Connecting galaxy structure, quenching, and halo environments during cosmic noon

Abstract

The connection between galaxy structure, star formation activity, and large-scale environments provides important insights into the evolution of massive galaxies. However, the relative importance of different galaxy properties in predicting quenching and the environmental dependence of structurally distinct galaxy populations remain poorly constrained at cosmic noon ($1\leq z<3$). In this work, we investigate massive galaxies with $\log M_*/{\rm M}_{\odot}>10.5$ at $1\leq z<3$ using deep JWST/NIRCam imaging from the COSMOS-Web survey, combining measurements of central stellar mass surface density ($Σ_1$), star formation activity, and galaxy clustering. We find that $Σ_1$ is the most informative predictor of quenching among the considered properties, including stellar mass, effective radius, formation redshift, and local overdensity. The quenched fraction shows a strong dependence on $Σ_1$, increasing rapidly above a characteristic $Σ_1$. We further show that compact quenched galaxies exhibit a tendency toward stronger clustering than compact and extended star-forming galaxies, while compact and extended star-forming galaxies show similar clustering properties. These results highlight the importance of $Σ_1$ in tracing quenching and reveal that structural diversity among star-forming galaxies is not strongly reflected in their large-scale environments, providing new constraints on the interplay between galaxy structure, quenching, and halo environments during cosmic noon.