Early Results from GLASS-JWST. XI. Stellar Masses and Mass-to-light Ratio of z > 7 Galaxies
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
•
A. Fontana
•
M. Castellano
•
N. Leethochawalit
•
M. Trenti
•
T. Treu
•
D. Belfiori
•
S. Birrer
•
A. Bonchi
•
E. Merlin
•
C. Mason
•
T. Morishita
•
M. Nonino
•
D. Paris
•
G. Polenta
•
P. Rosati
•
L. Yang
•
K. Boyett
•
M. Bradac
•
A. Calabrò
•
A. Dressler
•
K. Glazebrook
•
D. Marchesini
•
S. Mascia
•
T. Nanayakkara
•
L. Pentericci
•
G. Roberts-Borsani
•
C. Scarlata
•
B. Vulcani
•
Xin Wang
Abstract
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 ∼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.
Volume
942
Issue
2
Start page
L27
Issn Identifier
2041-8205
Ads BibCode
2023ApJ...942L..27S
Rights
open.access
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