OASIS III: Bursty star formation drives observed galaxy sizes at $z\geq4$

Abstract

We employ JWST/NIRSpec MSA PRISM spectroscopy together with NIRCam imaging to investigate the impact of star-formation variability on galaxy sizes for a representative sample of 51 galaxies at $z\geq4$. The OASIS survey enables us to probe low-star-formation-rate (SFR) lulling and mini-quenched galaxies down to $\log_{10}(M_\star/M_\odot)=8.3$ and $\log_{10}(\mathrm{SFR}/M_\odot\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1})<-1.6$, i.e. more than one order of magnitude below the star-forming main sequence (MS). This enables us to probe objects that are often missed by shallower spectroscopic surveys, in addition to the MS and starburst systems, yielding an SFR- and mass-representative sample at high redshift. We derive galaxy half-light sizes using ForcePho, enabling us to resolve the highly compact nature of these sources, and we analyse their star-formation histories and interstellar medium (ISM) properties with the full-spectral-fitting code ppxf. We find a clear anti-correlation between burstiness, as traced by the ratio of the SFR from H$α$ compared to that from non-parametric spectral fitting averaged over 100 Myr, and galaxy UV/optical half-light radii as measured with ForcePho from a combination of well-sampled NIRCam photometry. Using partial correlation coefficients we show that the anti-correlation between burstiness (as traced by the SFR ratio) and size cannot simply be explained by secondary dependencies on stellar mass or redshift. We interpret this relation as the effect of central starbursts in SFR-rising (bursting) systems, where intense central star formation reduces measured galaxy half-light sizes. This burstiness then regulates galaxy sizes at high redshift. Should the same mechanism be present at $z>10$, this could explain the size bimodality seen in the UV luminous galaxies as simply stemming from a more fundamental relationship between burstiness and size.