Even redder than we knew: color and $A_{\mathrm{V}}$ evolution up to $z=2.5$ from JWST/NIRCam photometry

Abstract

JWST/NIRCam provides rest-frame near-IR photometry of galaxies up to $z=2.5$ with exquisite depth and accuracy. This affords an unprecedented view of the evolution of the UV-optical-near-IR color distribution and its interpretation in terms of the evolving dust attenuation, $A_{\mathrm{V}}$. We use the value-added data products (photometric redshift, stellar mass, rest-frame $U-V$ and $V-J$ colors, and $A_{\mathrm{V}}$) provided by the public DAWN JWST Archive. This data product derives from fitting the spectral energy distributions obtained from multiple NIRCam imaging surveys, augmented with pre-existing HST imaging data. Our sample consists of a stellar mass complete sample of $\approx 28,000$ $M_{\star }>10^9{M}_{\odot }$ galaxies in the redshift range $0.5<z<2.5$. The $V-J$ color distribution of star-forming galaxies evolves strongly, in particular for high-mass galaxies ($M_{\star }>3\times 10^{10}{M}_{\odot }$), which have a pronounced tail of very red galaxies reaching $V-J>2.5$ at $z>1.5$ that does not exist at $z<1$. Such red $V-J$ can only be explained by dust attenuation, with typical values for $M_{\star }\approx 10^{11}{M}_{\odot }$ galaxies in the range $A_{\mathrm{V}}\approx 1.5-3.5$ at $z\approx 2$. This redshift evolution went largely unnoticed before because the photometric redshift estimates for the reddest ($V-J>2.5$), most attenuated galaxies has markedly improved thanks to the new, precise photometry. Despite the increased attenuation, $U-V$ colors across the entire mass range are slightly bluer at higher $z$. In conclusion, whereas the rest-frame UV-optical color distribution evolves remarkably little from $z=0.5$ to $z=2.5$, the rest-frame optical-near-IR color distribution evolves strongly, primarily due to a very substantial increase with redshift in dust attenuation for massive galaxies. (Abbr.)

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in A&A. This second version has minor corrections to adhere to A&A style

References in corpus (70)

• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• Star Formation in AEGIS Field Galaxies since z=1.1 : The Dominance of Gradually Declining Star Formation, and the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling I: The relevance of uncertain aspects of stellar evolution and the IMF to the derived physical properties of galaxies
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• A Simple Model for the Absorption of Starlight by Dust in Galaxies
• Multiwavelength study of massive galaxies at z~2. I. Star formation and galaxy growth
• 3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since $z=3$
• Unveiling Dust-enshrouded Star Formation in the Early Universe: a Sub-mm Survey of the Hubble Deep Field
• COSMOS Photometric Redshifts with 30-bands for 2-deg2
• Nearly 5000 Distant Early-Type Galaxies in COMBO-17: a Red Sequence and its Evolution since z~1
• A Deep Sub-millimeter Survey of Lensing Clusters: A New Window on Galaxy Formation and Evolution
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling III: model calibration, comparison, and evaluation
• Galaxy Luminosity Functions to z~1: DEEP2 vs. COMBO-17 and Implications for Red Galaxy Formation
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• The Evolution of the Stellar Mass Functions of Star-Forming and Quiescent Galaxies to z = 4 from the COSMOS/UltraVISTA Survey
• Detection of quiescent galaxies in a bicolor sequence from z=0-2
• Constraining the Low-Mass Slope of the Star Formation Sequence at 0.5<z<2.5
• Inferring the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies with BAGPIPES: Evidence for multiple quenching mechanisms
• The Broad-band Optical Properties of Galaxies with Redshifts 0.0 < z < 0.2
• Confirmation of the remarkable compactness of massive quiescent galaxies at z~2.3: early-type galaxies did not form in a simple monolithic collapse
• The 3D-HST Survey: Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/G141 grism spectra, redshifts, and emission line measurements for $\sim 100,000$ galaxies
• PHIBSS: Unified Scaling Relations of Gas Depletion Time and Molecular Gas Fractions
• The Evolution of Early-Type Galaxies in Distant Clusters
• CEERS Key Paper I: An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST
• The NEWFIRM Medium-band Survey: Photometric Catalogs, Redshifts and the Bimodal Color Distribution of Galaxies out to z~3
• A Significant Population of Red, Near-IR Selected High Redshift Galaxies
• The nature of faint submm-selected galaxies
• The Homogeneity of Spheroidal Populations in Distant Clusters
• A deep ALMA image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• IRAC Mid-Infrared Imaging of the Hubble Deep Field South: Star Formation Histories and Stellar Masses of Red Galaxies at z>2
• What do we learn from IRAC observations of galaxies at 2 < z < 3.5?
• The number density and mass density of star-forming and quiescent galaxies at 0.4 < z < 2.2
• The Evolving Luminosity Function of Red Galaxies
• The SWIRE-VVDS-CFHTLS surveys: stellar mass assembly over the last 10 Gyears. Evidence for a major build up of the red sequence between z=2 and z=1
• The Fundamenal Plane in CL0024 at z=0.4: Implications for the Evolution of the Mass-to-Light Ratio
• Recent Structural Evolution of Early-Type Galaxies: Size Growth from z=1 to z=0
• The Dead Sequence: A Clear Bimodality in Galaxy Colors from z=0 to z=2.5
• An Atlas of Color-selected Quiescent Galaxies at $z>3$ in Public $JWST$ Fields
• A JWST/NIRCam Study of Key Contributors to Reionization: The Star-forming and Ionizing Properties of UV-faint $z\sim 7-8$ Galaxies
• Charting the evolution of the ages and metallicities of massive galaxies since z=0.7
• Characterisation of SCUBA-2 450um and 850um-selected Galaxies in the COSMOS Field
• The Slope of the Cluster Elliptical Red Sequence: A Probe of Cluster Evolution
• The Constant Average Relationship between Dust-obscured Star Formation and Stellar Mass from $z=0$ to $z=2.5$
• The Art of Measuring Physical Parameters in Galaxies: A Critical Assessment of Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting Techniques
• First Insights into the SWIRE Galaxy Populations
• Dust attenuation, bulge formation and inside-out cessation of star-formation in Star-Forming Main Sequence galaxies at z~2
• The Detection of a Red Sequence of Massive Field Galaxies at z~2.3 and its Evolution to z~0
• GEMS Imaging of Red Sequence Galaxies at z~0.7: Dusty or Old?
• Hubble Space Telescope images of submillimeter sources: large, irregular galaxies at high redshift
• Unveiling the Nature of Infrared Bright, Optically Dark Galaxies with Early JWST Data
• The Unusual Infrared Object HDF-N J123656.3+621322
• Demographics of Star-forming Galaxies since $z\sim 2.5$. I. The $UVJ$ Diagram in CANDELS
• The Diversity of Extremely Red Objects
• The Progenitors of Local Ultra-massive Galaxies Across Cosmic Time: from Dusty Star-bursting to Quiescent Stellar Populations
• Deciphering the JWST spectrum of a 'little red dot' at $z\sim 4.53$: An obscured AGN and its star-forming host
• Beyond UVJ: More Efficient Selection of Quiescent Galaxies With UV / Mid-IR Fluxes
• A systematic search for very massive galaxies at z > 4
• The Evolution of the Fractions of Quiescent and Star-forming Galaxies as a Function of Stellar Mass Since z=3: Increasing Importance of Massive, Dusty Star-forming Galaxies in the Early Universe
• Galaxy clustering from COMBO-17: The halo occupation distribution at <z>=0.6
• SFHs OF $Z\sim 1$ Galaxies in LEGA-C
• The VANDELS survey: Dust attenuation in star-forming galaxies at $\mathbf{z}=3-4$
• ASTRODEEP-JWST: NIRCam-HST multiband photometry and redshifts for half a million sources in six extragalactic deep fields
• Stellar and Dust Properties of a Complete Sample of Massive Dusty Galaxies at $1\le z\le 4$ from MAGPHYS Modeling of UltraVISTA DR3 and Herschel Photometry
• Dust attenuation, dust content and geometry of star-forming galaxies
• More is better: Strong constraints on the stellar properties of LEGA-C z ~ 1 galaxies with Prospector
• Evolution of the Sérsic Index up to z=2.5 from JWST and HST
• The mass-dependent UVJ diagram at cosmic noon: A challenge for galaxy evolution models and dust radiative transfer

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Fueling and feedback mechanisms at the nodes of the cosmic web
• AGN Feedback: The impact of galactic-scale radio jets on the interstellar medium in starbursting obscured AGN