Morphologies of Galaxies at $z\gtrsim 9$ Uncovered by JWST/NIRCam Imaging: Cosmic Size Evolution and an Identification of an Extremely Compact Bright Galaxy at $z\sim 12$

Abstract

We present morphologies of galaxies at $z\gtrsim 9$ resolved by JWST/NIRCam $2$-$5\mu$m imaging. Our sample consists of $22$ galaxy candidates identified by stringent dropout and photo-$z$ criteria in GLASS, CEERS, SMACS J0723, and Stephan's Quintet flanking fields, one of which has been spectroscopically identified at $z=11.44$. We perform surface brightness (SB) profile fitting with GALFIT for $6$ bright galaxies with S/N $=10$-$40$ on an individual basis and for stacked faint galaxies with secure point-spread functions (PSFs) of the NIRCam real data, carefully evaluating systematics by Monte-Carlo simulations. We compare our results with those of previous JWST studies, and confirm that effective radii $r_{\mathrm{e}}$ of our measurements are consistent with those of previous measurements at $z\sim 9$. We obtain $r_{\mathrm{e}}\simeq 200$-$300$ pc with the exponential-like profiles, Sérsic indexes of $n\simeq 1$-$1.5$, for galaxies at $z\sim 12$-$16$, indicating that the relation of $r_{\mathrm{e}}\propto (1+z{)}^s$ for $s=-1.22_{-0.16}^{+0.17}$ explains cosmic evolution over $z\sim 0$-$16$ for $\sim L_{z=3}^{\ast }$ galaxies. One bright ($M_{\mathrm{UV}}=-21$ mag) galaxy at $z\sim 12$, GL-z12-1, has an extremely compact profile with $r_{\mathrm{e}}=39\pm 11$ pc that is surely extended over the PSF. Even in the case that the GL-z12-1 SB is fit by AGN$+$galaxy composite profiles, the best-fit galaxy component is again compact, $r_{\mathrm{e}}=48_{-15}^{+38}$ pc that is significantly ($>5\sigma$) smaller than the typical $r_{\mathrm{e}}$ value at $z\sim 12$. Comparing with numerical simulations, we find that such a compact galaxy naturally forms at $z\gtrsim 10$, and that frequent mergers at the early epoch produce more extended galaxies following the $r_{\mathrm{e}}\propto (1+z{)}^s$ relation.

arXiv comment29 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (96)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
• The Global Schmidt Law in Star Forming Galaxies
• Coevolution (Or Not) of Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• The physical properties of star forming galaxies in the low redshift universe
• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• Stellar Masses and Star Formation Histories for 10^5 Galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The observed properties of dwarf galaxies in and around the Local Group
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• UV Star Formation Rates in the Local Universe
• On the Black Hole Mass - Bulge Mass Relation
• Lyman Break Galaxies at z>4 and the Evolution of the UV Luminosity Density at High Redshift
• A Cosmology Calculator for the World Wide Web
• An 800-million-solar-mass black hole in a significantly neutral Universe at redshift 7.5
• PHIBSS: molecular gas content and scaling relations in z~1-3 normal star forming galaxies
• The merger rate of galaxies in the Illustris Simulation: a comparison with observations and semi-empirical models
• An ultra-luminous quasar with a twelve-billion-solar-mass black hole at redshift 6.30
• Stellar Population Inference with Prospector
• Compaction and Quenching of High-z Galaxies in Cosmological Simulations: Blue and Red Nuggets
• A population of red candidate massive galaxies ~600 Myr after the Big Bang
• One Hundred First Stars : Protostellar Evolution and the Final Masses
• A Comprehensive Study on Galaxies at z~9-16 Found in the Early JWST Data: UV Luminosity Functions and Cosmic Star-Formation History at the Pre-Reionization Epoch
• Forty-Seven Milky Way-Sized, Extremely Diffuse Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
• The First Galaxies
• The Evolution of Galaxy Structure over Cosmic Time
• Can Minor Merging Account for the Size Growth of Quiescent Galaxies? New Results from the CANDELS Survey
• A Luminous Quasar at Redshift 7.642
• Two Remarkably Luminous Galaxy Candidates at $z\approx 10-12$ Revealed by JWST
• The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning
• The evolution of the galaxy UV luminosity function at redshifts z ~ 8-15 from deep JWST and ground-based near-infrared imaging
• The Size Evolution of High Redshift Galaxies
• The Confinement of Star-Forming Galaxies into a Main Sequence through Episodes of Gas Compaction, Depletion, and Replenishment
• Pōniuā'ena: A Luminous $z=7.5$ Quasar Hosting a 1.5 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole
• A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A Candidate z ~ 12 Galaxy in Early JWST CEERS Imaging
• Galaxies at z~6: The UV Luminosity Function and Luminosity Density from 506 UDF, UDF-Ps, and GOODS i-dropouts
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. III: Galaxy candidates at z$\sim$9-15
• The GLASS James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science Program. I. Survey Design and Release Plans
• Discovery and properties of ultra-high redshift galaxies ($9<z<12$) in the JWST ERO SMACS 0723 Field
• Modeling UV Radiation Feedback from Massive Stars: II. Dispersal of Star-Forming Giant Molecular Clouds by Photoionization and Radiation Pressure
• The JWST Early Release Observations
• Structure and Morphologies of z~7-8 Galaxies from ultra-deep WFC3/IR Imaging of the HUDF
• Galaxy Size Evolution at High Redshift and Surface Brightness Selection Effects: Constraints from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• Revealing Galaxy Candidates out to $z\sim 16$ with JWST Observations of the Lensing Cluster SMACS0723
• Galaxy Formation and Reionization: Key Unknowns and Expected Breakthroughs by the James Webb Space Telescope
• Galaxy Properties and UV Escape Fractions During Epoch of Reionization: Results from the Renaissance Simulations
• Observations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ Universe
• The mass relations between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies at 1<z<2 with HST-WFC3
• Gemini GNIRS near-infrared spectroscopy of 50 quasars at z>~5.7
• The AIMSS Project I: Bridging the Star Cluster - Galaxy Divide
• Formation of supermassive black hole seeds
• Globular cluster formation in the context of galaxy formation and evolution
• Size--luminosity relations and UV luminosity functions at $z=6-9$ simultaneously derived from the complete Hubble Frontier Fields data
• Unveiling the nature of bright z ~ 7 galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope
• Extreme Value Statistics of the Halo and Stellar Mass Distributions at High Redshift: are JWST Results in Tension with ΛCDM?
• Evolution of the Sizes of Galaxies over 7<z<12 Revealed by the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field Campaign
• Astrophysically Motivated Bulge-Disk Decompositions of SDSS Galaxies
• Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). VI. Black Hole Mass Measurements of Six Quasars at 6.1<z<6.7
• A Lower Bound of Star Formation Activity in Ultra-high Redshift Galaxies Detected with JWST: Implications for Stellar Populations and Radiation Sources
• ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Molecular gas reservoirs in high-redshift galaxies
• First Batch of Candidate Galaxies at Redshifts 11 to 20 Revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Observations
• The ultraviolet continuum slopes ($\beta$) of galaxies at $\mathbf{z}\simeq 8-16$ from JWST and ground-based near-infrared imaging
• The Evolution of Mass-size Relation for Lyman Break Galaxies From z=1 to z=7
• Searching for Extremely Blue UV Continuum Slopes at $z=7-11$ in JWST/NIRCam Imaging: Implications for Stellar Metallicity and Ionizing Photon Escape in Early Galaxies
• A Local Baseline of the Black Hole Mass Scaling Relations for Active Galaxies. I. Methodology and Results of Pilot Study
• The sizes of $z\sim 6-8$ lensed galaxies from the Hubble Frontier Fields Abell 2744 data
• The size-luminosity relation at z=7 in CANDELS and its implication on reionization
• Starburst Intensity Limit of Galaxies at z~5-6
• Non-parametric analysis of the rest-frame UV sizes and morphological disturbance amongst L* galaxies at 4<z<8
• On the ages of bright galaxies $\sim 500$ Myr after the Big Bang: insights into star formation activity at $z\gtrsim 15$ with JWST
• The Sizes of Candidate $z\sim 9-10$ Galaxies: confirmation of the bright CANDELS sample and relation with luminosity and mass
• The Size Evolution of Star-forming Galaxies Since z~7 Using ZFOURGE
• The Bivariate Size-luminosity Relations for Lyman Break Galaxies at z ~ 4 - 5
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. V: the first rest-frame optical size-luminosity relation of galaxies at $z>7$
• Extremely Small Sizes for Faint z~2-8 Galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Fields: A Key Input For Establishing their Volume Density and UV Emissivity
• Early Low-Mass Galaxies and Star-Cluster Candidates at z~6-9 Identified by the Gravitational Lensing Technique and Deep Optical/Near-Infrared Imaging
• A Candidate $z\sim 10$ Galaxy Strongly Lensed into a Spatially Resolved Arc
• Radiation hydrodynamics simulations of massive star cluster formation in giant molecular clouds
• Constraining the physical properties of the first lensed $z\sim 10-16$ galaxy candidates with JWST
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- VI. Simulated lightcones and galaxy clustering predictions
• Star cluster formation and cloud dispersal by radiative feedback: dependence on metallicity and compactness
• Expectations of the size evolution of massive galaxies at $3\le z\le 6$ from the TNG50 simulation: the CEERS/JWST view
• Mock Lightcones and Theory Friendly Catalogs for the CANDELS Survey
• Sizes of Lensed Lower-luminosity z=4-8 Galaxies from the Hubble Frontier Field Program
• FOREVER22: galaxy formation in protocluster regions
• Early results from GLASS-JWST. X: Rest-frame UV-optical properties of galaxies at 7 < z < 9
• First Light: exploring the Spectra of High-Redshift Galaxies in the Renaissance Simulations
• Early results from GLASS-JWST XVI: Discovering a bluer z~4-7 Universe through UV slopes
• The Super Eight Galaxies: Properties of a Sample of Very Bright Galaxies at $7<z<8$
• EMPRESS. III. Morphology, Stellar Population, and Dynamics of Extremely Metal Poor Galaxies (EMPGs): Are EMPGs Local Analogs of High-$z$ Young Galaxies?
• Formation of proto-globular cluster candidates in cosmological simulations of dwarf galaxies at $z>4$
• Constraining dark matter annihilation with HSC Low Surface Brightness Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (22)

• Identification and properties of intense star-forming galaxies at redshifts z>10
• JADES Imaging of GN-z11: Revealing the Morphology and Environment of a Luminous Galaxy 430 Myr After the Big Bang
• Are the ultra-high-redshift galaxies at z > 10 surprising in the context of standard galaxy formation models?
• EPOCHS VI: The Size and Shape Evolution of Galaxies since z ~ 8 with JWST Observations
• JWST early Universe observations and ΛCDM cosmology
• A luminous and young galaxy at z=12.33 revealed by a JWST/MIRI detection of Hα and [OIII]
• Cosmological Model Tests with JWST
• Narrow line AGN selection in CEERS: spectroscopic selection, physical properties, X-ray and radio analysis
• Testing CCC+TL Cosmology with Observed BAO Features
• Linking Mg II and [O II] spatial distribution to ionizing photon escape in confirmed LyC leakers and non-leakers
• UNCOVERing the High-redshift AGN Population among Extreme UV Line Emitters
• The z = 9.625 Cosmic Gems Galaxy was a "Compact Blue Monster" Propelled by Massive Star Clusters
• Through Thick and Thin: The Cosmic Evolution of Disk Scale Height
• Understanding the Universal Dust Attenuation Scaling Relation of Star-Forming Galaxies
• The JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS): The sizes and merger fraction of star-forming galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization
• Morphological evolution of disk galaxies and their concentration, asymmetry and clumpiness (CAS) properties in simulations across Toomre's $Q$ parameter
• Amaryllis: a digital twin of the earliest galaxies in the Universe
• The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. X: Formation and Evolution of Galaxies at the High-redshift Frontier
• Deeper detection limits in astronomical imaging using self-supervised spatiotemporal denoising
• Evolution of Size, Mass, and Density of Galaxies Since Cosmic Dawn
• Compact [OIII] emission-line regions ("Green Seeds") in $\mathrm{H}\alpha$ emitters at Cosmic Noon from JWST Observations
• Everything Every Band All at Once I: A Global Morphology Catalog in Abell 2744 based on UNCOVER/MegaScience