Evolution of the Size–Mass Relation of Star-forming Galaxies Since z = 5.5 Revealed by CEERS

Ward, Ethan; de la Vega, Alexander; Mobasher, Bahram; McGrath, Elizabeth J.; Iyer, Kartheik G.; Calabrò, Antonello; Costantin, Luca; Dickinson, Mark; Holwerda, Benne W.; Huertas-Company, Marc; Hirschmann, Michaela; Lucas, Ray A.; Pandya, Viraj; Wilkins, Stephen M.; Yung, L. Y. Aaron; Arrabal Haro, Pablo; Bagley, Micaela B.; Finkelstein, Steven L.; Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Papovich, Casey; Pirzkal, Nor

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad20ed

Cited by 20 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 115 publications

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“…We therefore fit the wavelength-dependence of these parameters with second order polynomials. We note here that recent results from Ward et al (2024) indicate that, for most galaxies, there exists at least one inflection point in the wavelength-dependence of galaxy sizes and Sérsic indices. Thus, they suggest that a third order polynomial may be a more appropriate choice for their data, which includes infrared imaging from JWST.…”

Section: Sample Selectionmentioning

confidence: 48%

“…The focus of this work is measuring the rest-frame UV sizes of galaxies at 1500 Å and comparing these to rest-frame optical sizes measured using CANDELS data at 5000 Å, the latter of which have already been studied for large galaxy samples across a wide range of redshifts (e.g., Shen et al 2003;Ferguson et al 2004;Ravindranath et al 2004;Huang et al 2013;Lange et al 2016;Mowla et al 2019;Kawinwanichakij et al 2021;Nedkova et al 2021;Ji et al 2024;Ward et al 2024). The F275W and F435W bands are essential for galaxies at 0.5  z  1.3 and 1.5  z  3.0, respectively, because they allow the rest-frame 1500 Å properties to be measured at these redshifts.…”

Section: Wangmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the complex and nonlinear nature of these evolutionary mechanisms, galaxies have been observed to lie on remarkably tight relations on the size-stellar mass plane, known as the stellar mass-size relations. These relations describe the underlying spatial distribution of stellar mass in galaxies and have been extensively studied in an effort to probe how galaxies have built up their mass over cosmic time (e.g., Mancini et al 2010;van der Wel et al 2014;Dimauro et al 2019;Mowla et al 2019;Kawinwanichakij et al 2021;Nedkova et al 2021;Cutler et al 2022;Buitrago & Trujillo 2024;Ward et al 2024). Three main tenets of galaxy size evolution have been established over the last couple of decades.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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UVCANDELS: The Role of Dust on the Stellar Mass–Size Relation of Disk Galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 3.0

Nedkova,

Rafelski,

Teplitz

et al. 2024

ApJ

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We use the Ultraviolet Imaging of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey fields (UVCANDELS) to measure half-light radii in the rest-frame far-UV for ∼16,000 disk-like galaxies over 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 3. We compare these results to rest-frame optical sizes that we measure in a self-consistent way and find that the stellar mass–size relation of disk galaxies is steeper in the rest-frame UV than in the optical across our entire redshift range. We show that this is mainly driven by massive galaxies (≳1010 M ⊙), which we find to also be among the most dusty. Our results are consistent with the literature and have commonly been interpreted as evidence of inside-out growth wherein galaxies form their central structures first. However, they could also suggest that the centers of massive galaxies are more heavily attenuated than their outskirts. We distinguish between these scenarios by modeling and selecting galaxies at z = 2 from the VELA simulation suite in a way that is consistent with UVCANDELS. We show that the effects of dust alone can account for the size differences we measure at z = 2. This indicates that, at different wavelengths, size differences and the different slopes of the stellar mass–size relation do not constitute evidence for inside-out growth.

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Section: Sample Selectionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Section: Wangmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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UVCANDELS: The Role of Dust on the Stellar Mass–Size Relation of Disk Galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 3.0

Nedkova,

Rafelski,

Teplitz

et al. 2024

ApJ

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“…Indeed, several studies derive structural properties of distant quiescent galaxies with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on JWST, such as for a quiescent galaxy at z = 4.658 (Carnall et al 2023b), and a statistical sample of galaxies at to z ∼ 8, including quiescent ones (Suess et al 2022;Ormerod et al 2024). The size evolution is also explored for starforming galaxies at higher redshift (e.g., Yang et al 2022;Gómez-Guijarro et al 2023;Ono et al 2023;Ward et al 2024).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size–Stellar Mass Relation and Morphology of Quiescent Galaxies at z ≥ 3 in Public JWST Fields

Ito,

Valentino,

Brammer

et al. 2024

ApJ

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We present the results of a systematic study of the rest-frame optical morphology of quiescent galaxies at z ≥ 3 using the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Based on a sample selected by UVJ color or NUVUVJ color, we focus on 26 quiescent galaxies with 9.8 < log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) < 11.4 at 2.8 < z phot < 4.6 with publicly available JWST data. Their sizes are constrained by fitting the Sérsic profile to all available NIRCam images. We see a negative correlation between the observed wavelength and the size and derive their size at the rest frame 0.5 μm using size measurements in multiple bands. Our quiescent galaxies show a significant correlation between the rest-frame 0.5 μm size and the stellar mass at z ≥ 3. The analytical fit for them at log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) > 10.3 implies that our size–stellar mass relations are below those at lower redshifts, with the amplitude of ∼0.6 kpc at M ⋆ = 5 × 1010 M ⊙. This value agrees with the extrapolation of the size evolution of quiescent galaxies at z < 3 in the literature, implying that the size of quiescent galaxies increases monotonically from z ∼ 3–5. Our sample mainly comprises galaxies with bulge-like structures according to their median Sérsic index and axis ratio of n ∼ 3–4 and q ∼ 0.6–0.8, respectively. On the other hand, there is a trend of increasing fraction of galaxies with low Sérsic index at higher redshift, suggesting 3 < z < 5 might be the epoch of onset of morphological transformation with a fraction of very notable disky quenched galaxies.

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“…New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRCam instrument provide significant improvements in depth, spatial resolution, and redder wavelength coverage over HST (Rieke et al 2023;Rigby et al 2023). Several studies have already leveraged these advancements to explore galaxy sizes out to z ∼ 8 (Ormerod et al 2024), examine the evolution of the star-forming size-mass relation since z = 5.5 (Ward et al 2024), and investigate the dependence of Sérsic-based measurements on wavelength (Martorano et al 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Distinct Classes of Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST PRIMER and UNCOVER

Cutler,

Whitaker,

Weaver

et al. 2024

ApJL

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We present a measurement of the low-mass quiescent size–mass relation at cosmic noon (1 < z < 3) from the JWST PRIMER and UNCOVER treasury surveys, which highlights two distinct classes of quiescent galaxies. While the massive population is well studied at these redshifts, the low-mass end has been previously underexplored due to a lack of observing facilities with sufficient sensitivity and spatial resolution. We select a conservative sample of low-mass quiescent galaxy candidates using rest-frame UVJ colors and specific star formation rate criteria and measure galaxy morphology in both rest-frame UV/optical wavelengths (F150W) and rest-frame near-infrared (F444W). We confirm an unambiguous flattening of the low-mass quiescent size–mass relation, which results from the separation of the quiescent galaxy sample into two distinct populations at log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) ∼ 10.3 : low-mass quiescent galaxies that are notably younger and have disky structures, and massive galaxies consistent with spheroidal morphologies and older median stellar ages. These separate populations imply mass quenching dominates at the massive end while other mechanisms, such as environmental or feedback-driven quenching, form the low-mass end. This stellar mass-dependent slope of the quiescent size–mass relation could also indicate a shift from size growth due to star formation (low masses) to growth via mergers (massive galaxies). The transition mass between these two populations also corresponds with other dramatic changes and characteristic masses in several galaxy evolution scaling relations (e.g., star formation efficiency, dust obscuration, and stellar-to-halo mass ratios), further highlighting the stark dichotomy between low-mass and massive galaxy formation.

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Evolution of the Size–Mass Relation of Star-forming Galaxies Since z = 5.5 Revealed by CEERS

Cited by 20 publications

References 115 publications

UVCANDELS: The Role of Dust on the Stellar Mass–Size Relation of Disk Galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 3.0

UVCANDELS: The Role of Dust on the Stellar Mass–Size Relation of Disk Galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 3.0

Size–Stellar Mass Relation and Morphology of Quiescent Galaxies at z ≥ 3 in Public JWST Fields

Two Distinct Classes of Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST PRIMER and UNCOVER

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