PhotoIFU: NIRCam as a Photometric Integral Field Unit for Mapping Feedback in Galaxies

Yongda Zhu; Marcia J. Rieke; Courtney Carreira; Yang Sun; Zhiyuan Ji; Jianwei Lyu; Christina C. Williams; Stacey Alberts; Feng Yuan; Yuxuan Zou; Yurina Nakazato; Andrew J. Bunker; Sandro Tacchella; Fengwu Sun; George H. Rieke; Eiichi Egami; Jacopo Chevallard; Kevin Hainline; Zheng Ma; Pablo G. Pérez-González; Pierluigi Rinaldi; Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino; Tristen Shields; Meredith Stone; Christopher N. A. Willmer; Zihao Wu; Minghao Yue; Junyu Zhang

PhotoIFU: NIRCam as a Photometric Integral Field Unit for Mapping Feedback in Galaxies

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-07-25 v1

Authors: Yongda Zhu , Marcia J. Rieke , Courtney Carreira , Yang Sun , Zhiyuan Ji , Jianwei Lyu , Christina C. Williams , Stacey Alberts , Feng Yuan , Yuxuan Zou , Yurina Nakazato , Andrew J. Bunker , Sandro Tacchella , Fengwu Sun , George H. Rieke , Eiichi Egami , Jacopo Chevallard , Kevin Hainline , Zheng Ma , Pablo G. Pérez-González , Pierluigi Rinaldi , Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino , Tristen Shields , Meredith Stone , Christopher N. A. Willmer , Zihao Wu , Minghao Yue , Junyu Zhang

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Abstract

We present PhotoIFU, a workflow that uses deep multi-band imaging as a low-resolution photometric integral field unit. Applied to PSF-matched JWST/NIRCam imaging, PhotoIFU treats each spatial pixel as a coarse SED element and fits the pixel SEDs with Prospector to map resolved stellar-population and ISM-related properties. We apply this approach to three galaxies at $z=1.3$ --3.7 in JADES: two systems with extended ionized line emission and one post-starburst galaxy with an exceptionally strong neutral outflow. Pixel-by-pixel SED fitting gives maps of stellar-mass surface density, specific star formation rate, dust attenuation, gas-phase metallicity, and recent star-formation history. We find that regions selected from the extended-emission or outflow geometry occupy distinct parts of the resolved SED-property distribution compared with the full host. In the systems with extended ionized emission, these regions are generally less dusty, consistent with ionized emission being observed along dust-poor, low-column-density pathways through the host. In the neutral-outflow system, the selected regions show enhanced recent star formation, suggesting that compact rejuvenation may mark the aftermath of an earlier energetic phase. These results show that galactic outflows and extended emission-line structures can be spatially associated with measurable differences in resolved host-galaxy stellar populations and ISM-related properties. PhotoIFU provides an imaging-based method for resolved SED mapping of feedback-related structures in larger galaxy samples where full spectroscopic integral-field mapping is unavailable.

Keywords

integral field unit SED fitting galactic feedback stellar populations JWST/NIRCam outflows

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.23020,
  title  = {PhotoIFU: NIRCam as a Photometric Integral Field Unit for Mapping Feedback in Galaxies},
  author = {Yongda Zhu and Marcia J. Rieke and Courtney Carreira and Yang Sun and Zhiyuan Ji and Jianwei Lyu and Christina C. Williams and Stacey Alberts and Feng Yuan and Yuxuan Zou and Yurina Nakazato and Andrew J. Bunker and Sandro Tacchella and Fengwu Sun and George H. Rieke and Eiichi Egami and Jacopo Chevallard and Kevin Hainline and Zheng Ma and Pablo G. Pérez-González and Pierluigi Rinaldi and Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino and Tristen Shields and Meredith Stone and Christopher N. A. Willmer and Zihao Wu and Minghao Yue and Junyu Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.23020},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

22 pages. Submitted to ApJ. The code will be made publicly available