Pith. sign in

REVIEW 12 cited by

Counting Little Red Dots at $z<4$ with Ground-based Surveys and Spectroscopic Follow-up

Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.

SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event

T0 review · schema-true

One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.

pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp

arxiv 2504.08032 v1 pith:MAAAKDKT submitted 2025-04-10 astro-ph.GA astro-ph.COastro-ph.HE

classification astro-ph.GAastro-ph.COastro-ph.HE
keywords mathrmlrdscmpcdeep23-z2lrd1densityground-basednumbersim10
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
0 comments
abstract

Little red dots (LRDs) are a population of red, compact objects discovered by JWST at $z>4$. At $4<z<8$, they are roughly 100 times more abundant than UV-selected quasars. However, their number density is uncertain at $z<4$ due to the small sky coverage and limited blue wavelength coverage of JWST. We present our ground-based search for LRDs at $2\lesssim z\lesssim4$, combining ultra-deep Hyper Suprime-Cam photometry and various (near-)infrared surveys within a total area of $\sim3.1\,\mathrm{deg^{2}}$. We find that for LRDs with $M_{5500}<-22.5$, their number density declines from $\sim10^{-4.5}\,\mathrm{cMpc^{-3}}$ at $z>4$ to $\sim10^{-5.3}\,\mathrm{cMpc^{-3}}$ at $2.7<z<3.7$ and $\sim10^{-5.7}\,\mathrm{cMpc^{-3}}$ at $1.7<z<2.7$. We also present the Magellan/FIRE spectrum of our first followed-up candidate, DEEP23-z2LRD1 at $z_\mathrm{spec}=2.26$, as a proof of concept for our sample selection. Similar to high-redshift LRDs, the spectrum of DEEP23-z2LRD1 exhibits broad H$\alpha$ emission with $\mathrm{FWHM}\approx2400\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$ and with nearly symmetric narrow H$\alpha$ absorption. Additionally, DEEP23-z2LRD1 has extremely narrow [OIII] lines with $\mathrm{FWHM}\approx140\,\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}}$, suggesting the presence of an accreting black hole in a low-mass host galaxy. Limited by the angular resolution of ground-based surveys, we emphasize that spectroscopic follow-ups are required to characterize the contamination fraction of this sample and pin down LRD number density at $z<4$.

Discussion (0). Continue with ORCID to comment.

Forward citations

Cited by 12 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. BlackTHUNDER Reveals a Massive Filament around a Compact AGN at $z\simeq5.23$

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.5 of 10

    GN-77652, a compact broad-line AGN at z=5.229, lies beside a 12 kpc multi-source filament at the same redshift whose coalescence will erase the compact AGN appearance within ~150–440 Myr.

  2. Where did all the Little Red Dots go? The abundance of LRD analogues among objects with broad lines at $z < 0.35$

    astro-ph.GA 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Only 0.08% of low-redshift broad-line objects have SEDs resembling high-redshift Little Red Dots, yielding nine candidates, one of which is the known analogue 'The Egg'.

  3. Outflows in super-Eddington quasars drive clumpy circumgalactic medium and extended H$\alpha$ nebulae at $z \gtrsim 6$

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    In z≈6 quasar simulations, super-Eddington black-hole growth clears escape channels, ejects cold clumps that raise neutral-hydrogen covering, and powers extended Hα nebulae that shrink when the quasar is obscured.

  4. Reduced Incidence of Little Red Dots at z < 3 from Number Density and Halo Mass Evolution

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    LRDs transition from underdense low-halo-mass environments at z>4 to typical galaxy conditions by z~3.5, with halo growth leading to larger sizes and SED changes that explain their disappearance at lower redshifts.

  5. Local Analogs of Little Red Dots: Optical Variability and Evidence for an Active Galatic Nucleus Origin

    astro-ph.GA 2026-03 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Two local analogs of little red dots show AGN-like stochastic variability in six-year ZTF light curves, and mock observations suggest high-redshift LRD variability limits are systematically underestimated.

  6. Characterizing the roles of transitory obscured phases and inner torus in shaping the fractions of obscured AGN at cosmic noon

    astro-ph.GA 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Pure evolutionary AGN light curves can only reproduce cosmic-noon obscured fractions if the visible phase is tuned by luminosity or if a long-lived torus is added; starbursts and mergers alone cannot.

  7. Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XXIV. 54 New Quasars and Candidate Obscured Quasars at $5.71 \le z \le 7.02$

    astro-ph.GA 2025-08 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

    Spectroscopic follow-up of the completed HSC-SSP survey yields 43 new quasars, 11 candidate obscured quasars, and 29 galaxies at z 5.71 to 7.02.

  8. JWST IFU observations uncover host galaxy continua in extremely red and obscured quasars

    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    JWST NIRSpec IFU data and a new PSF subtraction method reveal compact host galaxies for eight obscured quasars, with most quasars offset from their hosts and black holes appearing over-massive relative to local scalin...

  9. Cosmic Outliers: Low-Spin Halos Explain the Abundance, Compactness, and Redshift Evolution of the Little Red Dots

    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Little Red Dots are explained as galaxies formed in the lowest roughly 1% of dark matter halo spin, which reproduces their abundance, compactness, and redshift distribution.

  10. NEXUS: A Spectroscopic Census of Broad-line AGNs and Little Red Dots at $3\lesssim z\lesssim 6$

    astro-ph.GA 2025-05 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A JWST grism survey finds 23 broad-line AGNs at z~3-6, including 15 little red dots, with host-galaxy UV emission and a tentative small-scale clustering excess.

  11. An upper limit of 10$^6$ M$_\odot$ in dust from ALMA observations in 60 Little Red Dots

    astro-ph.GA 2025-05 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Stacking 60 little red dots in ALMA 1.3 mm data yields a 3 sigma dust mass limit near 10^6 solar masses, ten times deeper than previous limits.

  12. How similar are narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies and high-z type 1 AGN?

    astro-ph.GA 2025-09 conditional novelty 3.0 of 10

    NLS1s and high-z JWST AGN share low black hole mass, high Eddington ratio, and narrow broad lines, so NLS1s are useful analogs, though host-to-BH ratios and line profiles differ.

Pith tools