The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
First Look at z > 1 Bars in the Rest-frame Near-infrared with JWST Early CEERS Imaging
- Yuchen Guo,
- Shardha Jogee,
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Zilei Chen,
- Eden Wise,
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Guillermo Barro,
- Stijn Wuyts,
- Dale D. Kocevski,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Elizabeth J. McGrath,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Bahram Mobasher,
- Mauro Giavalisco,
- Ray A. Lucas,
- Jorge A. Zavala,
- Jennifer M. Lotz,
- Norman A. Grogin,
- Marc Huertas-Company,
- Jesús Vega-Ferrero,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Pablo Arrabal Haro,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Casey Papovich,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Bren E. Backhaus,
- Eric F. Bell,
- Antonello Calabrò,
- Nikko J. Cleri,
- Rosemary T. Coogan,
- M. C. Cooper,
- Luca Costantin,
- Darren Croton,
- Kelcey Davis,
- Avishai Dekel,
- Maximilien Franco,
- Jonathan P. Gardner,
- Benne W. Holwerda,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Viraj Pandya,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Swara Ravindranath,
- Caitlin Rose,
- Jonathan R. Trump,
- Alexander de la Vega,
- Weichen Wang
Affiliations
- Yuchen Guo
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Shardha Jogee
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Zilei Chen
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Eden Wise
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Micaela B. Bagley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Guillermo Barro
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of the Pacific , Stockton, CA 90340, USA
- Stijn Wuyts
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Bath , Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
- Dale D. Kocevski
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Elizabeth J. McGrath
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Bahram Mobasher
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Mauro Giavalisco
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Ray A. Lucas
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jorge A. Zavala
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- Jennifer M. Lotz
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Norman A. Grogin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Marc Huertas-Company
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Universidad de la Laguna , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Université Paris-Cité , LERMA—Observatoire de Paris, PSL, Paris, France
- Jesús Vega-Ferrero
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Pablo Arrabal Haro
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Casey Papovich
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242 USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242 USA
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- ESA/AURA Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Bren E. Backhaus
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Connecticut , 196A Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Eric F. Bell
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 S. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107, USA
- Antonello Calabrò
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Nikko J. Cleri
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242 USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242 USA
- Rosemary T. Coogan
- ORCiD
- CEA, IRFU, DAp, AIM, Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité , Sorbonne Paris Cité, CNRS, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- M. C. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Luca Costantin
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850 Madrid, Spain
- Darren Croton
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), Australia
- Kelcey Davis
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Connecticut , 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Avishai Dekel
- ORCiD
- Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Jerusalem 91904, Israel
- Maximilien Franco
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA
- Jonathan P. Gardner
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Benne W. Holwerda
- ORCiD
- Physics & Astronomy Department, University of Louisville , Louisville, KY 40292, USA
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Viraj Pandya
- ORCiD
- Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Pablo G. Pérez-González
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850 Madrid, Spain
- Swara Ravindranath
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Caitlin Rose
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Jonathan R. Trump
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Connecticut , 196A Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Alexander de la Vega
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Weichen Wang
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acacfb
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 945,
no. 1
p. L10
Abstract
Stellar bars are key drivers of secular evolution in galaxies and can be effectively studied using rest-frame near-infrared (NIR) images, which trace the underlying stellar mass and are less impacted by dust and star formation than rest-frame UV or optical images. We leverage the power of JWST CEERS NIRCam images to present the first quantitative identification and characterization of stellar bars at z > 1 based on rest-frame NIR F444W images of high resolution (∼1.3 kpc at z ∼ 1–3). We identify stellar bars in these images using quantitative criteria based on ellipse fits. For this pilot study, we present six examples of robustly identified bars at z > 1 with spectroscopic redshifts, including the two highest-redshift bars at z ∼ 2.136 and 2.312 quantitatively identified and characterized to date. The stellar bars at z ∼ 1.1–2.3 presented in our study have projected semimajor axes of ∼2.9–4.3 kpc and projected ellipticities of ∼0.41–0.53 in the rest-frame NIR. The barred host galaxies have stellar masses ∼1 × 10 ^10 to 2 × 10 ^11 M _⊙ and star formation rates of ∼21–295 M _⊙ yr ^−1 , and several have potential nearby companions. Our finding of bars at z ∼ 1.1–2.3 demonstrates the early onset of such instabilities and supports simulations where bars form early in massive dynamically cold disks. It also suggests that if these bars at lookback times of 8–11 Gyr survive out to present epochs, bar-driven secular processes may operate over a long time and have a significant impact on some galaxies by z ∼ 0.
Keywords
