Finite-resolution Deconvolution of Multiwavelength Imaging of 20,000 Galaxies in the COSMOS Field: The Evolution of Clumpy Galaxies over Cosmic Time

Compact star-forming clumps observed in distant galaxies are often suggested to play a crucial role in galaxy assembly. In this paper, we use a novel approach of applying finite-resolution deconvolution on ground-based images of the COSMOS field to resolve 20,185 star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at 0.5 < z < 2 to an angular resolution of 0.'' 3 and study their clump fractions. A comparison between the deconvolved images and HST images across four different filters shows good agreement and validates image deconvolution. We model spectral energy distributions using the deconvolved 14-band images to provide resolved surface brightness and stellar-mass density maps for these galaxies. We find that the fraction of clumpy galaxies decreases with increasing stellar masses and with increasing redshift: from similar to 30% at z similar to 0.7 to similar to 50% at z similar to 1.7. Using abundance matching, we also trace the progenitors for galaxies at z similar to 0.7 and measure the fractional mass contribution of clumps toward their total mass budget. Clumps are observed to have a higher fractional mass contribution toward galaxies at higher redshift: increasing from similar to 1% at z similar to 0.7 to similar to 5% at z similar to 1.7. Finally, the majority of clumpy SFGs have higher specific star formation rates (sSFR) compared to the average SFGs at fixed stellar mass. We discuss the implication of this result for in situ clump formation due to disk instability.

Automated summary

In this study, compact star-forming clumps in distant galaxies were resolved using ground-based images and a new deconvolution method. The results show that the fraction of clumpy galaxies decreases with increasing stellar masses and redshift. Additionally, clumps have a higher fractional mass contribution toward galaxies at higher redshift. Most of the clumpy galaxies also have higher specific star formation rates compared to average galaxies.