Ferreira_2022_ApJL_938_L2.pdf (1.12 MB)
Panic! at the disks: first rest-frame optical observations of galaxy structure at z > 3 with JWST in the SMACS 0723 field
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-10, 06:52 authored by Leonardo Ferreira, Nathan Adams, Christopher J Conselice, Elizaveta Sazonova, Duncan Austin, Joseph Caruana, Fabricio Ferrari, Aprajita Verma, James Trussler, Tom Broadhurst, Jose Diego, Brenda L Frye, Massimo Pascale, Stephen WilkinsStephen Wilkins, Rogier A Windhorst, Adi ZitrinWe present early results regarding the morphological and structural properties of galaxies seen with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at z > 3 in the Early Release Observations toward the SMACS 0723 cluster field. Using JWST we investigate, for the first time, the optical morphologies of a significant number of z > 3 galaxies with accurate photometric redshifts in this field to determine the form of galaxy structure in the relatively early universe. We use visual morphologies and Morfometryka measures to perform quantitative morphology measurements, both parametric with light profile fitting (Sérsic indices) and nonparametric (concentration, asymmetry, and smoothness (CAS) values). Using these, we measure the relative fraction of disk, spheroidal, and peculiar galaxies at 3 < z < 8. We discover the surprising result that at z > 1.5 disk galaxies dominate the overall fraction of morphologies, with a factor of ~10 relative higher number of disk galaxies than seen by the Hubble Space Telescope at these redshifts. Our visual morphological estimates of galaxies align closely with their locations in CAS parameter space and their Sérsic indices.
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- Published
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- Published version
Journal
Astrophysical Journal LettersISSN
2041-8205Publisher
American Astronomical SocietyExternal DOI
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1Volume
938Page range
1-9Department affiliated with
- Physics and Astronomy Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2023-04-24First Open Access (FOA) Date
2023-04-24First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2023-04-21Usage metrics
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