Description
While gravitational lensing has been a central tool in astrophysics and cosmology for decades, only with the launch of the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes (HST and JWST) have strong lenses been effectively used to probe the high-redshift universe. In JWST Cycle 3, the NIRCam multi-band GLIMPSE survey obtained ultra-deep observations of Abell S1063, one of the most powerful known cluster-scale gravitational lenses. In this talk, we present our analysis of Abell S1063, using both JWST GLIMPSE data and earlier HST observations, identifying photometrically selected high-redshift (z > 5) faint galaxy candidates, enabled by the the cluster’s strong lensing. These results push current observations deeper into the faint end of the ultraviolet luminosity function and further back in cosmic time, demonstrating the utility of gravitational lensing in extending JWST’s sensitivity to the earliest, least luminous galaxies, thereby also serving as a pathfinder for future NIRCam cluster lensing surveys.
