NICMOS Imaging of DRGs in the HDF-S: A Relation Between Star-Formation and Size at z ~ 2.5

Abstract

We present deep, high angular-resolution HST/NICMOS imaging in the Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S), focusing on a subset of 14 Distant Red Galaxies (DRGs) at z ~ 2.5 galaxies that have been pre-selected to have J-K > 2.3. We find a clear trend between the rest-frame optical sizes of these sources and their luminosity-weighted stellar ages as inferred from their broad-band spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Galaxies whose SEDs are consistent with being dusty and actively star forming generally show extended morphologies in the NICMOS images (r_e >~ 2 kpc), while the 5 sources which are not vigorously forming stars are extremely compact (r_e <~ 1 kpc). This trend suggests a direct link between the mean ages of the stars and the size and density of the galaxies and supports the conjecture that early events quench star-formation and leave compact remnants. Furthermore, the compact galaxies have stellar surface mass densities which exceed those of local galaxies by more than an order of magnitude. The existence of such massive dense galaxies presents a problem for models of early-type galaxy formation and evolution. Larger samples of DRGs and higher spatial resolution imaging will allow us to determine the universality of the results presented here for a small sample.