ALESS-JWST: Joint (Sub)kiloparsec JWST and ALMA Imaging of z ~ 3 Submillimeter Galaxies Reveals Heavily Obscured Bulge Formation Events

J. A. Hodge; E. da Cunha; S. Kendrew; J. Li; I. Smail; B. A. Westoby; O. Nayak; A. M. Swinbank; C.-C. Chen; F. Walter; P. van der Werf; M. Cracraft; A. Battisti; W. N. Brandt; G. Calistro Rivera; S. C. Chapman; P. Cox; H. Dannerbauer; R. Decarli; M. Frias Castillo; T. R. Greve; K. K. Knudsen; S. Leslie; K. M. Menten; M. Rybak; E. Schinnerer; J. L. Wardlow; A. Weiss

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad9a52

The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2025)

ALESS-JWST: Joint (Sub)kiloparsec JWST and ALMA Imaging of z ~ 3 Submillimeter Galaxies Reveals Heavily Obscured Bulge Formation Events

J. A. Hodge,
E. da Cunha,
S. Kendrew,
J. Li,
I. Smail,
B. A. Westoby,
O. Nayak,
A. M. Swinbank,
C.-C. Chen,
F. Walter,
P. van der Werf,
M. Cracraft,
A. Battisti,
W. N. Brandt,
G. Calistro Rivera,
S. C. Chapman,
P. Cox,
H. Dannerbauer,
R. Decarli,
M. Frias Castillo,
T. R. Greve,
K. K. Knudsen,
S. Leslie,
K. M. Menten,
M. Rybak,
E. Schinnerer,
J. L. Wardlow,
A. Weiss

Affiliations

J. A. Hodge: ORCiD; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ; [email protected]
E. da Cunha: ORCiD; International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia , 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 26WA 6009, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
S. Kendrew: ORCiD; European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
J. Li: ORCiD; International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia , 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 26WA 6009, Australia
I. Smail: ORCiD; Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
B. A. Westoby: ORCiD; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ; [email protected]
O. Nayak: ORCiD; European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD, USA
A. M. Swinbank: ORCiD; Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
C.-C. Chen: ORCiD; Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) , No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 106216, Taiwan
F. Walter: ORCiD; Max–Planck Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
P. van der Werf: ORCiD; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ; [email protected]
M. Cracraft: ORCiD; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
A. Battisti: ORCiD; International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia , 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 26WA 6009, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia; Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Cotter Road, Weston Creek, ACT 2611, Australia
W. N. Brandt: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Department of Physics, 104 Davey Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
G. Calistro Rivera: ORCiD; German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Communications and Navigation , Wessling, Germany; European Southern Observatory (ESO) , Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, 85748 Garching bei Müunchen, Germany
S. C. Chapman: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University , 6310 Coburg Road, B3H 4R2, Halifax, Canada; National Research Council , Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, V9E 2E7, Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , 6225 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, V6T 1Z1, Canada; Eureka Scientific Inc. , Oakland, CA 94602, USA
P. Cox: ORCiD; Sorbonne Université , UPMC Université Paris 6 and CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
H. Dannerbauer: ORCiD; Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , Vía Láctea, 39020 La Laguna (Tenerife), Spain
R. Decarli: ORCiD; INAF – Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna , via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy
M. Frias Castillo: ORCiD; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ; [email protected]
T. R. Greve: ORCiD; Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark , Elektrovej, Building 328, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
K. K. Knudsen: ORCiD; Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology , SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
S. Leslie: ORCiD; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ; [email protected]
K. M. Menten: ORCiD; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie , Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
M. Rybak: ORCiD; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands ; [email protected]; Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology , Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands; SRON–Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Niels Bohrweg 4, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
E. Schinnerer: ORCiD; Max–Planck Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
J. L. Wardlow: ORCiD; Department of Physics, Lancaster University , Lancaster, LA1 4YB, UK
A. Weiss: ORCiD; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie , Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9a52
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 978, no. 2
p. 165

Abstract

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We present JWST NIRCam imaging targeting 13 z ~ 3 infrared-luminous ( L _IR ∼ 5 × 10 ^12 L _⊙ ) galaxies from the ALESS survey with uniquely deep, high-resolution (0 $\mathop{.}\limits^{\unicode{x02033}}$ 08–0 $\mathop{.}\limits^{^{\prime\prime} }$ 16) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 870 μ m imaging. The 2.0–4.4 μ m (observed frame) NIRCam imaging reveals the rest-frame near-infrared stellar emission in these submillimeter-selected galaxies at the same (sub)kiloparsec resolution as the 870 μ m dust continuum. The newly revealed stellar morphologies show striking similarities with the dust continuum morphologies at 870 μ m, with the centers and position angles agreeing for most sources, clearly illustrating that the spatial offsets reported previously between the 870 μ m and Hubble Space Telescope morphologies were due to strong differential dust obscuration. The F444W sizes are 78% ± 21% larger than those measured at 870 μ m, in contrast to recent results from hydrodynamical simulations that predict larger 870 μ m sizes. We report evidence for significant dust obscuration in F444W for the highest-redshift sources, emphasizing the importance of longer-wavelength MIRI imaging. The majority of the sources show evidence that they are undergoing mergers/interactions, including tidal tails/plumes—some of which are also detected at 870 μ m. We find a clear correlation between NIRCam colors and 870 μ m surface brightness on ∼1 kpc scales, indicating that the galaxies are primarily red due to dust—not stellar age—and we show that the dust structure on ∼kpc scales is broadly similar to that in nearby galaxies. Finally, we find no strong stellar bars in the rest-frame near-infrared, suggesting the extended bar-like features seen at 870 μ m are highly obscured and/or gas-dominated structures that are likely early precursors to significant bulge growth.

High-redshift galaxies

Published in The Astrophysical Journal

ISSN: 1538-4357 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy: Astrophysics
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X

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