arXiv subjects

Carlos Gómez-Guijarro

Publications and source records attributed to Carlos Gómez-Guijarro.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Compact dust-obscured star-formation and the origin of the galaxy bimodality

During the last decade, studies about highly attenuated and massive red star-forming galaxies (RedSFGs) at $z \sim 4$ have suggested that they could constitute a crucial population for unraveling the mechanisms driving the transition from vigorous star formation to quiescence at high redshifts. Since such a transition seems to be linked to a morphological transformation, studying the morphological properties of these RedSFGs is essential to our understanding of galaxy evolution. To this end, we are using JWST/NIRCam images from the CEERS survey to assemble a mass-complete sample of 188 massive galaxies at $z=3-4$, for which we perform resolved-SED fit. After classifying galaxies into typical blue SFGs (BlueSFGs), RedSFGs and quiescent galaxies (QGs), we compare the morphologies of each population in terms of stellar mass density, SFR density, sSFR, dust-attenuation and mass-weighted age. We find that RedSFGs and QGs present similar stellar surface density profiles and that RedSFGs manifest a dust attenuation concentration significantly higher than that of BlueSFGs at all masses. This indicates that to become quiescent, a BlueSFG must transit through a major compaction phase once it has become sufficiently massive. At the same time, we find RedSFGs and QGs to account for more than $50\%$ of galaxies with ${\rm log}(M_\ast/M_\odot)> 10.4$ at this redshift. This transition mass corresponds to the "critical mass" delineating the bimodality between BlueSFGs and QGs in the local Universe. We then conclude that there is a bimodality between extended BlueSFGs and compact, highly attenuated RedSFGs that have undergone a major gas compaction phase enabling the latter to build a massive bulb in situ. There is evidence that this early-stage separation is at the origin of the local bimodality between BlueSFGs and QGs, which we refer to as a "primeval bimodality".

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arXiv2024

PRIMER: JWST/MIRI reveals the evolution of star-forming structures in galaxies at z<2.5

The stellar structures of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) undergo significant size growth during their mass assembly and must pass through a compaction phase as they evolve into quiescent galaxies (QGs). To shed light on the mechanisms behind this structural evolution, we study the morphology of the star-forming components of 665 SFGs at 0 10^{10.5}M_\odot$). The compact star-forming components of these galaxies are also concentrated and slightly spheroidal, suggesting that this compaction phase can build dense bulge in-situ. Finally, we identify a third population of SFGs (19%), with both compact stellar and star-forming components. The density of their stellar cores resemble those of QGs and are compatible with being the descendants of EC galaxy. Overall, the structural evolution of SFGs is mainly dominated by a secular inside-out growth, which can, however, be interrupted by violent compaction phase(s) that can build dominant stellar bulges like those in massive SFGs or QGs.

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arXiv2024

Strong spectral features from asymptotic giant branch stars in distant quiescent galaxies

Dating the ages and weighting the stellar populations in galaxies are essential steps when studying galaxy formation through cosmic times. Evolutionary population synthesis models with different input physics are used for this purpose. Moreover, the contribution from the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stellar phase, which peaks for intermediate-age 0.6-2 Gyr, has been debated for decades. Here we report the detection of strong cool-star signatures in the rest-frame near-infrared spectra of three young (~1Gyr), massive (~10^10Msun) quiescent galaxies at large look-back time, z=1-2, using JWST/NIRSpec. The coexistence of oxygen- and carbon-type absorption features, spectral edges and features from rare species, such as vanadium and possibly zirconium, reveal a strong contribution from TP-AGB stars. Population synthesis models with a significant TP-AGB contribution reproduce the observations better than those with a weak TP-AGB, which are commonly used. These findings call for revisions of published stellar population fitting results, as they point to populations with lower masses and younger ages and have further implications for cosmic dust production and chemical enrichment. New generations of improved models are needed, informed by these and future observations.

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arXiv2024

In-Situ Spheroid Formation in Distant Submillimeter-Bright Galaxies

The majority of stars in today's Universe reside within spheroids, which are bulges of spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies. Their formation is still an unsolved problem. Infrared/submm-bright galaxies at high redshifts have long been suspected to be related to spheroids formation. Proving this connection has been hampered so far by heavy dust obscuration when focusing on their stellar emission or by methodologies and limited signal-to-noise ratios when looking at submm wavelengths. Here we show that spheroids are directly generated by star formation within the cores of highly luminous starburst galaxies in the distant Universe. This follows from the ALMA submillimeter surface brightness profiles which deviate significantly from those of exponential disks, and from the skewed-high axis-ratio distribution. The majority of these galaxies are fully triaxial rather than flat disks: the ratio of the shortest to the longest of their three axes is half, on average, and increases with spatial compactness. These observations, supported by simulations, reveal a cosmologically relevant pathway for in-situ spheroid formation through starbursts likely preferentially triggered by interactions (and mergers) acting on galaxies fed by non-co-planar gas accretion streams.

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arXiv2024

Accelerated Formation of Ultra-Massive Galaxies in the First Billion Years

Recent JWST observations have revealed an unexpected abundance of massive galaxy candidates in the early Universe, extending further in redshift and to lower luminosity than what had previously been found by sub-millimeter surveys. These JWST candidates have been interpreted as challenging the $Λ$CDM cosmology, but, so far, they have mostly relied only on rest-frame ultraviolet data and lacked spectroscopic confirmation of their redshifts. Here we report a systematic study of 36 massive dust-obscured galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts between $z_{\rm spec}=5-9$ from the JWST FRESCO survey. We find no tension with the $Λ$CDM model in our sample. However, three ultra-massive galaxies (log$M_{\star}/M_{\odot}$ $\gtrsim11.0$) require an exceptional fraction of 50% of baryons converted into stars -- two to three times higher than even the most efficient galaxies at later epochs. The contribution from an active nucleus is unlikely because of their extended emission. Ultra-massive galaxies account for as much as 17% of the total cosmic star formation rate density at $z\sim5-6$.

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arXiv2024

NOEMA formIng Cluster survEy (NICE): Characterizing eight massive galaxy groups at $1.5 < z < 4$ in the COSMOS field

The NOEMA formIng Cluster survEy (NICE) is a large program targeting 69 massive galaxy group candidates at $z>2$ in six deep fields. We report spectroscopic confirmation of eight groups at $1.65\leq z\leq3.61$ in COSMOS. Homogeneously selected as significant overdensities of red IRAC sources with red Herschel colors, four groups are confirmed by CO and [CI] with NOEMA 3mm observations, three are confirmed with ALMA, and one is confirmed by H$α$ from Subaru/FMOS. We constructed the integrated FIR SEDs for the eight groups, obtaining total IR SFR $=260-1300~{\rm M_\odot}$~yr$^{-1}$. We adopted six methods to estimate the dark matter masses, including stellar mass to halo mass relations, overdensity with galaxy bias, and NFW profile fitting to radial stellar mass density. We found the radial stellar mass density are consistent with a NFW profile, supporting that they are collapsed structures hosted by a single dark matter halo. The best halo mass estimates are $\log(M_{\rm h}/{\rm M_\odot})=12.8-13.7$ with uncertainty of 0.3 dex. From halo mass estimates, we derive baryonic accretion rate ${\rm BAR}=(1-8)\times10^{3}\,{\rm M_{\odot}/yr}$ for this sample. We find a quasi-linear correlation between the integrated SFR/BAR and the theoretical halo mass limit for cold streams, $M_{\rm stream}/M_{\rm h}$, with ${\rm SFR/BAR}=10^{-0.46\pm0.22}\left({M_{\rm stream}/M_{\rm h}}\right)^{0.71\pm0.16}$ with a scatter of $0.40\,{\rm dex}$. Further, we compare halo masses and stellar masses with simulations, and find all structures are consistent with being progenitors of $M_{\rm h}(z=0)>10^{14}\,{\rm M_{\odot}}$ galaxy clusters, and the most massive central galaxies have stellar masses consistent with brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) progenitors in the TNG300 simulation. The results strongly suggest these structures are forming massive galaxy clusters via baryonic and dark matter accretion.

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arXiv2024

A$^3$COSMOS: Measuring the cosmic dust-attenuated star formation rate density at $4 < z < 5$

[Abridged] In recent years, conflicting results have provided an uncertain view of the dust-attenuated properties of $z>4$ star-forming galaxies (SFGs). To solve this, we used the deepest data publicly available in COSMOS to build a mass-complete ($>10^{9.5}\,M_{\odot}$) sample of SFGs at $4 M_\ast)$ converges at $M_\ast<10^{9}\,M_\odot$ and is dominated by SFGs with $M_\ast\sim10^{9.5-10.5}\,M_\odot$. The fraction of the cosmic SFRD that is attenuated by dust, ${\rm SFRD}_{\rm IR}(>M_\ast)/ {\rm SFRD}(>M_\ast)$, is $90\pm4\%$ for $M_\ast\,=\,10^{10}\,M_\odot$, $68\pm10\%$ for $M_\ast=10^{8.9}\,M_\odot$ (i.e., $0.03\times M^\star$; $M^\star$ being the characteristic stellar mass of SFGs) and this value converges to $60\pm10\%$ for $M_\ast=10^{8}\,M_\odot$. Even at this early epoch, the fraction of the cosmic SFRD that is attenuated by dust remains thus significant.

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arXiv2024

Noema formIng Cluster survEy (NICE): Discovery of a starbursting galaxy group with a radio-luminous core at z=3.95

The study of distant galaxy groups and clusters at the peak epoch of star formation is limited by the lack of a statistically and homogeneously selected and spectroscopically confirmed sample. Recent discoveries of concentrated starburst activities in cluster cores have opened a new window to hunt for these structures based on their integrated IR luminosities. Hereby we carry out the large NOEMA (NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array) program targeting a statistical sample of infrared-luminous sources associated with overdensities of massive galaxies at z>2, the Noema formIng Cluster survEy (NICE). We present the first result from the ongoing NICE survey, a compact group at z=3.95 in the Lockman Hole field (LH-SBC3), confirmed via four massive (M_star>10^10.5M_sun) galaxies detected in CO(4-3) and [CI](1-0) lines. The four CO-detected members of LH-SBC3 are distributed over a 180 kpc physical scale, and the entire structure has an estimated halo mass of ~10^13Msun and total star formation rate (SFR) of ~4000Msun/yr. In addition, the most massive galaxy hosts a radio-loud AGN with L_1.4GHz, rest = 3.0*10^25W/Hz. The discovery of LH-SBC3 demonstrates the feasibility of our method to efficiently identify high-z compact groups or forming cluster cores. The existence of these starbursting cluster cores up to z~4 provides critical insights into the mass assembly history of the central massive galaxies in clusters.

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arXiv2024

Measuring the gas reservoirs in $10^{8}<$ M$_\star<10^{11}$ M$_\odot$ galaxies at $1\leq z\leq3$

Understanding the gas content in galaxies, its consumption and replenishment, remains pivotal in our comprehension of the evolution of the Universe. Numerous studies have addressed this, utilizing various observational tools and analytical methods. These include examining low-transition $^{12}$CO millimeter rotational lines and exploring the far-infrared and the (sub-)millimeter emission of galaxies. With the capabilities of present-day facilities, much of this research has been centered on relatively bright galaxies. We aim at exploring the gas reservoirs of a more general type of galaxy population at $1.0\leq z\leq 3.0$. We stack ALMA 1.1 mm data to measure the gas content of a mass-complete sample down to $\sim10^{8.6}$ M$_\odot$ at $z=1$ ($\sim10^{9.2}$ M$_\odot$ at $z=3$), extracted from the HST/CANDELS sample in GOODS-S. The sample is composed of 5,530 on average blue ($ \sim0.12$ mag, $ \sim0.81$ mag), star-forming main sequence objects ($Δ$MS$\sim-0.03$). We report measurements at $10^{10-11}$ M$_\odot$ and upper limits for the gas fractions at $10^{8-10}$ M$_\odot$. At $10^{10-11}$ M$_\odot$, our f$_{\mathrm{gas}}$, ranging from 0.32 to 0.48, agree well with other studies based on mass-complete samples down to $10^{10}$ M$_\odot$, and are lower than expected according to other works more biased to individual detections. At $10^{9-10}$ M$_\odot$, we obtain 3$σ$ upper limits for f$_{\mathrm{gas}}$ ranging from 0.69 to 0.77. These upper limits are on the level of the extrapolations of scaling relations based on mass-complete samples down to $10^{10}$ M$_\odot$. As such, it suggests that the gas content of low-mass galaxies is at most what is extrapolated from literature scaling relations. The comparison of our results with previous works reflects how the inclusion of bluer, less obscured, and more MS-like objects progressively pushes the gas level to lower values.

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arXiv2023

Fitting pseudo-S${\rm \acute{e}}$rsic(Spergel) light profiles to galaxies in interferometric data: the excellence of the $uv$-plane

Modern (sub)millimeter interferometers, such as ALMA and NOEMA, offer high angular resolution and unprecedented sensitivity. This provides the possibility to characterize the morphology of the gas and dust in distant galaxies. To assess the capabilities of current softwares in recovering morphologies and surface brightness profiles in interferometric observations, we test the performance of the Spergel model for fitting in the $uv$-plane, which has been recently implemented in the IRAM software GILDAS (uv$\_$fit). Spergel profiles provide an alternative to the Sersic profile, with the advantage of having an analytical Fourier transform, making them ideal to model visibilities in the $uv$-plane. We provide an approximate conversion between Spergel index and Sersic index, which depends on the ratio of the galaxy size to the angular resolution of the data. We show through extensive simulations that Spergel modeling in the $uv$-plane is a more reliable method for parameter estimation than modeling in the image-plane, as it returns parameters that are less affected by systematic biases and results in a higher effective signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). The better performance in the $uv$-plane is likely driven by the difficulty of accounting for correlated signal in interferometric images. Even in the $uv$-plane, the integrated source flux needs to be at least 50 times larger than the noise per beam to enable a reasonably good measurement of a Spergel index. We characterise the performance of Spergel model fitting in detail by showing that parameters biases are generally low (< 10%) and that uncertainties returned by uv$\_$fit are reliable within a factor of two. Finally, we showcase the power of Spergel fitting by re-examining two claims of extended halos around galaxies from the literature, showing that galaxies and halos can be successfully fitted simultaneously with a single Spergel model.

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arXiv2023

Massive galaxy formation caught in action at z~5 with JWST

We report the discovery of a compact group of galaxies, CGG-z5, at z~5.2 in the EGS field covered by the JWST/CEERS survey. CGG-z5 was selected as the highest overdensity of galaxies at z>2 in recent JWST public surveys and it consists of six candidate members lying within a projected area of $1.5"\times3"$ (10$\times$20~kpc$^2$). All group members are HST/F435W and HST/F606W dropouts while securely detected in the JWST/NIRCam bands, yielding a narrow range of robust photometric redshifts $5.0 11$) at z~1. This implies that CGG-z5 could be a "proto-massive galaxy" captured during a short-lived phase of massive galaxy formation.

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arXiv2023

CEERS: MIRI deciphers the spatial distribution of dust-obscured star formation in galaxies at $0.1<z<2.5$

[Abridged] We combined HST images from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey with JWST images from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey to measure the stellar and dust-obscured star formation distributions of a mass-complete ($>10^{10}M_\odot$) sample of 69 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at $0.1 75$; 35 galaxies). At lower $S/N$, simulations show that simultaneous measurements of the size and Sérsic index become unreliable. We extended our study to fainter sources ($S/N>10$; 69 galaxies) by fixing their Sérsic index to unity. The Sérsic index of bright galaxies ($S/N>75$) has a median value of 0.7, which, together with their axis ratio distribution, suggests a disk-like morphology in the rest-MIR. Galaxies above the main sequence (MS; i.e., starbursts) have rest-MIR sizes that are a factor 2 smaller than their rest-optical sizes. The median rest-optical to rest-MIR size ratio of MS galaxies increases with stellar mass, from 1.1 at $10^{9.8}M_\odot$ to 1.6 at $10^{11}M_\odot$. This mass-dependent trend resembles the one found in the literature between the rest-optical and rest-near-infrared sizes of SFGs, suggesting that it is due to radial color gradients affecting rest-optical sizes and that the sizes of the stellar and star-forming components of SFGs are, on average, consistent at all masses. There is, however, a small population of SFGs (15%) with a compact star-forming component embedded in a larger stellar structure. This could be the missing link between galaxies with an extended stellar component and those with a compact stellar component, the so-called blue nuggets.

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arXiv2023

JWST CEERS probes the role of stellar mass and morphology in obscuring galaxies

In recent years, observations have uncovered a population of massive galaxies that are invisible or very faint in deep optical/near-infrared (near-IR) surveys but brighter at longer wavelengths. However, the nature of these optically dark or faint galaxies (OFGs; one of several names given to these objects) is highly uncertain. In this work, we investigate the drivers of dust attenuation in the JWST era. In particular, we study the role of stellar mass, size, and orientation in obscuring star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at $3 < z < 7.5$, focusing on the question of why OFGs and similar galaxies are so faint at optical/near-IR wavelengths. We find that stellar mass is the primary proxy for dust attenuation, among the properties studied. Effective radius and axis ratio do not show a clear link with dust attenuation, with the effect of orientation being close to random. However, there is a subset of highly dust attenuated ($A_V > 1$, typically) SFGs, of which OFGs are a specific case. For this subset, we find that the key distinctive feature is their compact size (for massive systems with $\log (M_{*}/M_{\odot}) > 10$); OFGs exhibit a 30% smaller effective radius than the average SFG at the same stellar mass and redshift. On the contrary, OFGs do not exhibit a preference for low axis ratios (i.e., edge-on disks). The results in this work show that stellar mass is the primary proxy for dust attenuation and compact stellar light profiles behind the thick dust columns obscuring typical massive SFGs.

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arXiv2023

A z=1.85 galaxy group in CEERS: evolved, dustless, massive intra-halo light and a brightest group galaxy in the making

We present CEERS JWST/NIRCam imaging of a massive galaxy group at z=1.85, to explore the early JWST view on massive group formation in the distant Universe. The group contains >16 members (including 6 spectros. confirmations) down to log10(Mstar/Msun)=8.5, including the brightest group galaxy (BGG) in the process of actively assembling at this redshift. The BGG is comprised of multiple merging components extending ~3.6" (30kpc) across the sky. The BGG contributes 69% of the group's total galactic stellar mass, with one of the merging components containing 76% of the total mass of the BGG and a SFR>1810Msun/yr. Most importantly, we detect intra-halo light (IHL) in several HST and JWST/NIRCam bands, allowing us to construct a state-of-the-art rest-frame UV-NIR Spectral Energy Distribution of the IHL for the first time at this high redshift. This allows stellar population characterisation of both the IHL and member galaxies, as well as the morphology distribution of group galaxies vs. their star-formation activity when coupled with Herschel data. We create a stacked image of the IHL, giving us a sensitivity to extended emission of 28.5 mag/arcsec2 at rest-frame 1um. We find that the IHL is extremely dust poor (Av~0), containing an evolved stellar population of log10(t50/yr)=8.8, corresponding to a formation epoch for 50% of the stellar material 0.63Gyr before z=1.85. There is no evidence of ongoing star-formation in the IHL. The IHL in this group at z=1.85 contributes ~10% of the total stellar mass, comparable with what is observed in local clusters. This suggests that the evolution of the IHL fraction is more self-similar with redshift than predicted by some models, challenging our understanding of IHL formation during the assembly of high-redshift clusters. JWST is unveiling a new side of group formation at this redshift, which will evolve into Virgo-like structures in the local Universe.

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arXiv2023

"Dust Giant": Extended and Clumpy Star-Formation in a Massive Dusty Galaxy at $z=1.38$

We present NOEMA CO (2-1) line and ALMA 870 $μ$m continuum observations of a main-sequence galaxy at $z=1.38$. The galaxy was initially selected as a "gas-giant", based on the gas mass derived from sub-mm continuum (log$(M_{\rm gas}/M_{\odot})=11.20\pm0.20$), however the gas mass derived from CO (2-1) luminosity brings down the gas mass to a value consistent with typical star-forming galaxies at that redshift (log$(M_{\rm gas}/M_{\odot})=10.84\pm0.03$). Despite that the dust-to-stellar mass ratio remains elevated above the scaling relations by a factor of 5. We explore the potential physical picture and consider an underestimated stellar mass and optically thick dust as possible causes. Based on the updated gas-to-stellar mass ratio we rule out the former, and while the latter can contribute to the dust mass overestimate it is still not sufficient to explain the observed physical picture. Instead, possible explanations include enhanced HI reservoirs, CO-dark H$_2$ gas, an unusually high metallicity, or the presence of an optically dark, dusty contaminant. Using the ALMA data at 870 $μ$m coupled with $HST$/ACS imaging, we find extended morphology in dust continuum and clumpy star-formation in rest-frame UV in this galaxy, and a tentative $\sim 10$ kpc dusty arm is found bridging the galaxy center and a clump in F814W image. The galaxy shows levels of dust obscuration similar to the so-called $HST$-dark galaxies at higher redshifts, and would fall into the optically faint/dark $JWST$ color-color selection at $z>2$. It is therefore possible that our object could serve as low-$z$ analog of the $HST$-dark populations. This galaxy serves as a caveat to the gas masses based on the continuum alone, with a larger sample required to unveil the full picture.

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arXiv2023

Two massive, compact, and dust-obscured candidate $z\sim 8$ galaxies discovered by JWST

We present a search for extremely red, dust-obscured, $z>7$ galaxies with $\textit{JWST}$/NIRCam+MIRI imaging over the first 20 arcmin$^2$ of publicly-available Cycle 1 data from the COSMOS-Web, CEERS, and PRIMER surveys. Based on their red color in F277W$-$F444W ($\sim 2.5$ mag) and detection in MIRI/F770W ($\sim 25$ mag), we identify two galaxies$\unicode{x2014}$COS-z8M1 and CEERS-z7M1$\unicode{x2014}$which have best-fit photometric redshifts of $z=8.5^{+0.3}_{-0.4}$ and $z=7.6^{+0.1}_{-0.1}$, respectively. We perform SED fitting with a variety of codes (including BAGPIPES, PROSPECTOR, BEAGLE, and CIGALE), and find a $>95\%$ probability that these indeed lie at $z>7$. Both sources are compact ($R_{\rm eff} \lesssim 200$ pc), highly obscured ($A_V \sim 1.5$$\unicode{x2013}$$2.5$), and, at our best-fit redshift estimates, likely have strong [OIII]+H$β$ emission contributing to their $4.4\,μ$m photometry. We estimate stellar masses of $\sim 10^{10}~M_\odot$ for both sources; by virtue of detection in MIRI at $7.7\,μ$m, these measurements are robust to the inclusion of bright emission lines, for example, from an AGN. We identify a marginal (2.9$σ$) ALMA detection at 2 mm within $0.5''$ of COS-z8M1, which if real, would suggest a remarkably high IR luminosity of $\sim 10^{12} L_\odot$. These two galaxies, if confirmed at $z\sim 8$, would be extreme in their stellar and dust masses, and may be representative of a substantial population of modestly dust-obscured galaxies at cosmic dawn.

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arXiv2023

CEERS Key Paper V: A triality on the nature of HST-dark galaxies

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, HST-dark galaxies among them. We gather JWST data from the CEERS survey in the EGS, jointly with HST data, and analyze spatially resolved optical-to-mid-IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to estimate both photometric redshifts in 2 dimensions and stellar populations properties in a pixel-by-pixel basis. We select 138 galaxies with F150W-F356W>1.5 mag, F356W<27.5 mag. The nature of these sources is threefold: (1) 71% are dusty star-forming galaxies at 2 100 Gyr^-1); (2) 18% are quiescent/dormant (i.e., subject to reignition and rejuvenation) galaxies at 3<z<5, masses log M/M_sun~10 and post-starburst stellar mass-weighted ages (0.5-1 Gyr); and (3) 11% are strong young starbursts with indications of high-EW emission lines (typically, [OIII]+Hbeta) at 6<z<7 and log M/M_sun~9.5. The sample is dominated by disk-like galaxies with a 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 sub-millimeter 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 10^8 M_sun of their stellar content, 60% of them had assembled 10^9 M_sun, and 10% up to 10^10 M_sun (in situ or ex situ). (abridged)

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arXiv2023

$JWST$ Insight Into a Lensed $HST$-dark Galaxy and its Quiescent Companion at $z=2.58$

Using the novel $JWST$/NIRCam observations in the Abell 2744 field, we present a first spatially resolved overview of an $HST$-dark galaxy, spectroscopically confirmed at $z=2.58$ with magnification $μ\approx1.9$. While being largely invisible at $\sim$1 $μ$m with NIRCam, except for sparse clumpy sub-structures, the object is well-detected and resolved in the long-wavelength bands with a spiral shape clearly visible in F277W. By combining ancillary ALMA and $Herschel$ data, we infer that this object is an edge-on dusty spiral with an intrinsic stellar mass log$(M_*/M_\odot)\sim11.3$ and a dust-obscured SFR$\sim 300~M_\odot$~yr$^{-1}$. A massive quiescent galaxy (log$(M_*/M_\odot)\sim10.8$) with tidal features lies 2\farcs{0} away ($r$$\sim$9 kpc), at a consistent redshift as inferred by $JWST$ photometry, indicating a potential major merger. The dusty spiral lies on the main-sequence of star formation, and shows high dust attenuation in the optical ($3 4$ would be only detectable in F356W and F444W in UNCOVER-like survey, and become totally $JWST$-dark at $z\sim6$. This suggests that detecting highly attenuated galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization might be a challenging task for $JWST$.

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