Kavli Affiliate: Roberto Maiolino
| First 5 Authors: Brant E. Robertson, Sandro Tacchella, Benjamin D. Johnson, Ryan Hausen, Adebusola B. Alabi
| Summary:
The dramatic first images with James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) demonstrated
its power to provide unprecedented spatial detail for galaxies in the
high-redshift universe. Here, we leverage the resolution and depth of the JWST
Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS) data in the Extended
Groth Strip (EGS) to perform pixel-level morphological classifications of
galaxies in JWST F150W imaging using the Morpheus deep learning framework for
astronomical image analysis. By cross-referencing with existing photometric
redshift catalogs from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) CANDELS survey, we show
that JWST images indicate the emergence of disk morphologies before z~2 and
with candidates appearing as early as z~5. By modeling the light profile of
each object and accounting for the JWST point-spread function, we find the
high-redshift disk candidates have exponential surface brightness profiles with
an average Sersic (1968) index n=1.04 and >90% displaying "disky" profiles
(n<2). Comparing with prior Morpheus classifications in CANDELS we find that a
plurality of JWST disk galaxy candidates were previously classified as compact
based on the shallower HST imagery, indicating that the improved optical
quality and depth of the JWST helps to reveal disk morphologies that were
hiding in the noise. We discuss the implications of these early disk candidates
on theories for cosmological disk galaxy formation.
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