Work

pop-cosmos : Galaxy size evolution across structural and star-formation classifications in COSMOS-Web

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Galaxy sizes are correlated with stellar mass and redshift, as characterised by size scaling relations. The inferred forms of these scaling relations are sensitive to how galaxies are classified – either by their star formation activity (e.g. specific star-formation rate, sSFR) or by their morphology markers (e.g. bulge-to-total ratio, Sérsic index). We combine stellar mass and sSFR estimates from pop-cosmos (a generative model trained on COSMOS2020 Spitzer IRAC Ch. 1 < 26) with size and morphology measurements from COSMOS-Web, obtaining 99 369 galaxies. By investigating the size–mass and the size–redshift relations, we show that: (i) the sSFR/morphology splits give quantitatively different slopes, intercepts, and intrinsic scatter behaviour; (ii) intrinsic scatter depends on structural morphology but not on sSFR, which constrains the galaxy–halo connection; (iii) the quiescent and bulge-dominated size–mass relations both show double-power law breaks, but at different pivot masses, indicating that quenching and structural transformation occur on different time-scales; (iv) the morphology-dependent trends are only recoverable from space-based imaging. Further, the quiescent pivot mass M* ~ 1010.7 M⊙ coincides with the mass scale at which the active galactic nuclei (AGN, infrared torus) bolometric luminosity fraction peaks in transitioning galaxies, while the bulge-dominated pivot mass M* ~ 1011.1 M⊙ coincides with the halo mass at which AGN-driven baryonic redistribution peaks, which may trace the interval over which AGN feedback ramps from quenching onset to structural transformation.

Source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stag2074