The NIRSpec Wide GTO Survey
Michael V. Maseda, Anna de Graaff, Marijn Franx, Hans‐Walter Rix, Stefano Carniani, Isaac Laseter, U Dudzevičiūtė, Tim Rawle, Eleonora Parlanti, Santiago Arribas, Andrew J. Bunker, Alex J. Cameron, S. Charlot, Mirko Curti, Francesco D’Eugenio, Gareth C. Jones, Nimisha Kumari, R. Maiolino, Hannah Übler, Aayush Saxena, Renske Smit, Chris J. Willott, Joris Witstok
Abstract
The Near-infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope is uniquely suited to studying galaxies in the distant Universe with its combination of multi-object capabilities and sensitivity over a large range in wavelength (0.6 − 5.3 μm). Here we present the NIRSpec Wide survey, part of the NIRSpec Instrument Science Team’s Guaranteed Time Observations, using NIRSpec’s microshutter array to obtain spectra of more than 3200 galaxies at z > 1 at both low and high resolution ( R ≈ 100 and 2700) for a total of 105 hours. With 31 pointings covering ≈320 arcmin 2 across the five CANDELS fields with exquisite ancillary photometry from the Hubble Space Telescope, the NIRSpec Wide survey represents a fast and efficient way of probing galaxies in the early Universe. Pointing centers are determined to maximize the observability of the rarest, high-value sources. Subsequently, the microshutter configurations are optimized to observe the maximum number of “census” galaxies with a selection function based primarily on HST/ F 160 W magnitude, photometric or slitless grism redshift, and predicted H α flux tracing the bulk of the galaxy population at cosmic noon ( z med = 2.0). We present details on the survey strategy, the target selection, an outline of the motivating science cases, and discuss upcoming public data releases to the community.