The Digital Press

The Cosmic Dawn Survey Pre-launch catalogues provide the largest deep infrared dataset to date, enabling detailed study of galaxy stellar mass growth from the nearby universe to when the cosmos was less than a billion years old. This work reveals surprising star-formation efficiencies in massive early galaxies and hints at how environment influences galaxy evolution.

Why it matters: Offers precise measurements of massive galaxy abundance and growth up to redshift 6.5, improving understanding of early galaxy formation.

The big picture: Suggests higher star-formation efficiencies at early times, challenging the idea of a universal stellar-to-halo mass relation peak.

Stunning stat: Massive galaxies at z > 3.5 show star-formation efficiencies of 25% to 50% of baryonic halo mass, exceeding previous estimates.

The stakes: If feedback was ineffective early on, it alters models of galaxy evolution and the role of active galactic nuclei in regulating growth.