Early Results from GLASS-JWST. XI. Stellar Masses and Mass-to-light Ratio of z > 7 Galaxies

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • P. Santini
  • A. Fontana
  • M. Castellano
  • N. Leethochawalit
  • M. Trenti
  • T. Treu
  • D. Belfiori
  • S. Birrer
  • A. Bonchi
  • E. Merlin
  • T. Morishita
  • M. Nonino
  • D. Paris
  • G. Polenta
  • P. Rosati
  • L. Yang
  • K. Boyett
  • M. Bradac
  • A. Calabro
  • A. Dressler
  • K. Glazebrook
  • D. Marchesini
  • S. Mascia
  • T. Nanayakkara
  • L. Pentericci
  • G. Roberts-Borsani
  • C. Scarlata
  • B. Vulcani
  • Xin Wang

We exploit James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRCam observations from the GLASS-JWST-Early Release Science program to investigate galaxy stellar masses at z > 7. We first show that JWST observations reduce the uncertainties on the stellar mass by a factor of at least 5-10, when compared with the highest-quality data sets available to date. We then study the UV mass-to-light ratio, finding that galaxies exhibit a a two orders of magnitude range of M/L (UV) values for a given luminosity, indicative of a broad variety of physical conditions and star formation histories. As a consequence, previous estimates of the cosmic stellar-mass density-based on an average correlation between UV luminosity and stellar mass-can be biased by as much as a factor of similar to 6. Our first exploration demonstrates that JWST represents a new era in our understanding of stellar masses at z > 7 and, therefore, of the growth of galaxies prior to cosmic reionization.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL27
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume942
Issue number2
Number of pages6
ISSN2041-8205
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2023

    Research areas

  • PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS, EVOLUTION, CATALOGS, ABELL-2744, SELECTION, IMPACT

ID: 337693183