Difference Between Half-mass Radius and Half-light Radius of Galaxies at 0.2 $< z <$ 2.5 Revealed by JWST/NIRCam Data

TL;DR

This study compares half-light and half-mass radii of galaxies across redshifts 0.2 to 2.5 using JWST data, revealing their differences, correlations with galaxy properties, and evolutionary trends.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale analysis of the difference between half-light and half-mass radii for galaxies at these redshifts, highlighting their evolution and relation to galaxy properties.

Findings

Half-light radius is larger than half-mass radius for both galaxy types.

The difference correlates with stellar mass, size, and color.

Galaxy sizes increase over time, with distinct growth patterns for quiescent and star-forming galaxies.

Abstract

Using JWST observations in CANDELS fields, we measure the half-light radius ($r_{\rm e,light}$) and half-mass radius ($r_{\rm e,mass}$) for 14,333 galaxies with stellar masses $M_* > 10^9 M_\odot$ at redshifts $0.2 < z < 2.5$. To investigate the difference between $r_{\rm e,light}$ and $r_{\rm e,mass}$, we find that $r_{\rm e,light}$ is larger than $r_{\rm e,mass}$ for both quiescent galaxies (QGs) and star-forming galaxies (SFGs). Moreover, the difference between these two radii is clearly correlated with galaxy stellar mass, $r_{\rm e,light}$, and the rest-frame $U - V$ color. When examining the evolution of the $r_{\rm e,mass}/r_{\rm e,light}$ ratio, we observe a significant increase for SFGs at $z > 1.7$. In contrast, no clear increase is observed for QGs at $z > 1$, though a slight decreasing trend is seen between $0.2 < z < 1.0$. By fitting a linear relationship between galaxy size and stellar mass, we find that the slope for $r_{\rm e,light}$ is $\sim$ 0.1 to 0.3 dex larger than that for $r_{\rm e,mass}$. In terms of galaxy size evolution at a fixed stellar mass, the $r_{\rm e,mass}$ of QGs increases by a factor of $\sim$ 3 to 5 from $z \sim 2.5$ to $z \sim 0.2$. In contrast, the $r_{\rm e,mass}$ of SFGs increases by a factor of approximately 2 over the same redshift range, with this growth trend closely following that of their $r_{\rm e,light}$. These results indicate that previous insights into galaxy evolution based on $r_{\rm e,light}$ remain valid when considering $r_{\rm e,mass}$, although the specific slopes show some variations.