CaltechAUTHORS
Published October 1, 2023 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

UV-bright Star-forming Clumps and Their Host Galaxies in UVCANDELS at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 1

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Missouri
  • 2. ROR icon University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 3. ROR icon National Astronomical Observatories
  • 4. ROR icon Beijing Normal University
  • 5. ROR icon Space Telescope Science Institute
  • 6. ROR icon Johns Hopkins University
  • 7. ROR icon Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
  • 8. ROR icon Arizona State University
  • 9. ROR icon Autonomous University of Madrid
  • 10. ROR icon Carnegie Observatories
  • 11. ROR icon University of Manchester
  • 12. ROR icon Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • 13. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center
  • 14. ROR icon Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
  • 15. ROR icon Stockholm University
  • 16. ROR icon University of Arizona
  • 17. ROR icon University of California, Santa Cruz
  • 18. ROR icon University of California, Riverside
  • 19. ROR icon Minnesota State University, Mankato
  • 20. ROR icon Computational Physics (United States)

Abstract

Giant star-forming clumps are a prominent feature of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and contain important clues on galaxy formation and evolution. However, the basic demographics of clumps and their host galaxies remain uncertain. Using the Hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Camera 3 F275W images from the Ultraviolet Imaging of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey, we detect and analyze giant star-forming clumps in galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 1, connecting two epochs when clumps are common (at cosmic high noon, z ∼ 2) and rare (in the local Universe). We construct a clump sample whose rest-frame 1600 Å luminosity is 3 times higher than the most luminous local H ii regions (MUV ≤ −16 AB). In our sample, 35% ± 3% of low-mass galaxies (log[M∗/M⊙] < 10) are clumpy (i.e., containing at least one off-center clump). This fraction changes to 22% ± 3% and 22% ± 4% for intermediate (10 ≤ log[M∗/M⊙] ≤ 10.5) and high-mass (log[M∗/M⊙] > 10.5) galaxies, in agreement with previous studies. When compared to similar-mass nonclumpy SFGs, low- and intermediate-mass clumpy SFGs tend to have higher star formation rates (SFRs) and bluer rest-frame U − V colors, while high-mass clumpy SFGs tend to be larger than nonclumpy SFGs. However, clumpy and nonclumpy SFGs have similar Sérsic index, indicating a similar underlying density profile. Furthermore, we investigate how the UV luminosity of star-forming regions correlates with the physical properties of host galaxies. On average, more luminous star-forming regions reside in more luminous, smaller, and/or higher specific SFR galaxies and are found closer to their hosts' galactic centers.

Copyright and License

© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

Acknowledgement

This work is based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Support for program numbers HST-GO-15647 and HST-AR-15798 was provided through a grant from the STScI under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

D.C. is a Ramon-Cajal Researcher and is supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICIU/FEDER) under research grant No. PGC2018-094975-C21.

Y.S.D. acknowledges the support from National Key R&D Program of China for grant No. 2022YFA1605300, and the NSFC grant Nos. 12273051 and 11933003.

The specific observations analyzed can be accessed via 10.17909/96zb-g146.

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Additional details

Related works

Is new version of
Discussion Paper: arXiv:2308.00041 (arXiv)
Is supplemented by
Dataset: 10.17909/96zb-g146 (DOI)

Funding

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NAS5-26555
Space Telescope Science Institute
HST-GO-15647
Space Telescope Science Institute
HST-AR-15798
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
PGC2018-094975-C21
Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
2022YFA1605300
National Natural Science Foundation of China
12273051
National Natural Science Foundation of China
11933003

Dates

Accepted
2023-08-01
Available
2023-09-22
Published

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (PMA)
Publication Status
Published