The Size Evolution of Star-forming Galaxies Since z~7 Using ZFOURGE

TL;DR

This study presents the size evolution of star-forming galaxies from redshift 1 to 7, revealing a consistent power-law decline in size with increasing redshift and highlighting differences with Lyman break galaxy evolution.

Contribution

First to analyze size evolution of a mass-complete star-forming galaxy sample over z=1-7 using ZFOURGE and CANDELS data, providing new insights into galaxy growth.

Findings

Galaxy sizes decrease with redshift following a power law of (1+z)^-0.89

At z~7, galaxies are more compact at fixed mass compared to lower redshifts

Lyman break galaxies show a steeper size evolution, indicating different growth behaviors

Abstract

For the first time, we present the size evolution of a mass-complete (log(M*/Msol)>10) sample of star-forming galaxies over redshifts z=1-7, selected from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE). Observed H-band sizes are measured from the Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/F160W imaging. Distributions of individual galaxy masses and sizes illustrate that a clear mass-size relation exists up to z~7. At z~7, we find that the average galaxy size from the mass-size relation is more compact at a fixed mass of log(M*/Msol)=10.1, with r_1/2,maj=1.02+/-0.29 kpc, than at lower redshifts. This is consistent with our results from stacking the same CANDELS HST/F160W imaging, when we correct for galaxy position angle alignment. We find that the size evolution of star-forming galaxies is well fit by a power law of the form r_e = 7.07(1 + z)^-0.89 kpc, which is consistent with previous works for normal star-formers at 1<z<4. In order to compare our slope with those derived Lyman break galaxy studies, we correct for different IMFs and methodology and find a slope of -0.97+/-0.02, which is shallower than that reported for the evolution of Lyman break galaxies at z>4 (r_e\propto(1 +z)^-1.2+/-0.06). Therefore, we conclude the Lyman break galaxies likely represent a subset of highly star-forming galaxies that exhibit rapid size growth at z>4.