  Ultra-deep WFC3/IR observations on the HUDF from the HUDF09 program revealed
just one plausible z~10 candidate UDFj-39546284. UDFj-39546284 had all the
properties expected of a galaxy at z~10 showing (1) no detection in the deep
ACS+WFC3 imaging data blueward of the F160W band, exhibiting (2) a blue
spectral slope redward of the break, and showing (3) no prominent detection in
deep IRAC observations. The new, similarly deep WFC3/IR HUDF12 F160W
observations over the HUDF09/XDF allow us to further assess this candidate.
These observations show that this candidate, previously only detected at ~5.9
sigma in a single band, clearly corresponds to a real source. It is detected at
~5.3 sigma in the new H-band data and at ~7.8 sigma in the full 85-orbit H-band
stack. Interestingly, the non-detection of the source (<1 sigma) in the new
F140W observations suggests a higher redshift. Formally, the best-fit redshift
of the source utilizing all the WFC3+ACS (and IRAC+K-band) observations is
11.8+/-0.3. However, we consider the z~12 interpretation somewhat unlikely,
since the source would either need to be ~20x more luminous than expected or
show very high-EW Ly-alpha emission (which seems improbable given the extensive
neutral gas prevalent early in the reionization epoch). Lower-redshift
solutions fail if only continuum models are allowed. Plausible lower-redshift
solutions require that the H-band flux be dominated by line emission such as
Halpha or [OIII] with extreme EWs. The tentative detection of line emission at
1.6 microns in UDFj-39546284 in a companion paper suggests that such emission
may have already been found.
