The size evolution of star-forming galaxies since z ∼ 7 using ZFOURGE

Rebecca J. Allen; Glenn G. Kacprzak; Karl Glazebrook; Ivo Labbé; Kim-Vy H Tran; Lee R. Spitler; Michael Cowley; Themiya Nanayakkara; Casey Papovich; Ryan Quadri; Caroline M S Straatman; Vithal Tilvi; Pieter Van Dokkum

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/834/2/L11

The size evolution of star-forming galaxies since z ∼ 7 using ZFOURGE

Rebecca J. Allen, Glenn G. Kacprzak, Karl Glazebrook, Ivo Labbé, Kim-Vy H Tran, Lee R. Spitler, Michael Cowley, Themiya Nanayakkara, Casey Papovich, Ryan Quadri, Caroline M S Straatman, Vithal Tilvi, Pieter Van Dokkum

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Abstract

For the first time, we present the size evolution of a mass-complete (log(M _∗/M _o) > 10) sample of star-forming galaxies over redshifts z = 1-7, selected from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey. Observed H-band sizes are measured from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/F160W imaging. Distributions of individual galaxy masses and sizes illustrate that a clear mass-size relation exists up to z ∼ 7. At z ∼ 7, we find that the average galaxy size from the mass-size relation is more compact at a fixed mass of log(M _∗/M _o) = 10.1, with kpc, than at lower redshifts. This is consistent with our results from stacking the same CANDELS HST/F160W imaging, when we correct for galaxy position angle alignment. We find that the size evolution of star-forming galaxies is well fit by a power law of the form kpc, which is consistent with previous works for normal star-formers at 1 < z < 4. In order to compare our slope with those derived Lyman break galaxy studies, we correct for different IMFs and methodology and find a slope of -0.97 ± 0.02, which is shallower than that reported for the evolution of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z > 4 (). Therefore, we conclude the LBGs likely represent a subset of highly star-forming galaxies that exhibit rapid size growth at z > 4.

Original language	English
Article number	L11
Pages (from-to)	1-7
Number of pages	7
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	834
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/834/2/L11
Publication status	Published - 10 Jan 2017

Bibliographical note

Copyright 2017 The American Astronomical Society. First published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 834(2), L11. The original publication is available at https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/834/2/L11, published by IOP Publishing. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

galaxies: evolution
galaxies: high-redshift
galaxies: structure

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10.3847/2041-8213/834/2/L11

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 1.17 MBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "The size evolution of star-forming galaxies since z ∼ 7 using ZFOURGE",

abstract = "For the first time, we present the size evolution of a mass-complete (log(M ∗/M o) > 10) sample of star-forming galaxies over redshifts z = 1-7, selected from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey. Observed H-band sizes are measured from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/F160W imaging. Distributions of individual galaxy masses and sizes illustrate that a clear mass-size relation exists up to z ∼ 7. At z ∼ 7, we find that the average galaxy size from the mass-size relation is more compact at a fixed mass of log(M ∗/M o) = 10.1, with kpc, than at lower redshifts. This is consistent with our results from stacking the same CANDELS HST/F160W imaging, when we correct for galaxy position angle alignment. We find that the size evolution of star-forming galaxies is well fit by a power law of the form kpc, which is consistent with previous works for normal star-formers at 1 < z < 4. In order to compare our slope with those derived Lyman break galaxy studies, we correct for different IMFs and methodology and find a slope of -0.97 ± 0.02, which is shallower than that reported for the evolution of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z > 4 (). Therefore, we conclude the LBGs likely represent a subset of highly star-forming galaxies that exhibit rapid size growth at z > 4.",

keywords = "galaxies: evolution, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: structure",

author = "Allen, {Rebecca J.} and Kacprzak, {Glenn G.} and Karl Glazebrook and Ivo Labb{\'e} and Tran, {Kim-Vy H} and Spitler, {Lee R.} and Michael Cowley and Themiya Nanayakkara and Casey Papovich and Ryan Quadri and Straatman, {Caroline M S} and Vithal Tilvi and {Van Dokkum}, Pieter",

note = "Copyright 2017 The American Astronomical Society. First published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 834(2), L11. The original publication is available at https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/834/2/L11, published by IOP Publishing. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

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T1 - The size evolution of star-forming galaxies since z ∼ 7 using ZFOURGE

AU - Allen, Rebecca J.

AU - Kacprzak, Glenn G.

AU - Glazebrook, Karl

AU - Labbé, Ivo

AU - Tran, Kim-Vy H

AU - Spitler, Lee R.

AU - Cowley, Michael

AU - Nanayakkara, Themiya

AU - Papovich, Casey

AU - Quadri, Ryan

AU - Straatman, Caroline M S

AU - Tilvi, Vithal

AU - Van Dokkum, Pieter

N1 - Copyright 2017 The American Astronomical Society. First published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 834(2), L11. The original publication is available at https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/834/2/L11, published by IOP Publishing. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2017/1/10

Y1 - 2017/1/10

N2 - For the first time, we present the size evolution of a mass-complete (log(M ∗/M o) > 10) sample of star-forming galaxies over redshifts z = 1-7, selected from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey. Observed H-band sizes are measured from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/F160W imaging. Distributions of individual galaxy masses and sizes illustrate that a clear mass-size relation exists up to z ∼ 7. At z ∼ 7, we find that the average galaxy size from the mass-size relation is more compact at a fixed mass of log(M ∗/M o) = 10.1, with kpc, than at lower redshifts. This is consistent with our results from stacking the same CANDELS HST/F160W imaging, when we correct for galaxy position angle alignment. We find that the size evolution of star-forming galaxies is well fit by a power law of the form kpc, which is consistent with previous works for normal star-formers at 1 < z < 4. In order to compare our slope with those derived Lyman break galaxy studies, we correct for different IMFs and methodology and find a slope of -0.97 ± 0.02, which is shallower than that reported for the evolution of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z > 4 (). Therefore, we conclude the LBGs likely represent a subset of highly star-forming galaxies that exhibit rapid size growth at z > 4.

AB - For the first time, we present the size evolution of a mass-complete (log(M ∗/M o) > 10) sample of star-forming galaxies over redshifts z = 1-7, selected from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey. Observed H-band sizes are measured from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/F160W imaging. Distributions of individual galaxy masses and sizes illustrate that a clear mass-size relation exists up to z ∼ 7. At z ∼ 7, we find that the average galaxy size from the mass-size relation is more compact at a fixed mass of log(M ∗/M o) = 10.1, with kpc, than at lower redshifts. This is consistent with our results from stacking the same CANDELS HST/F160W imaging, when we correct for galaxy position angle alignment. We find that the size evolution of star-forming galaxies is well fit by a power law of the form kpc, which is consistent with previous works for normal star-formers at 1 < z < 4. In order to compare our slope with those derived Lyman break galaxy studies, we correct for different IMFs and methodology and find a slope of -0.97 ± 0.02, which is shallower than that reported for the evolution of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z > 4 (). Therefore, we conclude the LBGs likely represent a subset of highly star-forming galaxies that exhibit rapid size growth at z > 4.

KW - galaxies: evolution

KW - galaxies: high-redshift

KW - galaxies: structure

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ER -

The size evolution of star-forming galaxies since z ∼ 7 using ZFOURGE

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Keywords

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