The Decomposed Bulge and Disc Size–Mass Relations of Massive Galaxies at 1 < z < 3 in CANDELS

Authors

V. A. Bruce, University of Edinburgh, UK
J. S. Dunlop, University of Edinburgh, UK
R. J. McLure, University of Edinburgh, UK
M. Cirasuolo, University of Edinburgh, UK
F. Buitrago, University of Edinburgh, UK
R. A. A. Bowler, University of Edinburgh, UK
T. A. Targett, Sonoma State University
E. F. Bell, University of Michigan
D. H. McIntosh, University of Missouri - Kansas City
A. Dekel, Hebrew University, Israel
S. M. Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz
H. C. Ferguson, Space Telescope Science Institute
N. A. Grogin, Space Telescope Science Institute
W. Hartley, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Dale D. Kocevski, University of KentuckyFollow
A. M. Koekemoer, Space Telescope Science Institute
D. C. Koo, University of California - Santa Cruz
E. J. McGrath, Colby College

Abstract

We have constructed a mass-selected sample of M_* > 10¹¹ M_⊙ galaxies at 1 < z < 3 in the CANDELS UKIDSS UDS and COSMOS fields and have decomposed these systems into their separate bulge and disc components according to their H₁₆₀-band morphologies. By extending this analysis to multiple bands, we have been able to conduct individual bulge and disc component SED fitting which has provided us with stellar-mass and star formation rate estimates for the separate bulge and disc components. Having utilized the new decomposed stellar-mass estimates, we confirm that the bulge components display a stronger size evolution than the discs. The median sizes of the bulge components is 3.09 ± 0.20 times smaller than similarly massive local galaxies over the full 1 < z < 3 redshift range; for the discs, the corresponding factor is 1.77 ± 0.10. Moreover, by splitting our sample into the passive and star-forming bulge and disc sub-populations and examining their sizes as a fraction of their present-day counter-parts, we find that the star-forming and passive bulges are equally compact, star-forming discs are larger, while the passive discs have intermediate sizes. This trend is not evident when classifying galaxy morphology on the basis of single-Sérsic fits and adopting the overall star formation rates. Finally, by evolving the star formation histories of the passive discs back to the redshifts when the passive discs were last active, we show that the passive and star-forming discs have consistent sizes at the relevant epoch. These trends need to be reproduced by any mechanisms which attempt to explain the morphological evolution of galaxies.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-21-2014

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 444, no. 2, p. 1660-1673.

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2014 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1537

Funding Information

VAB acknowledges the support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) via the award of an STFC Studentship. VAB and JSD acknowledge the support of the EC FP7 Space project ASTRODEEP (Ref. No: 312725). JSD, RAAB, FB and TAT acknowledge the support of the European Research Council via the award of an Advanced Grant. JSD and RJM acknowledge the support of the Royal Society via a Wolfson Research Merit Award and a University Research Fellowship, respectively. RJM acknowledges the support of the Leverhulme Trust via the award of a Philip Leverhulme Research Prize. MC acknowledges the support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) via the award of an STFC Advanced Fellowship. US authors acknowledge support from NASA grants for HSTProgram GO-12060. SMF, DCK, DDK and EJM also acknowledge support from NSF grant AST-08-08133.

This work is based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under NASA contract 1407.

Related Content

This work is based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under NASA contract 1407.

Repository Citation

Bruce, V. A.; Dunlop, J. S.; McLure, R. J.; Cirasuolo, M.; Buitrago, F.; Bowler, R. A. A.; Targett, T. A.; Bell, E. F.; McIntosh, D. H.; Dekel, A.; Faber, S. M.; Ferguson, H. C.; Grogin, N. A.; Hartley, W.; Kocevski, Dale D.; Koekemoer, A. M.; Koo, D. C.; and McGrath, E. J., "The Decomposed Bulge and Disc Size–Mass Relations of Massive Galaxies at 1 < z < 3 in CANDELS" (2014). Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications. 280.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/physastron_facpub/280