TY - JOUR
T1 - Panic! at the Disks
T2 - First Rest-frame Optical Observations of Galaxy Structure at z > 3 with JWST in the SMACS 0723 Field
AU - Ferreira, Leonardo
AU - Adams, Nathan
AU - Conselice, Christopher J.
AU - Sazonova, Elizaveta
AU - Austin, Duncan
AU - Caruana, Joseph
AU - Ferrari, Fabricio
AU - Verma, Aprajita
AU - Trussler, James
AU - Broadhurst, Tom
AU - Diego, Jose
AU - Frye, Brenda L.
AU - Pascale, Massimo
AU - Wilkins, Stephen M.
AU - Windhorst, Rogier A.
AU - Zitrin, Adi
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
PY - 2022/10/1
Y1 - 2022/10/1
N2 - We present early results regarding the morphological and structural properties of galaxies seen with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at z > 3 in the Early Release Observations toward the SMACS 0723 cluster field. Using JWST we investigate, for the first time, the optical morphologies of a significant number of z > 3 galaxies with accurate photometric redshifts in this field to determine the form of galaxy structure in the relatively early universe. We use visual morphologies and Morfometryka measures to perform quantitative morphology measurements, both parametric with light profile fitting (Sérsic indices) and nonparametric (concentration, asymmetry, and smoothness (CAS) values). Using these, we measure the relative fraction of disk, spheroidal, and peculiar galaxies at 3 < z < 8. We discover the surprising result that at z > 1.5 disk galaxies dominate the overall fraction of morphologies, with a factor of ∼10 relative higher number of disk galaxies than seen by the Hubble Space Telescope at these redshifts. Our visual morphological estimates of galaxies align closely with their locations in CAS parameter space and their Sérsic indices.
AB - We present early results regarding the morphological and structural properties of galaxies seen with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at z > 3 in the Early Release Observations toward the SMACS 0723 cluster field. Using JWST we investigate, for the first time, the optical morphologies of a significant number of z > 3 galaxies with accurate photometric redshifts in this field to determine the form of galaxy structure in the relatively early universe. We use visual morphologies and Morfometryka measures to perform quantitative morphology measurements, both parametric with light profile fitting (Sérsic indices) and nonparametric (concentration, asymmetry, and smoothness (CAS) values). Using these, we measure the relative fraction of disk, spheroidal, and peculiar galaxies at 3 < z < 8. We discover the surprising result that at z > 1.5 disk galaxies dominate the overall fraction of morphologies, with a factor of ∼10 relative higher number of disk galaxies than seen by the Hubble Space Telescope at these redshifts. Our visual morphological estimates of galaxies align closely with their locations in CAS parameter space and their Sérsic indices.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140310527&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac947c
DO - https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac947c
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 938
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 1
M1 - L2
ER -