A VERY COMPACT DENSE GALAXY OVERDENSITY WITH δ ≃ 130 IDENTIFIED AT z ∼ 8: IMPLICATIONS FOR EARLY PROTOCLUSTER AND CLUSTER CORE FORMATION

We report the first identification of a compact dense galaxy overdensity at $z\sim 8$ called A2744z8OD. A2744z8OD consists of eight Y-dropout galaxies behind Abell 2744 that were originally pinpointed by Hubble Frontier Fields studies. However, so far, no studies have derived the basic physical quantities of structure formation or made comparisons with theoretical models. We obtain a homogeneous sample of dropout galaxies at $z\sim 8$ from eight field data of Hubble legacy images that are as deep as the A2744z8OD data. Using the sample, we find that a galaxy surface overdensity value of A2744z8OD is very high $\delta \simeq 130$, where δ is defined by an overdensity in a small circle of 6″ ($\simeq 30$ physical kiloparsecs) radius. Because there is no such large δ value reported for high-z overdensities to date, A2744z8OD is a system that is clearly different from those found in previous high-z overdensity studies. In the galaxy+structure formation models of Henriques et al., there exists a very similar overdensity, Modelz8OD, that is made of eight model dropout galaxies at $z\sim 8$ in a 6″ radius circle. Modelz8OD is a progenitor of a today's ${10}^{14}{M}_{\odot }$ cluster, and more than half of the seven Modelz8OD galaxies are merged into the brightest cluster galaxy of the cluster. If Modelz8OD is a counterpart to A2744z8OD, the models suggest that A2744z8OD would be part of a cluster core forming from a ${10}^{14}{M}_{\odot }$ cluster that began star formation at $z>12$.