The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2025)
COSMOS-Web: The Role of Galaxy Interactions and Disk Instabilities in Producing Starbursts at z < 4
- Andreas L. Faisst,
- Lilan Yang,
- M. Brinch,
- C. M. Casey,
- N. Chartab,
- M. Dessauges-Zavadsky,
- N. E. Drakos,
- S. Gillman,
- G. Gozaliasl,
- C. C. Hayward,
- O. Ilbert,
- P. Jablonka,
- A. Kaminsky,
- J. S. Kartaltepe,
- A. M. Koekemoer,
- V. Kokorev,
- E. Lambrides,
- D. Liu,
- C. Maraston,
- C. L. Martin,
- A. Renzini,
- B. E. Robertson,
- D. B. Sanders,
- Z. Sattari,
- N. Scoville,
- C. M. Urry,
- A. P. Vijayan,
- J. R. Weaver,
- H. B. Akins,
- N. Allen,
- R. C. Arango-Toro,
- O. R. Cooper,
- M. Franco,
- F. Gentile,
- S. Harish,
- M. Hirschmann,
- A. A. Khostovan,
- C. Laigle,
- R. L. Larson,
- M. Lee,
- Z. Liu,
- A. S. Long,
- G. Magdis,
- R. Massey,
- H. J. McCracken,
- J. McKinney,
- L. Paquereau,
- J. Rhodes,
- R. M. Rich,
- M. Shuntov,
- J. D. Silverman,
- M. Talia,
- S. Toft,
- J. A. Zavala
Affiliations
- Andreas L. Faisst
- ORCiD
- Caltech/IPAC , 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA ; [email protected]
- Lilan Yang
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Dr., Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- M. Brinch
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark , Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
- C. M. Casey
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd. Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- N. Chartab
- ORCiD
- The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, USA
- M. Dessauges-Zavadsky
- ORCiD
- Département d’Astronomie, Université de Genève , Chemin Pegasi 51, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- N. E. Drakos
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii , Hilo, 200 W. Kawili St., Hilo, HI 96720, USA
- S. Gillman
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark , Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
- G. Gozaliasl
- ORCiD
- Department of Computer Science, Aalto University , P.O. Box 15400, Espoo, FI-00 076, Finland; Department of Physics, University of Helsinki , P.O. Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
- C. C. Hayward
- ORCiD
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010, USA
- O. Ilbert
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France
- P. Jablonka
- ORCiD
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- A. Kaminsky
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA
- J. S. Kartaltepe
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Dr., Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- A. M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- V. Kokorev
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- E. Lambrides
- ORCiD
- NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center , Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- D. Liu
- ORCiD
- Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 10 Yuanhua Road, Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of China
- C. Maraston
- ORCiD
- Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth , Dennis Sciama Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO13FX, UK
- C. L. Martin
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of California , Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93109, USA
- A. Renzini
- ORCiD
- INAF , Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122, Padova, Italy
- B. E. Robertson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- D. B. Sanders
- ORCiD
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i at Manoa , 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
- Z. Sattari
- ORCiD
- The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Riverside, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- N. Scoville
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Dept., California Institute of Technology , 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA, USA
- C. M. Urry
- ORCiD
- Physics Department and Yale Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Yale University , P.O. Box 208120, New Haven, CT 06520-8120, USA
- A. P. Vijayan
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark , Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
- J. R. Weaver
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- H. B. Akins
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd. Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- N. Allen
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200, Copenhagen, Denmark
- R. C. Arango-Toro
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France
- O. R. Cooper
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd. Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- M. Franco
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd. Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- F. Gentile
- ORCiD
- University of Bologna—Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” (DIFA) , Via Gobetti 93/2, I-40129 Bologna, Italy; INAF , Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, Via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy
- S. Harish
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Dr., Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- M. Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics , GalSpec, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Observatoire de Sauverny, Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland; INAF , Astronomical Observatory of Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, 34131 Trieste, Italy
- A. A. Khostovan
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Dr., Rochester, NY 14623, USA; Astrophysics Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- C. Laigle
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris , UMR 7095, CNRS, and Sorbonne Université, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
- R. L. Larson
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd. Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- M. Lee
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark , Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
- Z. Liu
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo , Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan; Center for Data-Driven Discovery, Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo , Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan; Department of Astronomy, School of Science, The University of Tokyo , 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
- A. S. Long
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd. Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- G. Magdis
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; DTU Space, Technical University of Denmark , Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200, Copenhagen, Denmark
- R. Massey
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
- H. J. McCracken
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris , UMR 7095, CNRS, and Sorbonne Université, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
- J. McKinney
- ORCiD
- The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway Blvd. Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- L. Paquereau
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris , UMR 7095, CNRS, and Sorbonne Université, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
- J. Rhodes
- ORCiD
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91001, USA
- R. M. Rich
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy , UCLA, PAB 430 Portola Plaza, Box 951547, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547, USA
- M. Shuntov
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200, Copenhagen, Denmark
- J. D. Silverman
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo , Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan; Department of Astronomy, School of Science, The University of Tokyo , 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
- M. Talia
- ORCiD
- University of Bologna—Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” (DIFA) , Via Gobetti 93/2, I-40129 Bologna, Italy; INAF , Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, Via Gobetti 93/3, I-40129, Bologna, Italy
- S. Toft
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200, Copenhagen, Denmark
- J. A. Zavala
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada566
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 980,
no. 2
p. 204
Abstract
We study of the role of galaxy–galaxy interactions and disk instabilities in producing starburst activity in galaxies out to z = 4. For this, we use a sample of 387 galaxies with robust total star formation rate measurements from Herschel, gas masses from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, stellar masses and redshifts from multiband photometry, and JWST/NIRCam rest-frame optical imaging. Using mass-controlled samples, we find an increased fraction of interacting galaxies in the starburst regime at all redshifts out to z = 4. This increase correlates with star formation efficiency (SFE) but not with gas fraction. However, the correlation is weak (and only significant out to z = 2), which could be explained by the short duration of SFE increase during interaction. In addition, we find that isolated disk galaxies make up a significant fraction of the starburst population. The fraction of such galaxies with star-forming clumps (“clumpy disks”) is significantly increased compared to the main-sequence disk population. Furthermore, this fraction directly correlates with SFE. This is direct observational evidence for a long-term increase of SFE maintained due to disk instabilities, contributing to the majority of starburst galaxies in our sample and hence to substantial mass growth in these systems. This result could also be of importance for explaining the growth of the most massive galaxies at z > 6.
Keywords
