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

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

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

classification astro-ph.GA astro-ph.COastro-ph.HE
keywords mathrmlrdscmpcdeep23-z2lrd1densityground-basednumbersim10
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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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 $z<4$.

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Cited by 11 Pith papers

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

  1. (LRDs)$^2$: The Low-ReDshift Little Red Dots Survey. II. DESI DR1 Sample

    astro-ph.GA 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    The survey identifies 27 low-redshift LRDs with compact morphology, V-shaped continua, broad Balmer lines with extreme decrements, and ubiquitous outflows, matching high-z counterparts and yielding a number density lo...

  2. A new sample of Little Red Dots at $z<0.45$ in DESI DR1: Broad Balmer lines, low ionization spectrum and no variability

    astro-ph.GA 2026-05 conditional novelty 7.0

    Eight low-redshift Little Red Dots identified in DESI DR1 exhibit broad Balmer lines, steep decrements, compact shapes, and negligible variability, with a number density roughly 10,000 times lower than at z>4.

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

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.5

    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.

  4. Little Red Dots as Intermediate Mass, Super-Eddington Engines: Insights from Type IIn Supernovae and The 1837-1856 Great Eruption of $\eta$ Carinae

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    LRDs are reinterpreted as intermediate-mass super-Eddington systems with wind-driven pseudo-photospheres that explain their spectra and imply engine masses below 10^5 solar masses rather than overmassive black holes.

  5. Connecting the Dots: UV-Bright Companions of Little Red Dots as Lyman-Werner Sources Enabling Direct Collapse Black Hole Formation

    astro-ph.GA 2026-02 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    UV-bright companions to Little Red Dots provide Lyman-Werner fluxes of J21 ~ 10^2.5-10^5 that can suppress H2 cooling and enable direct collapse to massive black holes.

  6. Spectral Uniformity of Little Red Dots: A Natural Outcome of Coevolving Seed Black Holes and Nascent Starbursts

    astro-ph.GA 2025-09 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Coevolving super-Eddington black holes and nuclear starbursts in high-redshift halos naturally generate the V-shaped UV-to-optical spectra and weak high-energy emission of little red dots.

  7. Little Red Dots at z~2 in EIGER reveal a gentle decline with respect to their peak number density at z~5

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Five LRDs at z≈2 yield number density ≈7×10^{-6} cMpc^{-3}, confirming a decline from the z≈5 peak but gentler than prior photometric estimates.

  8. NEXUS: Abundance, Environments, and Spectral Diversity of Little Red Dots from the NIRSpec MSA Sample

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    A sample of 36 spectroscopically confirmed LRDs shows broad-line detections in >90%, spectral variety including Balmer breaks and blackbody fits, H-alpha to 5100A continuum correlation, no redshift evolution, declinin...

  9. Compact, AGN-hosting Dwarf Galaxies with "Little Red Dots"-like SEDs in the Local Universe

    astro-ph.GA 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Local compact AGN-hosting dwarf galaxies with V-shaped SEDs are more evolved than high-redshift Little Red Dots, indicating distinct formation pathways.

  10. Blackbody Quasar and Radio Source (BBQSORS): A Candidate of Transitional Little Red Dots with a $T\sim10^4\ K$ Blackbody Spectrum

    astro-ph.GA 2026-03 conditional novelty 5.0

    A z=1.715 radio-loud quasar exhibits a ~10,000 K blackbody UV continuum and three-component blackbody photometry, marking it as a candidate transitional Little Red Dot.

  11. No evolution in the number density of little red dots from cosmic dawn to cosmic noon

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    Number density of LRDs with L_bol ≳ 3×10^44 erg s^{-1} shows no evolution at z>2 and is ~350 times higher than model predictions at cosmic noon.