Minor merger growth in action: JWST detects faint blue companions around massive quiescent galaxies at 0.5 < z < 3

Minor mergers are thought to drive the structural evolution of massive quiescent galaxies; however, existing HST imaging is primarily sensitive to stellar mass ratios >1:10. Here, we report the discovery of a large population of low-mass companions within 35 kpc of known logM*/Msun > 10.5 quie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2023-07
Main Authors: Suess, Katherine A, Williams, Christina C, Robertson, Brant, Ji, Zhiyuan, Johnson, Benjamin D, Nelson, Erica, Alberts, Stacey, Hainline, Kevin, DEugenio, Francesco, Ubler, Hannah, Rieke, Marcia, Rieke, George, Bunker, Andrew J, Carniani, Stefano, Charlot, Stephane, Eisenstein, Daniel J, Maiolino, Roberto, Stark, Daniel P, Tacchella, Sandro, Willott, Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquisitions & mergers
Deposition
Evolution
Galaxies
Local group (astronomy)
Mass ratios
Ratios
Stellar mass
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Summary:Minor mergers are thought to drive the structural evolution of massive quiescent galaxies; however, existing HST imaging is primarily sensitive to stellar mass ratios >1:10. Here, we report the discovery of a large population of low-mass companions within 35 kpc of known logM*/Msun > 10.5 quiescent galaxies at 0.5 < z < 3. While massive companions like those identified by HST are rare, JWST imaging from JADES reveals that the average massive quiescent galaxy hosts ~5 nearby companions with stellar mass ratios
ISSN:2331-8422