The Intrinsic Characteristics of Galaxies on the SFR–M ∗ Plane at 1.2 < z < 4: I. The Correlation between Stellar Age, Central Density, and Position Relative to the Main Sequence
Author
Lee, Bomee
Giavalisco, Mauro

Whitaker, Katherine E.

Williams, Christina C.

Ferguson, Henry C.

Acquaviva, Viviana

Koekemoer, A.

Straughn, Amber N.
Guo, Yicheng

Kartaltepe, Jeyhan S.

Lotz, Jennifer

Pacifici, Camilla

Croton, Darren J.

Somerville, Rachel S.
Lu, Yu

Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Steward ObservIssue Date
2018-01-31
Metadata
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IOP PUBLISHING LTDCitation
The Intrinsic Characteristics of Galaxies on the SFR–M ∗ Plane at 1.2 < z < 4: I. The Correlation between Stellar Age, Central Density, and Position Relative to the Main Sequence 2018, 853 (2):131 The Astrophysical JournalJournal
The Astrophysical JournalRights
© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
We use the deep CANDELS observations in the GOODS North and South fields to revisit the correlations between stellar mass (M-*), star formation rate (SFR) and morphology, and to introduce a fourth dimension, the mass-weighted stellar age, in galaxies at 1.2 < z < 4. We do this by making new measures of M-*, SFR, and stellar age thanks to an improved SED fitting procedure that allows various star formation history for each galaxy. Like others, we find that the slope of the main sequence (MS) of star formation in the (M-*; SFR) plane bends at high mass. We observe clear morphological differences among galaxies across the MS, which also correlate with stellar age. At all redshifts, galaxies that are quenching or quenched, and thus old, have high Sigma(1) (the projected density within the central 1 kpc), while younger, star-forming galaxies span a much broader range of Sigma(1), which includes the high values observed for quenched galaxies, but also extends to much lower values. As galaxies age and quench, the stellar age and the dispersion of Sigma(1) for fixed values of M* shows two different regimes: one at the low-mass end, where quenching might be driven by causes external to the galaxies; the other at the high-mass end, where quenching is driven by internal causes, very likely the mass given the low scatter of Sigma(1) (mass quenching). We suggest that the monotonic increase of central density as galaxies grow is one manifestation of a more general phenomenon of structural transformation that galaxies undergo as they evolve.ISSN
1538-4357Version
Final published versionSponsors
NASA [NAS5-26555]; NASA through Hubble Fellowship grant - Space Telescope Science Institute [HF2-51368]; Downsbrough familyAdditional Links
http://stacks.iop.org/0004-637X/853/i=2/a=131?key=crossref.f963f08365dfd45585994b52b62fcf1bae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3847/1538-4357/aaa40f