UNCOVER: Significant Reddening in Cosmic Noon Quiescent Galaxies
Abstract We explore the physical properties of five massive quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 2.5, revealing the presence of nonnegligible dust reservoirs. JWST NIRSpec observations were obtained for each target, finding no significant line emission; multiple star formation tracers independently place upper limits between 0.1 and 10 M ⊙ yr −1 . Spectral energy distribution modeling with Prospector infers stellar masses of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>log</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">[</mml:mo> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">]</mml:mo> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>11</mml:mn> </mml:math> and stellar-mass-weighted ages between 1 and 2 Gyr. The inferred mass-weighted effective radii ( r eff ∼ 0.4–1.4 kpc) and inner 1 kpc stellar surface densities ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>log</mml:mi> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">[</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mo>Σ</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo><</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mi>kpc</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:msub> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>kpc</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:mo stretchy="false">]</mml:mo> <mml:mo>≳</mml:mo> <mml:mn>9</mml:mn> </mml:math> ) are typical of quiescent galaxies at z ≳ 2. The galaxies predominately display negative color gradients (redder core and bluer outskirts); for one galaxy, this effect results from a dusty core. Unlike local quiescent galaxies, we identify significant reddening in these typical cosmic noon passive galaxies; all but one require A V ≳ 0.4. This finding is in qualitative agreement with previous studies, but our deep 20-band NIRCam imaging is able to significantly suppress the dust–age degeneracy and confidently determine that these galaxies are reddened. We speculate about the physical effects that may drive the decline in dust content in quiescent galaxies over cosmic time.
Authors
- Lukas J. Furtak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6278-032X)
- Rachel Bezanson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5063-8254)
- Danilo Marchesini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9002-3502)
- Gourav Khullar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3475-7648)
- Tim B. Miller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8367-6265)
- Sam E. Cutler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7031-2865)
- Richard Pan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9651-5716)
- Jenny E. Greene (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5612-3427)
- Ivo Labbé (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2057-5376)
- Themiya Nanayakkara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2804-0648)
- Jared Siegel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9337-0902)
- John R. Weaver (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1614-196X)
- David J. Setton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4075-7393)
- Robert Feldmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1109-1919)
- Joel Leja (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6755-1315)
- Pieter van Dokkum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8282-9888)
- Helena Treiber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0660-9776)
- Katherine A. Suess (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1714-1905)
- Katherine E. Whitaker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7160-3632)
- Sedona H. Price (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0108-4176)
- Anna de Graaff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2380-9801)
- Bingjie Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9269-5046)
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- Tufts University (US)
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- University of Massachusetts Amherst (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (DE)
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Published
- 2025-05-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc7b7
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.24
Funders
- United States - Israel Binational Science Foundation
- Space Telescope Science Institute
- Israel Science Foundation