HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE MORPHOLOGIES OF z ∼ 2 DUST OBSCURED GALAXIES. I. POWER-LAW SOURCES

We present high-spatial resolution optical and near-infrared imaging obtained using the ACS, WFPC2, and NICMOS cameras aboard the Hubble Space Telescope of 31 24 mu m bright z approximate to 2 Dust Obscured Galaxies (DOGs) identified in the Bootes Field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. Although this subset of DOGs have mid-IR spectral energy distributions dominated by a power-law component suggestive of an AGN, all but one of the galaxies are spatially extended and not dominated by an unresolved component at rest-frame UV or optical wavelengths. The observed V-H and I-H colors of the extended components are 0.2-3 magnitudes redder than normal star-forming galaxies. All but one have axial ratios > 0.3, making it unlikely that DOGs are composed of an edge-on star-forming disk. We model the spatially extended component of the surface brightness distributions of the DOGs with a Sersic profile and find effective radii of 1-6 kpc. This sample of DOGs is smaller than most submillimeter galaxies (SMGs), but larger than quiescent high-redshift galaxies. Nonparametric measures (Gini and M(20)) of DOG morphologies suggest that these galaxies are more dynamically relaxed than local ULIRGs. We estimate lower limits to the stellar masses of DOGs based on the rest-frame optical photometry and find that these range from similar to 10(9)-10(11) M(circle dot). If major mergers are the progenitors of DOGs, then these observations suggest that DOGs may represent a postmerger evolutionary stage.