The Rest-Frame Optical Morphology of Emission Line Galaxies at 2 < z < 3: Evidence for Inside-Out Formation in Low-Mass Galaxies

TL;DR

This study compares UV and optical morphologies of high-redshift star-forming galaxies, providing evidence for inside-out formation where galaxies grow from the inside out over the first 2 billion years.

Contribution

It presents a detailed comparison of galaxy morphologies at different wavelengths, revealing inside-out growth patterns in low-mass galaxies at z > 2.

Findings

Optical sizes and concentrations are similar for emission-line galaxies and Lyman-alpha emitters.

Galaxies become smaller and more compact from UV to optical wavelengths.

Inside-out formation is supported by observed size and concentration trends.

Abstract

We compare the rest-frame ultraviolet and rest-frame optical morphologies of 2 < z < 3 star-forming galaxies in the GOODS-S field using Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 and ACS images from the CANDELS, GOODS, and ERS programs. We show that the distribution of sizes and concentrations for 1.90 < z < 2.35 galaxies selected via their rest-frame optical emission-lines are statistically indistinguishable from those of Lyman-alpha emitting systems found at z ~ 2.1 and z ~ 3.1. We also show that the z > 2 star-forming systems of all sizes and masses become smaller and more compact as one shifts the observing window from the UV to the optical. We argue that this offset is due to inside-out galaxy formation over the first ~ 2 Gyr of cosmic time.