The Physical Properties and Morphologies of Faint Dusty Star-forming Galaxies Identified with JWST

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Main Authors: McKay, Stephen J., Barger, Amy J., Cowie, Lennox L., Rosenthal, Michael J. Nicandro
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author McKay, Stephen J.
Barger, Amy J.
Cowie, Lennox L.
Rosenthal, Michael J. Nicandro
author_facet McKay, Stephen J.
Barger, Amy J.
Cowie, Lennox L.
Rosenthal, Michael J. Nicandro
contents We identify a sample of 234 dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) in the A2744 and GOODS-S fields using JWST/NIRCam-selected galaxies as priors for SCUBA-2 measurements. This method provides a large number of galaxies both above an 850$\,\mathrmμ$m flux of 2 mJy (47 bright DSFGs) and below (187 faint DSFGs), representing the largest sample of individually identified (i.e., not stacked) faint DSFGs to date. We observe that the NIRCam F444W and F150W fluxes are tightly correlated with redshift, with fainter sources lying at higher redshifts, suggesting that the observed near-infrared flux may be an effective way of selecting high-redshift DSFGs. We study the physical properties and morphologies of the DSFGs through spectral energy distribution fitting and parametric surface brightness profile modeling. Other than the lower star formation rates (SFRs) and total infrared luminosities in the faint DSFGs (SFR $= 80^{+81}_{-45}$; $L_{\rm IR} = 11.82^{+0.30}_{-0.36}$) compared to the bright DSFGs (SFR $= 254^{+135}_{-131}$; $L_{\rm IR} = 12.32^{+0.20}_{-0.30}$), the populations have similar properties. The stellar masses do not appear to be strongly dependent on either the SFRs or the submillimeter flux. These results suggest that the faint DSFGs are drawn from the same population of galaxies as the bright DSFGs. Based on visual inspections, we find a lower merger fraction ($\sim21$%) relative to previous HST-based studies, suggesting that dust attenuation may have impacted previous estimates of DSFG merger rates.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_00102
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Physical Properties and Morphologies of Faint Dusty Star-forming Galaxies Identified with JWST
McKay, Stephen J.
Barger, Amy J.
Cowie, Lennox L.
Rosenthal, Michael J. Nicandro
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We identify a sample of 234 dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) in the A2744 and GOODS-S fields using JWST/NIRCam-selected galaxies as priors for SCUBA-2 measurements. This method provides a large number of galaxies both above an 850$\,\mathrmμ$m flux of 2 mJy (47 bright DSFGs) and below (187 faint DSFGs), representing the largest sample of individually identified (i.e., not stacked) faint DSFGs to date. We observe that the NIRCam F444W and F150W fluxes are tightly correlated with redshift, with fainter sources lying at higher redshifts, suggesting that the observed near-infrared flux may be an effective way of selecting high-redshift DSFGs. We study the physical properties and morphologies of the DSFGs through spectral energy distribution fitting and parametric surface brightness profile modeling. Other than the lower star formation rates (SFRs) and total infrared luminosities in the faint DSFGs (SFR $= 80^{+81}_{-45}$; $L_{\rm IR} = 11.82^{+0.30}_{-0.36}$) compared to the bright DSFGs (SFR $= 254^{+135}_{-131}$; $L_{\rm IR} = 12.32^{+0.20}_{-0.30}$), the populations have similar properties. The stellar masses do not appear to be strongly dependent on either the SFRs or the submillimeter flux. These results suggest that the faint DSFGs are drawn from the same population of galaxies as the bright DSFGs. Based on visual inspections, we find a lower merger fraction ($\sim21$%) relative to previous HST-based studies, suggesting that dust attenuation may have impacted previous estimates of DSFG merger rates.
title The Physical Properties and Morphologies of Faint Dusty Star-forming Galaxies Identified with JWST
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.00102