The Emergence of the Star Formation Main Sequence with Redshift Unfolded by JWST

The Emergence of the Star Formation Main Sequence with Redshift Unfolded by JWST

We investigate the correlation between stellar mass ( M _⋆ ) and star formation rate (SFR) across the stellar mass range ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\approx 6-11$ . We consider almost 50,000 star-forming galaxies at z  ≈ 3–7, leveraging data from COSMOS/SMUVS, JADES/GOODS-S, and M...

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Main Authors: P. Rinaldi, R. Navarro-Carrera, K. I. Caputi, E. Iani, G. Östlin, L. Colina, S. Alberts, J. Álvarez-Márquez, M. Annunziatella, L. Boogaard, L. Costantin, J. Hjorth, D. Langeroodi, J. Melinder, T. Moutard, F. Walter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Starburst galaxies
Galaxy evolution
Galaxy formation
Reionization
James Webb Space Telescope
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb309
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Summary:We investigate the correlation between stellar mass ( M _⋆ ) and star formation rate (SFR) across the stellar mass range ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\approx 6-11$ . We consider almost 50,000 star-forming galaxies at z  ≈ 3–7, leveraging data from COSMOS/SMUVS, JADES/GOODS-S, and MIDIS/XDF. This is the first study spanning such a wide M _⋆ range without relying on gravitational lensing effects. We locate our galaxies on the SFR– M _⋆ plane to assess how the location of galaxies in the star formation main sequence (MS) and starburst (SB) region evolves with M _⋆ and redshift. We find that the two star-forming modes tend to converge at ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\lt 7$ , with all galaxies found in the SB mode. However, deeper observations will be instrumental for reaching lower SFRs and M _⋆ to further validate this scenario. By dissecting our galaxy sample in M _⋆ and redshift, we show that the emergence of the star formation MS is M _⋆ dependent: while in galaxies with ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\gt 9$ the MS is already well in place at z  = 5–7, for galaxies with ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })\approx 7-8$ it only becomes significant at z  < 4. Overall, our results are in line with previous findings that the SB mode dominates among low stellar-mass galaxies. The earlier emergence of the MS for massive galaxies is consistent with galaxy downsizing.
ISSN:1538-4357

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