SMOOTH(ER) STELLAR MASS MAPS IN CANDELS: CONSTRAINTS ON THE LONGEVITY OF CLUMPS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1312, Giessenbachstr., D-85741 Garching (Germany)
- Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)
- UCO/Lick Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
- Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904 (Israel)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
- Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (United States)
We perform a detailed analysis of the resolved colors and stellar populations of a complete sample of 323 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at 0.5 < z < 1.5 and 326 SFGs at 1.5 < z < 2.5 in the ERS and CANDELS-Deep region of GOODS-South. Galaxies were selected to be more massive than 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun} and have specific star formation rates (SFRs) above 1/t{sub H} . We model the seven-band optical ACS + near-IR WFC3 spectral energy distributions of individual bins of pixels, accounting simultaneously for the galaxy-integrated photometric constraints available over a longer wavelength range. We analyze variations in rest-frame color, stellar surface mass density, age, and extinction as a function of galactocentric radius and local surface brightness/density, and measure structural parameters on luminosity and stellar mass maps. We find evidence for redder colors, older stellar ages, and increased dust extinction in the nuclei of galaxies. Big star-forming clumps seen in star formation tracers are less prominent or even invisible in the inferred stellar mass distributions. Off-center clumps contribute up to {approx}20% to the integrated SFR, but only 7% or less to the integrated mass of all massive SFGs at z {approx} 1 and z {approx} 2, with the fractional contributions being a decreasing function of wavelength used to select the clumps. The stellar mass profiles tend to have smaller sizes and M20 coefficients, and higher concentration and Gini coefficients than the light distribution. Our results are consistent with an inside-out disk growth scenario with brief (100-200 Myr) episodic local enhancements in star formation superposed on the underlying disk. Alternatively, the young ages of off-center clumps may signal inward clump migration, provided this happens efficiently on the order of an orbital timescale.
- OSTI ID:
- 22039410
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 753, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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