Why a Multi-Cycle Treasury Program is Essential to Maximize JWST's Scientific Contributions to Galaxy Formation

@misc{community2026multicycle,
  title = {{Why a Multi-Cycle Treasury Program is Essential to Maximize JWST's Scientific Contributions to Galaxy Formation}},
  author = {Genesis Community and Alice Shapley and Steven L. Finkelstein and Rachel S. Somerville and James Dunlop and Adriano Fontana and Pascal A. Oesch and Danielle A. Berg and Rachel Bezanson and Maruša Bradač and Gabriel Brammer and Caitlin M Casey and John Chisholm and Emma Curtis-Lake and Mark Dickinson and Xiaohui Fan and Yuichi Harikane and Harley Katz and Pablo G. Pérez-González and Brant E. Robertson and Raffaella Schneider and Abdurro'uf and Angela Adamo and K. Aditya and Jose M. Afonso and Belen Alcalde Pampliega and Hiddo Algera and Omar Almaini and Almudena Alonso-Herrero and Javier Álvarez-Márquez and Ricardo Amorín and Makoto Ando and Jacqueline Antwi-Danso and Lorena Aragüete Riesco and Archana Aravindan and Karla Z. Arellano-Cordova and Flor Denisse Arevalo Gonzalez and Junya Arita and Hakim Atek and Mic Bagley and William M. Baker and Guillermo Barro and Arghyadeep Basu and Andrew J. Battisti and Ryan Begley and Peter Behroozi and Sirio Belli and Samantha Berek and Pietro Bergamini and Davide Bevacqua and Souradeep Bhattacharya and Fuyan Bian and Longji Bing and Laura Bisigello and Torsten Böker and Leindert A. Boogaard and Sownak Bose and Sarah E. I. Bosman and Martin A. Bourne and Gibson B. Bowling},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.07027},
  eprint = {2611.07027},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07027},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Why a Multi-Cycle Treasury Program is Essential to Maximize JWST's Scientific Contributions to Galaxy Formation
AU  - Genesis Community
AU  - Alice Shapley
AU  - Steven L. Finkelstein
AU  - Rachel S. Somerville
AU  - James Dunlop
AU  - Adriano Fontana
AU  - Pascal A. Oesch
AU  - Danielle A. Berg
AU  - Rachel Bezanson
AU  - Maruša Bradač
AU  - Gabriel Brammer
AU  - Caitlin M Casey
AU  - John Chisholm
AU  - Emma Curtis-Lake
AU  - Mark Dickinson
AU  - Xiaohui Fan
AU  - Yuichi Harikane
AU  - Harley Katz
AU  - Pablo G. Pérez-González
AU  - Brant E. Robertson
AU  - Raffaella Schneider
AU  - Abdurro'uf
AU  - Angela Adamo
AU  - K. Aditya
AU  - Jose M. Afonso
AU  - Belen Alcalde Pampliega
AU  - Hiddo Algera
AU  - Omar Almaini
AU  - Almudena Alonso-Herrero
AU  - Javier Álvarez-Márquez
AU  - Ricardo Amorín
AU  - Makoto Ando
AU  - Jacqueline Antwi-Danso
AU  - Lorena Aragüete Riesco
AU  - Archana Aravindan
AU  - Karla Z. Arellano-Cordova
AU  - Flor Denisse Arevalo Gonzalez
AU  - Junya Arita
AU  - Hakim Atek
AU  - Mic Bagley
AU  - William M. Baker
AU  - Guillermo Barro
AU  - Arghyadeep Basu
AU  - Andrew J. Battisti
AU  - Ryan Begley
AU  - Peter Behroozi
AU  - Sirio Belli
AU  - Samantha Berek
AU  - Pietro Bergamini
AU  - Davide Bevacqua
AU  - Souradeep Bhattacharya
AU  - Fuyan Bian
AU  - Longji Bing
AU  - Laura Bisigello
AU  - Torsten Böker
AU  - Leindert A. Boogaard
AU  - Sownak Bose
AU  - Sarah E. I. Bosman
AU  - Martin A. Bourne
AU  - Gibson B. Bowling
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/04
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.07027
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07027
AB  - The Genesis Initiative is an extragalactic community-wide effort to coordinate white papers in response to the STScI Multi-Cycle Treasury (MCT) concept call. Two of JWST's primary science goals are to discover and characterize the first stars and galaxies, and to understand how they evolved into the galaxies we see today - questions whose fundamental importance has been affirmed by the past three decadal surveys. JWST's first five years have surpassed expectations, revealing a bounty of unexpected discoveries about the early universe. Yet these discoveries have raised as many questions as they have answered, and key mission goals remain unmet. Transforming this excitement into a quantitative physical understanding of early galaxy formation requires a uniform, statistically controlled legacy dataset that the current portfolio of smaller, heterogeneous programs cannot provide. The history of the Hubble Space Telescope offers a clear precedent. Its most transformative extragalactic results came from large, coordinated surveys far exceeding what the standard time-allocation process typically approves, and these uniform datasets remain scientifically productive decades later. We argue that JWST is now poised for the same leap. Answering the field's central open questions demands coordinated, community-led surveys of ~1000-2000 hr, with uniform and well-characterized selection functions that are structurally impossible within single-cycle programs. Such an investment is time-critical while JWST's instruments remain at peak performance, and would maximize synergy with ALMA, Euclid, Roman, Rubin, and future facilities. We therefore urge STScI to open a MCT channel, enabling the bold, ambitious surveys needed to understand how galaxies evolve from first light to the present day.
ER  -