Searching within Galaxies for the Earliest Signs of Quenching With Spatially Resolved Star Formation Histories in UVCANDELS Galaxies at z < 0.3
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Understanding the complicated processes that regulate star formation and cause a galaxy to become quiescent is key to our comprehension of galaxy evolution. We used eight well-resolved star-forming z < 0.3 galaxies from the UVCANDELS survey, where a total of 10 Hubble Space Telescope bands, including UV follow-up in UVIS/F275W, allow us to reconstruct the star formation histories (SFHs) of regions across each galaxy. This approach provides a powerful tool to explore the spatiotemporal connection between star formation and galaxy evolution. The spatial and temporal profiles of stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR) surface density were obtained from the SFHs of these regions. We measure scaling relations and projected radial profiles of regions within each galaxy at the time of observation and at 1 Gyr lookback time, noting possible trends in the evolution. By comparing the change in star formation over time, we can infer the timing and location of star formation and see early signs of star formation shutting off before quenching occurs. We compared the SFR density–stellar mass density scaling relations for individual galaxies as they evolve from 1 Gyr lookback time. The correlation lines pivot around a log-stellar mass surface density of 7.25 [ M ⊙ kpc −2 ], which may be evidence of a self-regulating process on these scales. Radial profiles of the galaxy logarithmic specific SFR (sSFR) show an overall decrease over 1 Gyr, but five galaxies show a greater change in log(sSFR) at the outskirts than the center, indicating a possible early onset of quenching in these galaxies.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Charlotte Olsen, Eric Gawiser, Charlotte Welker, Harry Teplitz, Kartheik Iyer, Xin Wang, Marc Rafelski, Rogier A. Windhorst, Anton Koekemoer, Anahita Alavi, Ben Sunnquist, Norman Grogin, Yicheng Guo, Christopher J. Conselice, L. Y. Aaron Yung, Kalina Nedkova, Bahram Mobasher, Ray A. Lucas, Vihang Mehta, Y. Sophia Dai, Jonathan P. Gardner
Institutions: New York City College of Technology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, California Institute of Technology, Flatiron Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Normal University, National Astronomical Observatories, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Space Telescope Science Institute, Arizona State University, University of Missouri, University of Manchester, Johns Hopkins University, University of California, Riverside, Chinese Academy of Science South America Center for Astronomy, Goddard Space Flight Center
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,499
Awards: LEAPS-MPS: Where galaxies keep their cool in the heat: A Pathfinder to detect cool cosmic gas filaments and their effects on galaxy properties in clusters., G2183630720, G4803650583, G58316358, NEXT GENERATION FRONTIER STUDIES OF GALAXY FORMATI ON AND EVOLUTION WITH NEXT GENERATION SPACE TELES, THE PROPOSAL SEEKS TO ACCOMPLISH SEVERAL INVESTIGATIONS TO SIMULATE THE PERFORMANCE OF JWST DEEP FIELD SURVEYS, VARYING AS-YET-POORLY CHARACTERIZED P, Establishing a Templeton LSST Early-Career Research Fellowship
OpenAlex ID: W7140892991