JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations
One of the more surprising findings after the first year of JWST observations is the large number of spatially extended galaxies (ultrared flattened objects, or UFOs) among the optically faint galaxy (OFG) population otherwise thought to be compact. Leveraging the depth and survey area of the JWST A...
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2024-01-01
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| author | Justus L. Gibson Erica Nelson Christina C. Williams Sedona H. Price Katherine E. Whitaker Katherine A. Suess Anna de Graaff Benjamin D. Johnson Andrew J. Bunker William M. Baker Rachana Bhatawdekar Kristan Boyett Stephane Charlot Emma Curtis-Lake Daniel J. Eisenstein Kevin Hainline Ryan Hausen Roberto Maiolino George Rieke Marcia Rieke Brant Robertson Sandro Tacchella Chris Willott |
| author_facet | Justus L. Gibson Erica Nelson Christina C. Williams Sedona H. Price Katherine E. Whitaker Katherine A. Suess Anna de Graaff Benjamin D. Johnson Andrew J. Bunker William M. Baker Rachana Bhatawdekar Kristan Boyett Stephane Charlot Emma Curtis-Lake Daniel J. Eisenstein Kevin Hainline Ryan Hausen Roberto Maiolino George Rieke Marcia Rieke Brant Robertson Sandro Tacchella Chris Willott |
| author_sort | Justus L. Gibson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | One of the more surprising findings after the first year of JWST observations is the large number of spatially extended galaxies (ultrared flattened objects, or UFOs) among the optically faint galaxy (OFG) population otherwise thought to be compact. Leveraging the depth and survey area of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, we extend observations of the OFG population to an additional 112 objects, 56 of which are well-resolved in F444W with effective sizes, R _e > 0.″25, more than tripling previous UFO counts. These galaxies have redshifts around 2 < z < 4, high stellar masses ( $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })\sim 10\mbox{--}11$ ), and star formation rates around ∼100–1000 M _⊙ yr ^−1 . Surprisingly, UFOs are red across their entire extents, which spatially resolved analysis of their stellar populations shows is due to large values of dust attenuation (typically A _V > 2 mag even at large radii). Morphologically, the majority of our UFO sample tends to have low Sérsic indices ( n ∼ 1) suggesting that these large, massive, OFGs have little contribution from a bulge in F444W. Further, a majority have axis ratios between 0.2 < q < 0.4, which Bayesian modeling suggests that their intrinsic shapes are consistent with being a mixture of inclined disks and prolate objects with little to no contribution from spheroids. While kinematic constraints will be needed to determine the true intrinsic shapes of UFOs, it is clear that an unexpected population of large, disky or prolate objects contributes significantly to the population of OFGs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-758571fe9c15459c944087393bb0ba55 |
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| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-758571fe9c15459c944087393bb0ba552025-08-20T02:00:42ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-0197414810.3847/1538-4357/ad64c2JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar PopulationsJustus L. Gibson0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1903-9813Erica Nelson1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7524-374XChristina C. Williams2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2919-7495Sedona H. Price3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0108-4176Katherine E. Whitaker4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7160-3632Katherine A. Suess5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1714-1905Anna de Graaff6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2380-9801Benjamin D. Johnson7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9280-7594Andrew J. Bunker8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8651-9879William M. Baker9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0215-1104Rachana Bhatawdekar10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0883-2226Kristan Boyett11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4109-304XStephane Charlot12https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3458-2275Emma Curtis-Lake13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9551-0534Daniel J. Eisenstein14https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2929-3121Kevin Hainline15https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4565-8239Ryan Hausen16https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8543-761XRoberto Maiolino17https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4985-3819George Rieke18https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2303-6519Marcia Rieke19https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7893-6170Brant Robertson20https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4271-0364Sandro Tacchella21https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8224-4505Chris Willott22https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4201-7367Department for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309, USADepartment for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80309, USANSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA; Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , DenmarkKavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Department of Physics, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USAMax-Planck-Institut für Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg, GermanyCenter for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USADepartment of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UKKavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UKEuropean Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) , Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, SpainSchool of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , AustraliaSorbonne Université , CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis bd Arago, 75014 Paris, FranceCentre for Astrophysics Research, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire , Hatfield AL10 9AB, UKCenter for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USASteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USAKavli 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, UKSteward Observatory and Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USASteward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USADepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 96054, USAKavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UKNRC Herzberg , 5071 West Saanich Rd, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, CanadaOne of the more surprising findings after the first year of JWST observations is the large number of spatially extended galaxies (ultrared flattened objects, or UFOs) among the optically faint galaxy (OFG) population otherwise thought to be compact. Leveraging the depth and survey area of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, we extend observations of the OFG population to an additional 112 objects, 56 of which are well-resolved in F444W with effective sizes, R _e > 0.″25, more than tripling previous UFO counts. These galaxies have redshifts around 2 < z < 4, high stellar masses ( $\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })\sim 10\mbox{--}11$ ), and star formation rates around ∼100–1000 M _⊙ yr ^−1 . Surprisingly, UFOs are red across their entire extents, which spatially resolved analysis of their stellar populations shows is due to large values of dust attenuation (typically A _V > 2 mag even at large radii). Morphologically, the majority of our UFO sample tends to have low Sérsic indices ( n ∼ 1) suggesting that these large, massive, OFGs have little contribution from a bulge in F444W. Further, a majority have axis ratios between 0.2 < q < 0.4, which Bayesian modeling suggests that their intrinsic shapes are consistent with being a mixture of inclined disks and prolate objects with little to no contribution from spheroids. While kinematic constraints will be needed to determine the true intrinsic shapes of UFOs, it is clear that an unexpected population of large, disky or prolate objects contributes significantly to the population of OFGs.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad64c2Galaxy formationGalaxy evolutionHigh-redshift galaxiesGalaxy structure |
| spellingShingle | Justus L. Gibson Erica Nelson Christina C. Williams Sedona H. Price Katherine E. Whitaker Katherine A. Suess Anna de Graaff Benjamin D. Johnson Andrew J. Bunker William M. Baker Rachana Bhatawdekar Kristan Boyett Stephane Charlot Emma Curtis-Lake Daniel J. Eisenstein Kevin Hainline Ryan Hausen Roberto Maiolino George Rieke Marcia Rieke Brant Robertson Sandro Tacchella Chris Willott JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations The Astrophysical Journal Galaxy formation Galaxy evolution High-redshift galaxies Galaxy structure |
| title | JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations |
| title_full | JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations |
| title_fullStr | JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations |
| title_full_unstemmed | JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations |
| title_short | JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations |
| title_sort | jades ultrared flattened objects morphologies and spatial gradients in color and stellar populations |
| topic | Galaxy formation Galaxy evolution High-redshift galaxies Galaxy structure |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad64c2 |
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