The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
JADES + JEMS: A Detailed Look at the Buildup of Central Stellar Cores and Suppression of Star Formation in Galaxies at Redshifts 3 < z < 4.5
- Zhiyuan Ji,
- Christina C. Williams,
- Sandro Tacchella,
- Katherine A. Suess,
- William M. Baker,
- Stacey Alberts,
- Andrew J. Bunker,
- Benjamin D. Johnson,
- Brant Robertson,
- Fengwu Sun,
- Daniel J. Eisenstein,
- Marcia Rieke,
- Michael V. Maseda,
- Kevin Hainline,
- Ryan Hausen,
- George Rieke,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- Eiichi Egami,
- Irene Shivaei,
- Stefano Carniani,
- Stephane Charlot,
- Jacopo Chevallard,
- Emma Curtis-Lake,
- Tobias J. Looser,
- Roberto Maiolino,
- Chris Willott,
- Zuyi Chen,
- Jakob M. Helton,
- Jianwei Lyu,
- Erica Nelson,
- Rachana Bhatawdekar,
- Kristan Boyett,
- Lester Sandles
Affiliations
- Zhiyuan Ji
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Christina C. Williams
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]; NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Sandro Tacchella
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Katherine A. Suess
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Department of Physics, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- William M. Baker
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Stacey Alberts
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Andrew J. Bunker
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
- Benjamin D. Johnson
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138, USA
- Brant Robertson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Fengwu Sun
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Daniel J. Eisenstein
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge MA 02138, USA
- Marcia Rieke
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Michael V. Maseda
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 475 N. Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Kevin Hainline
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Ryan Hausen
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- George Rieke
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Eiichi Egami
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Irene Shivaei
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Stefano Carniani
- ORCiD
- Scuola Normale Superiore , Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
- Stephane Charlot
- ORCiD
- Sorbonne Université , CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis bd Arago, 75014 Paris, France
- Jacopo Chevallard
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
- Emma Curtis-Lake
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics Research, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire , Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK
- Tobias J. Looser
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Roberto Maiolino
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- Chris Willott
- ORCiD
- NRC Herzberg , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada
- Zuyi Chen
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Jakob M. Helton
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Jianwei Lyu
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA ; [email protected]
- Erica Nelson
- ORCiD
- Department for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Rachana Bhatawdekar
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency (ESA) , European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain; European Space Agency , ESA/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Kristan Boyett
- ORCiD
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Lester Sandles
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad6e7f
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 974,
no. 1
p. 135
Abstract
We present a spatially resolved study of stellar populations in six galaxies with stellar masses M _* ∼ 10 ^10 M _☉ at z ∼ 3.7 using 14-filter James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)/NIRCam imaging from the JADES and JEMS surveys. The six galaxies are visually selected to have clumpy substructures with distinct colors over rest frame 3600−4100 Å, including a red, dominant stellar core that is close to their stellar-light centroids. With 23-filter photometry from the Hubble Space Telescope to JWST, we measure the stellar-population properties of individual structural components via spectral energy distribution fitting using Prospector . We find that the central stellar cores are ≳2 times more massive than the Toomre mass, indicating they may not form via single in situ fragmentation. The stellar cores have stellar ages of 0.4−0.7 Gyr that are similar to the timescale of clump inward migration due to dynamical friction, suggesting that they likely instead formed through the coalescence of giant stellar clumps. While they have not yet quenched, the six galaxies are below the star-forming main sequence by 0.2−0.7 dex. Within each galaxy, we find that the specific star formation rate is lower in the central stellar core, and the stellar-mass surface density of the core is already similar to quenched galaxies of the same masses and redshifts. Meanwhile, the stellar ages of the cores are either comparable to or younger than the extended, smooth parts of the galaxies. Our findings are consistent with model predictions of the gas-rich compaction scenario for the buildup of galaxies’ central regions at high redshifts. We are likely witnessing the coeval formation of dense central cores, along with the onset of galaxy-wide quenching at z > 3.
Keywords
