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≤ z<3). In this work, we investigate massive galaxies with log M*/M⊙>10.5 at 1≤ z<3 using deep JWST/NIRCam imaging from the COSMOS-Web survey, combining measurements of central stellar mass surface density (Σ1), star formation activity, and galaxy clustering. We find that Σ1 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 Σ1, increasing rapidly above a characteristic Σ1. 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 Σ1 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.
Related
- The Role of Small-scale Environments in the Quenching of Massive Galaxies at 1 < z < 5
- MEGATRON: Dwarf Galaxy Quenching in the Epoch of Reionization
- How does a galaxy's quenching probability depend on its black hole's mass?
- Developing Environments: Formation and Quenching at Cosmic Noon Traced by the Large-scale Distribution of Gas and Galaxies
- Rapid quenching and early gas depletion in the core of a galaxy protocluster at z=2.2
BibTeX
@misc{zhang2026connecting,
title = {{Connecting galaxy structure, quenching, and halo environments during cosmic noon}},
author = {Ziwen Zhang and Cheng Jia and Huiyuan Wang and Enci Wang and Yangyao Chen and Houjun Mo and Xiong Luo and Cheqiu Lyu and Jie Song},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.25446},
eprint = {2610.25446},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25446},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Connecting galaxy structure, quenching, and halo environments during cosmic noon
AU - Ziwen Zhang
AU - Cheng Jia
AU - Huiyuan Wang
AU - Enci Wang
AU - Yangyao Chen
AU - Houjun Mo
AU - Xiong Luo
AU - Cheqiu Lyu
AU - Jie Song
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.25446
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25446
AB - 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≤ z<3). In this work, we investigate massive galaxies with log M_*/M_⊙>10.5 at 1≤ 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.
ER -