emission from star-forming galaxies, and that galaxies below our detection limits are likely minor contributors to cosmic re-ionisation.