THE MORPHOLOGY OF PASSIVELY EVOLVING GALAXIES AT z {approx} 2 FROM HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE/WFC3 DEEP IMAGING IN THE HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (INAF-OAPD), Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova (Italy)
- INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, Monteporzio-Catone, Rome, I-00040 (Italy)
- NOAO-Tucson, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD (United Kingdom)
- George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242 (United States)
- Astrophysics Science Division, Observational Cosmology Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 665, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
We present near-IR images, obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the WFC3/IR camera, of six passive and massive galaxies at redshift 1.3 < z < 2.4 (specific star formation rate <10{sup -2} Gyr{sup -1}; stellar mass M {approx} 10{sup 11} M {sub sun}), selected from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. These images, which have a spatial resolution of {approx}1.5 kpc, provide the deepest view of the optical rest-frame morphology of such systems to date. We find that the light profile of these galaxies is regular and well described by a Sersic model with index typical of today's spheroids. Their size, however, is generally much smaller than today's early types of similar stellar masses, with four out of six galaxies having r{sub e} {approx} 1 kpc or less, in quantitative agreement with previous similar measures made at rest-frame UV wavelengths. The images reach limiting surface brightness {mu}{approx} 26.5 mag arcsec{sup -2} in the F160W bandpass; yet, there is no evidence of a faint halo in the galaxies of our sample, even in their stacked image. We also find that these galaxies have very weak 'morphological k-correction' between the rest-frame UV (from the Advanced Camera for Surveys z band) and the rest-frame optical (WFC3 H band): the Sersic index, physical size, and overall morphology are independent or only mildly dependent on the wavelength, within the errors.
- OSTI ID:
- 21305003
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 714, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/714/1/L79; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
COLOR AND STELLAR POPULATION GRADIENTS IN PASSIVELY EVOLVING GALAXIES AT z {approx} 2 FROM HST/WFC3 DEEP IMAGING IN THE HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD
INTRINSIC SHAPE OF STAR-FORMING BzK GALAXIES. II. REST-FRAME ULTRAVIOLET AND OPTICAL STRUCTURES IN GOODS-SOUTH AND SXDS