The ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST survey: spatially resolved star formation relations at $z\sim 5$

Abstract

Star formation governs galaxy evolution, shaping stellar mass assembly and gas consumption across cosmic time. The Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation, linking star formation rate (SFR) and gas surface densities, is fundamental to understand star formation regulation, yet remains poorly constrained at $z>2$ due to observational limitations and uncertainties in locally calibrated gas tracers. The [CII] $158\mu \mathrm{m}$ line has recently emerged as a key probe of the cold ISM and star formation in the early Universe. We investigate whether the resolved [CII]-SFR and KS relations established at low redshift remain valid at $4<z<6$ by analysing 13 main-sequence galaxies from the ALPINE and CRISTAL surveys, using multi-wavelength data (HST, JWST, ALMA) at $\sim 2$ kpc resolution. We perform pixel-by-pixel spectral energy distribution (SED) modelling with CIGALE on resolution-homogenised images. We develop a statistical framework to fit the [CII]-SFR relation that accounts for pixel covariance and compare our results to classical fitting methods. We test two [CII]-to-gas conversion prescriptions to assess their impact on inferred gas surface densities and depletion times. We find a resolved [CII]-SFR relation with a slope of $0.87\pm 0.15$ and intrinsic scatter of $0.19\pm 0.03$ dex, which is shallower and tighter than previous studies at $z\sim 5$. The resolved KS relation is highly sensitive to the [CII]-to-gas conversion factor: using a fixed global ${\alpha }_{[\mathrm{CII}]}$ yields depletion times of $0.5$-$1$ Gyr, while a surface brightness-dependent $W_{[\mathrm{CII}]}$, places some galaxies with high gas density in the starburst regime ($<0.1$ Gyr). Future inputs from both simulations and observations are required to better understand how the [CII]-to-gas conversion factor depends on local ISM properties. We need to break this fundamental limit to properly study the KS relation at $z\gtrsim 4$.

20 pages, 13 figures

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