Constraining the luminosity function of faint undetected i-dropout galaxies

We present a new technique to quantify the light contribution coming from the faint high-redshift (z~6) galaxies below the detection threshold of imaging data, set conventionally at S/N = 4.5. We illustrate the technique with an application to Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys images in the F775W and F850LP filters of the Ultra Deep Field parallel field NICP12. The aim of this analysis is to extend by a few magnitudes the faint end of the luminosity function at z~6. After masking all the detected sources in the field, we apply a fast Fourier transform to obtain the spatial power spectrum of the background signal. The power spectrum permits us to separate the background noise signal, the residuals due to the data reduction of the wide field and the overall signal produced by faint galaxies. The ratio of the signal in the i775 and z850 bands is used to estimate the contribution of the faint i-dropout objects. We rely on extensive Monte Carlo simulations to characterize various sources of uncertainty and quantify the number of faint i-dropout galaxies in the field. The analysis allows us to put constraints on the luminosity function at z~6 down to z850 = 30 mag, 2.5 mag fainter than with standard techniques on the same data. The data are consistent with a faint-end slope of the luminosity function of alpha = -1.9. Assuming a specific set of values for the clumping factor, escape fraction and spectral energy distribution, we find that the z~6 undetected galaxies down to z850 = 30 mag could have driven cosmic reionization.