{
  "abstract": "We analyze two dusty star-forming galaxies at z = 6.6. These galaxies are selected from the ASPIRE survey, a JWST Cycle 1 medium program, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 9 large program targeting 25 quasars and their environments at z ≃ 6.5–6.8. These galaxies are identified as companions to UV-luminous quasars and robustly detected in ALMA continuum and [C ii ] emission, yet they are extraordinarily faint at the NIRCam wavelengths (down to >28.0 AB mag in the F356W band). They are more obscured than galaxies like Arp220 ( A V up to ∼7.5 mag), and thus we refer to them as “NIRCam-dark” starburst galaxies (star formation rate ≃80–250 M ⊙ yr −1 ). Such galaxies are typically missed by (sub)-millimeter blank-field surveys. From the star formation history (SFH), we show that the NIRCam-dark galaxies are viable progenitors of massive quiescent galaxies at z ≳ 4 and descendants of UV-luminous galaxies at z > 10. Although it is hard to constrain their number density from a quasar survey, we conclude that NIRCam-dark galaxies can be as abundant as n ∼ 10 −5.5 Mpc −3 assuming a light halo occupation model. If true, this would equal to ∼30% of the number densities of both the quiescent galaxies at z ≳ 4 and UV-luminous galaxies at z > 10. We further predict that analogs at z ∼ 8 should exist according to the SFH of early massive quiescent galaxies. However, they may fall below the current detection limits of wide JWST and ALMA surveys, and thus remain “JWST-dark.” To fully trace the evolution of massive galaxies and dust-obscured cosmic star formation at z ≳ 8, wide-field JWST/NIRCam imaging and slitless spectroscopic surveys of early protoclusters are essential.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian",
    "University of Michigan",
    "INAF—Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio",
    "University of Arizona",
    "Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie",
    "Heidelberg University",
    "Tsinghua University",
    "Space Telescope Science Institute",
    "Centro de Astrobiología (CAB)",
    "University of Cambridge",
    "Chiba University",
    "Universidad Diego Portales",
    "Northwestern College",
    "The Pennsylvania State University",
    "Huazhong University of Science and Technology"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 24,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Fengwu Sun",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4622-6617"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jie Yang",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4801-7162"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Feige Wang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7633-431X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Daniel J. Eisenstein",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2929-3121"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Roberto Decarli",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2662-8803"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Xiaohui Fan",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3310-0131"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "George H. Rieke",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2303-6519"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Eduardo Bañados",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2931-7824"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Sarah E. I. Bosman",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8582-7012"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Zheng Cai",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8467-6478"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jaclyn B. Champagne",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6184-9097"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Luis Colina",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9090-4227"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Francesco D’Eugenio",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2388-8172"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Yoshinobu Fudamoto",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7440-8832"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Mingyu Li",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6251-649X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Xiaojing Lin",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6052-4234"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Weizhe Liu",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3762-7344"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jianwei Lyu",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6221-1829"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Chiara Mazzucchelli",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5941-5214"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Xiangyu Jin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5768-738X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Hyunsung D. Jun",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1470-5901"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13
      ],
      "name": "Wei Leong Tee",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0747-1780"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Y N Wu",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0833-1205"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        14
      ],
      "name": "Huanian Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0123-9246"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f5gtbymvb8d40.bib",
  "cited_by": 20,
  "doi": "10.3847/1538-4357/ae66e3",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "f5gtbymvb8d40",
  "issns": [
    "0004-637X",
    "1538-4357"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae66e3",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7162408075",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-05-26",
  "publisher": "IOP Publishing",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f5gtbymvb8d40.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T13:20:45Z",
      "native_id": "W7162408075",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae66e3"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "openalex:3103|Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena",
      "subfield": "galaxies"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The Identification of Two JWST/NIRCam-dark Starburst Galaxies at z = 6.6 with ALMA",
  "title_text": "The Identification of Two JWST/NIRCam-dark Starburst Galaxies at z = 6.6 with ALMA",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-10T13:21:00Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f5gtbymvb8d40",
  "venue": "The Astrophysical Journal",
  "versions": []
}