A Bending in the Size-mass Relation of Star-forming Galaxies across $0.5<z<6.0$ at a Critical Stellar Mass of $10^{10}{M}_{\odot }$ Revealed by JWST

Abstract

We investigate the rest-frame optical size-stellar mass relation of galaxies at $0.5<z<6.0$ using deep JWST/NIRCam and MIRI imaging from the PRIMER survey. We find that star-forming galaxies (SFGs) exhibit a broken power-law relation at all redshifts, with a nearly constant pivot mass ($M_{\mathrm{p}}$) of $\sim 10^{10}{M}_{\odot }$, and a slope flattening above $M_{\mathrm{p}}$. This highlights the prevalence of a population of compact, massive SFGs that was underrepresented in previous studies. The size distribution of quiescent galaxies (QGs) is well described by a mixture power-law model, with a pivot mass that increases from $M_{\mathrm{p}}\sim 10^{10.0}{M}_{\odot }$ at $z=0.75$ to $M_{\mathrm{p}}\sim 10^{10.5}{M}_{\odot }$ at $z=2.6$, suggesting that the minimum halo mass required to quench high-mass galaxies increases with redshift. The bending in the size-mass relation of SFGs supports two distinct size growth modes. At $M_{\star }<M_{\mathrm{p}}$, size growth is closely coupled to halo growth, while at $M_{\star }>M_{\mathrm{p}}$, an increasing fraction of SFGs decouple from halo growth and become compact, likely associated with rapid bulge (and black hole) growth in $M_{\mathrm{h}}\gtrsim 10^{12}{M}_{\odot }$ halos. These compact SFGs are promising progenitors of massive QGs, as evidenced by their similar masses, surface brightness profiles, and morphologies. Their high number densities can account for the observed buildup of massive QGs at $z>2$, suggesting that the compaction pathway, rather than major mergers of extended SFGs, dominates the formation of high-z massive QGs.

20 pages,12 figures, published in APJL

References in corpus (29)

• Mass and environment as drivers of galaxy evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the origin of the Schechter function
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• 3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since $z=3$
• Detection of quiescent galaxies in a bicolor sequence from z=0-2
• The Size Evolution of Star-forming and Quenched Galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulation
• The mass relations between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies at 1<z<2 with HST-WFC3
• Predicting Quiescence: The Dependence of Specific Star Formation Rate on Galaxy Size and Central Density at 0.5<z<2.5
• EPOCHS VI: The Size and Shape Evolution of Galaxies since z ~ 8 with JWST Observations
• Extending the evolution of the stellar mass-size relation at $z\le 2$ to low stellar mass galaxies from HFF and CANDELS
• Feedback-Free Starbursts at Cosmic Dawn: Observable Predictions for JWST
• Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program: A Mass-Dependent Slope of the Galaxy Size-Mass Relation at $z<1$
• Chasing passive galaxies in the early Universe: a critical analysis in CANDELS GOODS-South
• Wet Compaction to a Blue Nugget: a Critical Phase in Galaxy Evolution
• Expectations of the size evolution of massive galaxies at $3\le z\le 6$ from the TNG50 simulation: the CEERS/JWST view
• The Formation of Bulges, Discs and Two Component Galaxies in the CANDELS Survey at z < 3
• First Light And Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES) IV: The size evolution of galaxies at $z\ge 5$
• The bending of the star-forming main sequence traces the cold- to hot-accretion transition mass over 0<z<4
• JADES + JEMS: A Detailed Look at the Buildup of Central Stellar Cores and Suppression of Star Formation in Galaxies at Redshifts 3 < z < 4.5
• Diagnosing DASH: A Catalog of Structural Properties for the COSMOS-DASH Survey
• Galaxy Size and Mass Build-up in the First 2 Gyrs of Cosmic History from Multi-Wavelength JWST NIRCam Imaging
• Compaction-Driven Black Hole Growth
• The Size-Mass relation at Rest-Frame $1.5\mu$m from JWST/NIRCam in the COSMOS-WEB and PRIMER-COSMOS fields
• Black holes regulate cool gas accretion in massive galaxies
• JWST/MIRI reveals the true number density of massive galaxies in the early Universe
• Accelerated structural evolution of galaxies in a starbursting cluster at z=2.51
• RUBIES spectroscopically confirms the high number density of quiescent galaxies from $2<\mathbf{z}<5$
• Quenching of Galaxies at Cosmic Noon: Understanding the Effect of Environment
• A census of quiescent galaxies across $0.5<z<8$ with JWST/MIRI: Mass-dependent number density evolution of quiescent galaxies in the early Universe
• Dissecting the mass quenching in TNG50: Galaxy size determines the quenching mode