TY - JOUR
T1 - DAWN JWST Archive
T2 - Morphology from profile fitting of over 340 000 galaxies in major JWST fields: Morphology evolution with redshift and galaxy type
AU - Genin, Aurélien
AU - Shuntov, Marko
AU - Brammer, Gabe
AU - Allen, Natalie
AU - Ito, Kei
AU - Magdis, Georgios
AU - Matharu, Jasleen
AU - Oesch, Pascal A.
AU - Toft, Sune
AU - Valentino, Francesco
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Understanding how galaxies assemble their structure and evolve
morphologically over cosmic time is a central goal of galaxy evolution
studies. In particular, the morphological evolution of quiescent and
star-forming galaxies provides key insights into the mechanisms that
regulate star formation and quenching. We present a new catalog of
morphological measurements for more than 340 000 sources spanning 0 <
z < 12, derived from deep JWST NIRCam imaging across four
major extragalactic fields (CEERS, PRIMER–UDS, PRIMER–COSMOS, GOODS)
compiled in the DAWN JWST Archive (DJA). We performed two-dimensional
surface brightness fitting for all galaxies in a uniform, flux-limited
sample. Each galaxy was modeled with both a Sérsic profile and a
two-component (bulge and disk) decomposition, yielding consistent
structural parameters, including effective radius, Sérsic index (nS ), axis ratio, and bulge-to-total ratio (B/T).
To demonstrate the scientific application of our morphology catalogs,
we combined these measurements with DJA photometric redshifts, physical
parameters and rest-frame colors, and investigated the relation between
total, bulge, and disk sizes, nS, star formation activity, and redshift. Bulge-dominated galaxies (high nS and B/T) predominantly occupy the quiescent region of the UVJ
diagram, while disk-dominated galaxies are mostly star-forming. A
significant bimodality persists, with quiescent disks and compact,
bulge-dominated star-forming galaxies observed out to z > 3.
Quiescent galaxies also show significantly higher stellar mass surface
densities, nearly an order of magnitude greater at z ~ 4 than at z
~ 1. Our results confirm a strong and evolving link between morphology
and star formation activity and support a scenario in which bulge growth
and quenching are closely connected. This work is a highly valuable
addition to the DJA, adding a morphological dimension to this rich
dataset and thus enabling a wider scientific application.
AB - Understanding how galaxies assemble their structure and evolve
morphologically over cosmic time is a central goal of galaxy evolution
studies. In particular, the morphological evolution of quiescent and
star-forming galaxies provides key insights into the mechanisms that
regulate star formation and quenching. We present a new catalog of
morphological measurements for more than 340 000 sources spanning 0 <
z < 12, derived from deep JWST NIRCam imaging across four
major extragalactic fields (CEERS, PRIMER–UDS, PRIMER–COSMOS, GOODS)
compiled in the DAWN JWST Archive (DJA). We performed two-dimensional
surface brightness fitting for all galaxies in a uniform, flux-limited
sample. Each galaxy was modeled with both a Sérsic profile and a
two-component (bulge and disk) decomposition, yielding consistent
structural parameters, including effective radius, Sérsic index (nS ), axis ratio, and bulge-to-total ratio (B/T).
To demonstrate the scientific application of our morphology catalogs,
we combined these measurements with DJA photometric redshifts, physical
parameters and rest-frame colors, and investigated the relation between
total, bulge, and disk sizes, nS, star formation activity, and redshift. Bulge-dominated galaxies (high nS and B/T) predominantly occupy the quiescent region of the UVJ
diagram, while disk-dominated galaxies are mostly star-forming. A
significant bimodality persists, with quiescent disks and compact,
bulge-dominated star-forming galaxies observed out to z > 3.
Quiescent galaxies also show significantly higher stellar mass surface
densities, nearly an order of magnitude greater at z ~ 4 than at z
~ 1. Our results confirm a strong and evolving link between morphology
and star formation activity and support a scenario in which bulge growth
and quenching are closely connected. This work is a highly valuable
addition to the DJA, adding a morphological dimension to this rich
dataset and thus enabling a wider scientific application.
KW - Catalogs
KW - Galaxies: evolution
KW - Galaxies: structure
KW - Techniques: image processing
U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/202555504
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/202555504
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:105011595608
SN - 0004-6361
VL - 699
JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics
M1 - A343
ER -