<i>JWST</i> PRIMER: a lack of outshining in four normal <b> <i>z</i> = 4</b> − <b>6</b> galaxies from the ALMA-CRISTAL Survey

ABSTRACT We present a spatially resolved analysis of four star-forming galaxies at $z = 4.44-5.64$ using data from the JWST Public Release Imaging for Extragalactic Research (PRIMER) and ALMA-[C II] Resolved ISm in STar-forming galaxies with ALma (CRISTAL) surveys to probe the stellar and interstellar medium properties on the sub-${\rm kpc}$ scale. In the $1-5\, \mu {\rm m}$ JWST NIRCam imaging we find that the galaxies are composed of multiple clumps (between 2 and ∼8) separated by $\simeq 5\, {\rm kpc}$, with comparable morphologies and sizes in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) and optical. Using BAGPIPES to perform pixel-by-pixel spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to the JWST data, we show that the star formation rate (SFR) ($\simeq 25\, {\rm M}_{\odot }\,{\rm yr^{ -1}}$) and stellar mass (${\rm log}_{10}(M_{\star }/{\rm M}_{\odot })$ $\simeq 9.5$) derived from the resolved analysis are in close ($\lesssim 0.3\, {\rm dex}$) agreement with those obtained by fitting the integrated photometry. In contrast to studies of lower mass sources, we thus find a reduced impact of outshining of the older (more massive) stellar populations in these normal $z \simeq 5$ galaxies. Our JWST analysis recovers bluer rest-frame UV slopes ($\beta \simeq -2.1$) and younger ages ($\simeq 100\, {\rm Myr}$) than archival values. We find that the dust continuum from ALMA-CRISTAL seen in two of these galaxies correlates, as expected, with regions of redder rest-frame UV slopes and the SED-derived ${A_{\rm V}}$, as well as the peak in the stellar mass map. We compute the resolved ${\rm IRX}$–$\beta$relation, showing that the IRX is consistent with the local starburst attenuation curve and further demonstrating the presence of an inhomogeneous dust distribution within the galaxies. A comparison of the CRISTAL sources to those from the FirstLight zoom-in simulation of galaxies with the same $M_{\star }$ and SFR reveals similar age and colour gradients, suggesting that major mergers may be important in the formation of clumpy galaxies at this epoch.

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Publication Details

Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2025-04-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf627
Citations
14
Primary Topic
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
16.68

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article

JWST PRIMER: a lack of outshining in four normal z = 4 − 6 galaxies from the ALMA-CRISTAL Survey

M. Relano, R G Varadaraj, Yuji Nakazato, Norman A. Grogin et al.
14 citations
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
16.68
article

JWST PRIMER: a lack of outshining in four normal z = 4 − 6 galaxies from the ALMA-CRISTAL Survey

M. Relano, R G Varadaraj, Yuji Nakazato, Norman A. Grogin, Roberto J. Assef, Nathan Adams, Vicente Villanueva, J. S. Dunlop, Callum T. Donnan, Anton M. Koekemoer, Rodrigo Herrera-Camus, Pablo G. Pérez‐González, Ikki Mitsuhashi, Jack E. Birkin, Andrea Ferrara, D J McLeod, Manuel Solimano, Justin Spilker, Fergus Cullen, Meghana Killi, R. A. A. Bowler, Ryota Ikeda, Daniel Ceverino, Manuel Aravena, Juno Li, Naoki Yoshida, N.E.P. Lines, R. P. Fisher, R. J. McLure
article en
14 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present a spatially resolved analysis of four star-forming galaxies at $z = 4.44-5.64$ using data from the JWST Public Release Imaging for Extragalactic Research (PRIMER) and ALMA-[C II] Resolved ISm in STar-forming galaxies with ALma (CRISTAL) surveys to probe the stellar and interstellar medium properties on the sub-${\rm kpc}$ scale. In the $1-5\, \mu {\rm m}$ JWST NIRCam imaging we find that the galaxies are composed of multiple clumps (between 2 and ∼8) separated by $\simeq 5\, {\rm kpc}$, with comparable morphologies and sizes in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) and optical. Using BAGPIPES to perform pixel-by-pixel spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to the JWST data, we show that the star formation rate (SFR) ($\simeq 25\, {\rm M}_{\odot }\,{\rm yr^{ -1}}$) and stellar mass (${\rm log}_{10}(M_{\star }/{\rm M}_{\odot })$ $\simeq 9.5$) derived from the resolved analysis are in close ($\lesssim 0.3\, {\rm dex}$) agreement with those obtained by fitting the integrated photometry. In contrast to studies of lower mass sources, we thus find a reduced impact of outshining of the older (more massive) stellar populations in these normal $z \simeq 5$ galaxies. Our JWST analysis recovers bluer rest-frame UV slopes ($\beta \simeq -2.1$) and younger ages ($\simeq 100\, {\rm Myr}$) than archival values. We find that the dust continuum from ALMA-CRISTAL seen in two of these galaxies correlates, as expected, with regions of redder rest-frame UV slopes and the SED-derived ${A_{\rm V}}$, as well as the peak in the stellar mass map. We compute the resolved ${\rm IRX}$–$\beta$relation, showing that the IRX is consistent with the local starburst attenuation curve and further demonstrating the presence of an inhomogeneous dust distribution within the galaxies. A comparison of the CRISTAL sources to those from the FirstLight zoom-in simulation of galaxies with the same $M_{\star }$ and SFR reveals similar age and colour gradients, suggesting that major mergers may be important in the formation of clumpy galaxies at this epoch.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyVol. 539(3)
Space Telescope Science Institute (US), Waseda University (JP), Scuola Normale Superiore (IT), University of Concepción (CL), Universidad de Granada (ES), The University of Western Australia (AU), The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (JP), Mitchell Institute (US), University of Manchester (GB), Ghent University (BE), Institute for Advanced Study (US), University of Oxford (GB), Royal Observatory (GB), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (FR), Centro de Astrobiología (ES), ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (AU), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP), International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (AU), University of Portsmouth (GB), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (ES), The University of Tokyo (JP), Texas A&M University (US), Universidad Diego Portales (CL), University of Edinburgh (GB)
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
16.68
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