Early Results from GLASS-JWST. V: The First Rest-frame Optical Size-Luminosity Relation of Galaxies at z > 7

October 2022 • 2022ApJ...938L..17Y

Authors • Yang, L. • Morishita, T. • Leethochawalit, N. • Castellano, M. • Calabrò, A. • Treu, T. • Bonchi, A. • Fontana, A. • Mason, C. • Merlin, E. • Paris, D. • Trenti, M. • Roberts-Borsani, G. • Bradac, M. • Vanzella, E. • Vulcani, B. • Marchesini, D. • Ding, X. • Nanayakkara, T. • Birrer, S. • Glazebrook, K. • Jones, T. • Boyett, K. • Santini, P. • Strait, V. • Wang, X.

Abstract • We present the first rest-frame optical size-luminosity relation of galaxies at z > 7, using the NIRCam imaging data obtained by the GLASS James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science (GLASS-JWST-ERS) program, providing the deepest extragalactic data of the ERS campaign. Our sample consists of 19 photometrically selected bright galaxies with m _F444W ≤ 27.8 at 7 < z < 9 and m _F444W < 28.2 at z ~ 9-15. We measure the size of the galaxies in five bands, from rest-frame optical (~4800 Å) to the UV (~1600 Å) based on the Sérsic model, and analyse the size-luminosity relation as a function of wavelength. Remarkably, the data quality of the NIRCam imaging is sufficient to probe the half-light radius r _e down to ~100 pc at z > 7. Given the limited sample size and magnitude range, we first fix the slope to that observed for larger samples in rest-frame UV using Hubble Space Telescope samples. The median size r ₀ at the reference luminosity M = -21 decreases slightly from rest-frame optical (600 ± 80 pc) to UV (450 ± 130 pc). We then refit the size-luminosity relation allowing the slope to vary. The slope is consistent with β ~ 0.2 for all bands except F150W, where we find a marginally steeper slope of β = 0.53 ± 0.15. The steep UV slope is mainly driven by the smallest and faintest galaxies. If confirmed by larger samples, it implies that the UV size-luminosity relation breaks toward the faint end, as suggested by lensing studies.

Links

• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/2207.13101
• NED https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/uri/NED::InRefcode/2022ApJ...938L..17Y
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.3847%2F2041-8213%2Fac8803
• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2022ApJ...938L..17Y
• PDF https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac8803/pdf
• DATA https://archive.stsci.edu/mastbibref.php?bibcode=2022ApJ...938L..17Y