Affiliation: University of Valladolid

Contribution: Poster

Title: Witnessing the rapid growth of disk galaxies over cosmic time

Abstract: The Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, with their outstanding depth and spatial resolution, are opening up the possibility of studying the edges of disk galaxies over a significant cosmic time interval. This allows us to study in detail the evolution of galaxy edges over the past 8 Gyr. The edge of galaxies, understood here as the farthest radial location where star formation is taking place, has evolved dramatically over time, nearly doubling in size since z=1. In this contribution, we present our study of a sample of 77 disk galaxies in the EGS CEERS field with confirmed spectroscopic redshifts ≤ 1 and stellar masses > 10^10 M⊙. Using 11 photometric filters combining both HST and JWST data, we derive the radial age and metallicity profiles of these galaxies. This detailed analysis is carried out, for the first time, in regions beyond the star formation boundary of the objects, allowing us to study stellar populations that either have been accreted by small mergers or have migrated from the interior of these systems. This comprehensive study of the vast cosmic transformation of the outermost part of the galactic disc of objects like our own Milky Way reveals a much more active scenario of star formation in the galactic periphery than was thought just a few years ago.

This contribution can be found at the Poster Hall.