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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Big, Dusty Galaxies in Blue Jay: Insights into the Relationship Between Morphology and Dust Attenuation at Cosmic Noon

  • Gabriel Maheson1,2
  • Sandro Tacchella1,2
  • Sirio Belli3,4
  • Minjung Park5
  • A Lola Danhaive1,2
  • Letizia Bugiani3,4
  • Rebecca Davies6,7
  • Razieh Emami5
  • Amir H Khoram3,4
  • Laurence Lam2
  • Joel Leja8,9,10
  • Trevor Mendel7,11
1 more authors
  • Erica June Nelson12
12 affiliations
  1. 1Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA ,
  2. 2Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 J. J. Thomson Ave., Cambridge CB3 0HE ,
  3. 3Université di Bologna Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, , Via Gobetti 93/2, I-40129, Bologna ,
  4. 4INAF, Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory Bologna , Via P. Gobetti 93/3, I-40129 Bologna ,
  5. 5Center for Astrophysics | Harvard, and Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 ,
  6. 6Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, Victoria ,
  7. 75ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) ,
  8. 8The Pennsylvania State University Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, , University Park, PA 16802 ,
  9. 9Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802 ,
  10. 10Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802 ,
  11. 11Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT ,
  12. 12University of Colorado Department for Astrophysical and Planetary Science, , Boulder, CO 80309 ,
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Abstract

The dust attenuation of galaxies is highly diverse and closely linked to stellar population properties and the star-dust geometry, yet its relationship to galaxy morphology remains poorly understood. We present a study of 141 galaxies (9<log (M⋆ /M⊙ )<11.5) at 1.7 < z < 3.5 from the Blue Jay survey combining deep HST and JWST/NIRCam imaging, and R ∼ 1000 JWST/NIRSpec spectra. Using Prospector to perform a joint analysis of these data with non-parametric star-formation histories and a two-component dust model with flexible attenuation laws, we constrain stellar and nebular properties. We find that the shape and strength of the attenuation law vary systematically with optical dust attenuation (AV), stellar mass, and star formation rate (SFR). AV correlates strongly with stellar mass for starbursts, star-forming galaxies and quiescent galaxies. The inclusion of morphological information tightens these correlations: attenuation correlates more strongly with stellar mass and SFR surface densities than with the global quantities. The Balmer decrement-derived nebular attenuation for 67 of these galaxies shows consistent trends with the stellar continuum attenuation. We detect a wavelength-dependent size gradient: massive galaxies (M⋆ ≳ 1010 M⊙ ) appear ∼30% larger in the rest-optical than in the rest-NIR, driven by central dust attenuation that flattens optical light profiles. Lower-mass systems exhibit more diverse size ratios, consistent with either inside-out growth or central starbursts. These results demonstrate that dust attenuation significantly alters observed galaxy structure and highlight the necessity of flexible attenuation models for accurate physical and morphological inference at cosmic noon.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{maheson2026dusty,
  title = {{Big, Dusty Galaxies in Blue Jay: Insights into the Relationship Between Morphology and Dust Attenuation at Cosmic Noon}},
  author = {Gabriel Maheson and Sandro Tacchella and Sirio Belli and Minjung Park and A Lola Danhaive and Letizia Bugiani and Rebecca Davies and Razieh Emami and Amir H Khoram and Laurence Lam and Joel Leja and Trevor Mendel and Erica June Nelson},
  journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag2012},
  url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2012/8979792},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Big, Dusty Galaxies in Blue Jay: Insights into the Relationship Between Morphology and Dust Attenuation at Cosmic Noon
AU  - Gabriel Maheson
AU  - Sandro Tacchella
AU  - Sirio Belli
AU  - Minjung Park
AU  - A Lola Danhaive
AU  - Letizia Bugiani
AU  - Rebecca Davies
AU  - Razieh Emami
AU  - Amir H Khoram
AU  - Laurence Lam
AU  - Joel Leja
AU  - Trevor Mendel
AU  - Erica June Nelson
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
JO  - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO  - 10.1093/mnras/stag2012
UR  - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2012/8979792
AB  - The dust attenuation of galaxies is highly diverse and closely linked to stellar population properties and the star-dust geometry, yet its relationship to galaxy morphology remains poorly understood. We present a study of 141 galaxies (9&lt;log (M_⋆ /M_⊙ )&lt;11.5) at 1.7 &lt; z &lt; 3.5 from the Blue Jay survey combining deep HST and JWST/NIRCam imaging, and R ∼ 1000 JWST/NIRSpec spectra. Using Prospector to perform a joint analysis of these data with non-parametric star-formation histories and a two-component dust model with flexible attenuation laws, we constrain stellar and nebular properties. We find that the shape and strength of the attenuation law vary systematically with optical dust attenuation (AV), stellar mass, and star formation rate (SFR). AV correlates strongly with stellar mass for starbursts, star-forming galaxies and quiescent galaxies. The inclusion of morphological information tightens these correlations: attenuation correlates more strongly with stellar mass and SFR surface densities than with the global quantities. The Balmer decrement-derived nebular attenuation for 67 of these galaxies shows consistent trends with the stellar continuum attenuation. We detect a wavelength-dependent size gradient: massive galaxies (M_⋆ ≳ 10^10 M_⊙ ) appear ∼30% larger in the rest-optical than in the rest-NIR, driven by central dust attenuation that flattens optical light profiles. Lower-mass systems exhibit more diverse size ratios, consistent with either inside-out growth or central starbursts. These results demonstrate that dust attenuation significantly alters observed galaxy structure and highlight the necessity of flexible attenuation models for accurate physical and morphological inference at cosmic noon.
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
ER  -