CEERS Key Paper. IV. A Triality in the Nature of HST-dark Galaxies

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Authors
Pérez-González, Pablo G.  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4528-5639
Annunziatella, Marianna  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8053-8040
García-Argumánez, Ángela  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8365-5525
Abstract

The new capabilities that JWST offers in the near- and mid-infrared (IR) are used to investigate in unprecedented detail the nature of optical/near-IR-faint, mid-IR-bright sources, with HST-dark galaxies among them. We gather JWST data from the CEERS survey in the Extended Groth Strip, jointly with HST data, and analyze spatially resolved optical-to-mid-IR spectral energy distributions to estimate photometric redshifts in two dimensions and stellar population properties on a pixel-by-pixel basis for red galaxies detected by NIRCam. We select 138 galaxies with F150W − F356W > 1.5 mag and F356W < 27.5 mag. The nature of these sources is threefold: (1) 71% are dusty star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at 2 < z < 6 with 9<logM⋆/M⊙<11 and a variety of specific SFRs (<1 to >100 Gyr−1); (2) 18% are quiescent/dormant (i.e., subject to reignition/rejuvenation) galaxies (QGs) at 3 < z < 5, with logM⋆/M⊙∼10 and poststarburst mass-weighted ages (0.5–1.0 Gyr); and (3) 11% are strong young starbursts with indications of high equivalent width emission lines (typically, [O iii]+Hβ) at 6 < z < 7 (XELG-z6) and logM⋆/M⊙∼9.5 . The sample is dominated by disk-like galaxies with remarkable compactness for XELG-z6 (effective radii smaller than 0.4 kpc). Large attenuations in SFGs, 2 < A(V) < 5 mag, are found within 1.5 times the effective radius, approximately 2 kpc, while QGs present A(V) ∼ 0.2 mag. Our SED-fitting technique reproduces the expected dust emission luminosities of IR-bright and submillimeter galaxies. This study implies high levels of star formation activity between z ∼ 20 and z ∼ 10, where virtually 100% of our galaxies had already formed 108 M ⊙, 60% had assembled 109 M ⊙, and 10% up to 1010 M ⊙ (in situ or ex situ).

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Keywords
Galaxy evolution, Galaxy formation, Galaxy photometry, Galaxy ages, Quenched galaxies, Starburst galaxies, Galaxy quenching, Broad band photometry, James Webb Space Telescope, High-redshift galaxies, Stellar populations, Galaxy processes
Journal Title
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
2041-8205
2041-8213
Volume Title
946
Publisher
The American Astronomical Society