James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

PEARLS: Low Stellar Density Galaxies in the El Gordo Cluster Observed with JWST

Example Galfit results on LDGs. Left: A color image of the LDG (using F090W through F444W images). Middle Left: The all-band cutout centered on the relevant object, with the background gradient subtracted (as described in Sec. 3). Middle Right: The best-fit Galfit model. Right: The residual image after subtracting the best-fit model, with other objects in the field masked. A full understanding of how unusually large "Ultra Diffuse Galaxies" (UDGs) fit into our conventional understanding of dwarf galaxies remains elusive, despite the large number of objects identified locally. A natural extension of UDG research is the study of similar galaxies at higher redshift to establish how their properties may evolve over time. However, this has been a challenging task given how severely systematic effects and cosmological surface brightness dimming inhibit our ability to study low-surface brightness galaxies at high-z. Here, we present an identification of low stellar surface density galaxies (LDGs), likely the progenitors of local UDGs, at moderate redshift with deep near-IR observations of the El Gordo cluster at z=0.87 with JWST. By stacking 8 NIRCAM filters, we are able to achieve an apparent surface brightness sensitivity of 24.59 mag arcsec-2, faint enough to be complete to the bright end of the LDG population. Our analysis identifies significant differences between this population and local UDGs, such as their color and size distributions, which suggest that UDG progenitors are bluer and more extended at high-z than at z=0. This suggests that multiple mechanisms are responsible for UDG formation and that prolonged transformation of cluster dwarfs is not a primary UDG formation mechanism at high-z. Furthermore, we find a slight overabundance of LDGs in El Gordo, and, in contrast to findings in local clusters, our analysis does not show a deficit of LDGs in the center of El Gordo, implying that tidal destruction of LDGs is significant between z=0.87 and z=0. Read more on the article.