The Luminosity-Size and Mass-Size Relations of Galaxies out to z ~ 3

Trujillo, I.; Rudnick, Gregory; Rix, Hans-Walter; Labbé, Ivo; Franx, Marijn; Daddi, Emanuele; van Dokkum, Pieter G.; Förster Schreiber, Natascha M.; Kuijken, Konrad; Moorwood, Alan; Röttgering, Huub; van der Wel, Arjen; van der Werf, Paul; van Starkenburg, Lottie
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 604, Issue 2, pp. 521-533.

Advertised on:
4
2004
Number of authors
14
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
132
Refereed citations
128
Description
The luminosity-size and mass-size distributions of galaxies out to z~3 are presented. We use very deep near-infrared images of the Hubble Deep Field-South in the Js, H, and Ks bands, taken as part of FIRES at the VLT, to follow the evolution of the optical rest-frame sizes of galaxies. For a total of 168 galaxies with Ks,AB<=23.5, we find that the rest-frame V-band sizes re,V of luminous galaxies (V>~2×1010 h-2 Lsolar) at 2~2×1010 h-2 Msolar has changed by 20% (+/-20%) since z~2.5. Both results can be reconciled by the fact that the stellar M/L ratio is lower in the luminous high-z galaxies than in nearby ones because they have young stellar populations. The lower incidence of large galaxies at z~3 seems to reflect the rarity of galaxies with high stellar mass. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile (ESO LP 164.O-0612), and also on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.