English

The Wavelength Dependence of High-Redshift Galaxy Structure in the Rest-Frame Ultraviolet

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2017-03-22 v1

Abstract

We present the rest-frame UV wavelength dependence of the Petrosian-like half-light radius (r50r_{50}), and the concentration parameter for a sample of 198 star-forming galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1.5. We find a ~5% decrease in r50r_{50} from 1500 \AA\ to 3000 \AA, with half-light radii at 3000 \AA\ ranging from 0.6 kpc to 6 kpc. We also find a decrease in concentration of ~0.07 (1.9 < C3000C_{3000} < 3.9). The lack of a strong relationship between r50r_{50} and wavelength is consistent with a model in which clumpy star formation is distributed over length scales comparable to the galaxy's rest-frame optical light. While the wavelength dependence of r50r_{50} is independent of size at all redshifts, concentration decreases more sharply in the far-UV (~1500 \AA) for large galaxies at z ~ 1. This decrease in concentration is caused by a flattening of the inner ~20% of the light profile in disk-like galaxies, indicating that the central regions have different UV colors than the rest of the galaxy. We interpret this as a bulge component with older stellar populations and/or more dust. The size-dependent decrease in concentration is less dramatic at z ~ 2, suggesting that bulges are less dusty, younger, and/or less massive than the rest of the galaxy at higher redshifts.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1403.7463,
  title  = {The Wavelength Dependence of High-Redshift Galaxy Structure in the Rest-Frame Ultraviolet},
  author = {Nicholas A. Bond and Jonathan P. Gardner and Duilia F. de Mello and Harry I. Teplitz and Marc Rafelski and Anton M. Koekemoer and Dan Coe and Norman Grogin and Eric Gawiser and Swara Ravindranath and Claudia Scarlata},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.7463},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

11 pages, 9 figures, accepted to ApJ