Valentino, FrancescoFrancescoValentinoBrammer, GabrielGabrielBrammerGould, Katriona M.L.Katriona M.L.GouldKokorev, VasilyVasilyKokorevFujimoto, SeijiSeijiFujimotoJespersen, Christian KraghChristian KraghJespersenVijayan, Aswin P.Aswin P.VijayanWeaver, John R.John R.WeaverIto, KeiKeiItoTanaka, MasayukiMasayukiTanakaIlbert, OlivierOlivierIlbertMagdis, Georgios E.Georgios E.MagdisWhitaker, Katherine E.Katherine E.WhitakerFaisst, Andreas L.Andreas L.FaisstGALLAZZI, Anna RitaAnna RitaGALLAZZIGillman, StevenStevenGillmanGiménez-Arteaga, ClaraClaraGiménez-ArteagaGómez-Guijarro, CarlosCarlosGómez-GuijarroKubo, MarikoMarikoKuboHeintz, Kasper E.Kasper E.HeintzHIRSCHMANN, Michaela MonikaMichaela MonikaHIRSCHMANNOesch, PascalPascalOeschOnodera, MasatoMasatoOnoderaRizzo, FrancescaFrancescaRizzoLee, MinjuMinjuLeeStrait, VictoriaVictoriaStraitToft, SuneSuneToft2025-03-052025-03-0520230004-637Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/36425We present the results of a systematic search for candidate quiescent galaxies in the distant universe in 11 JWST fields with publicly available observations collected during the first 3 months of operations and covering an effective sky area of 1/4145 arcmin2. We homogeneously reduce the new JWST data and combine them with existing observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. We select a robust sample of 1/480 candidate quiescent and quenching galaxies at 3 < z < 5 using two methods: (1) based on their rest-frame UVJ colors, and (2) a novel quantitative approach based on Gaussian mixture modeling of the near-UV - U, U - V, and V - J rest-frame color space, which is more sensitive to recently quenched objects. We measure comoving number densities of massive (M ⋆ ≥ 1010.6 M ⊙) quiescent galaxies consistent with previous estimates relying on ground-based observations, after homogenizing the results in the literature with our mass and redshift intervals. However, we find significant field-to-field variations of the number densities up to a factor of 2-3, highlighting the effect of cosmic variance and suggesting the presence of overdensities of red quiescent galaxies at z > 3, as could be expected for highly clustered massive systems. Importantly, JWST enables the robust identification of quenching/quiescent galaxy candidates at lower masses and higher redshifts than before, challenging standard formation scenarios. All data products, including the literature compilation, are made publicly available.STAMPAenArticle10.3847/1538-4357/acbefa2-s2.0-85153322327https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acbefahttps://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/851533223272023ApJ...947...20VFIS/05 - ASTRONOMIA E ASTROFISICA