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The JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS): the sizes and merger fraction of star-forming galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization

Abstract:
We used observations from the JWST Emission Line Survey (JELS) to measure the half-light radii () of 23 H-emitting star-forming (SF) galaxies at in the PRIMER/COSMOS field. Galaxy sizes were measured in JWST near-infrared camera observations in rest-frame H (tracing recent star formation) with the F466N and F470N narrow-band filters from JELS, and compared against rest-- and -band (tracing established stellar populations) and near-ultraviolet sizes. We find a size–stellar mass () relationship with a slope that is consistent with literature values at lower redshifts, though offset to lower sizes. We observe a large scatter in at low stellar mass ( ) which we believe is the result of bursty star formation histories (SFHs) of SF galaxies at the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). We find that the stellar and ionized gas components are similar in size at . The evidence of already-established stellar components in these H emitters (HAEs) indicates previous episodes of star formation have occurred. As such, following other JELS studies finding our HAEs are undergoing a current burst of star formation, we believe our results indicate that SF galaxies at the end of the EoR have already experienced a bursty SFH. From our relationship, we find for fixed stellar mass , which is in agreement with other observations and simulations of SF galaxies in the literature. We find a close-pair (major) merger fraction of () for galaxy separations , which is in agreement with other studies.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1093/mnras/staf1725

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ORCID:
0000-0002-0777-1591
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ORCID:
0000-0002-1679-9983
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ORCID:
0009-0003-5303-6920
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0000-0001-6889-8388
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ORCID:
0000-0003-4368-3326


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https://ror.org/03a1gte98
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https://ror.org/057g20z61
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https://ror.org/02ap3w078
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https://ror.org/04f2nsd36


Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Journal:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society More from this journal
Volume:
544
Issue:
2
Pages:
1412-1431
Publication date:
2025-10-09
Acceptance date:
2025-10-02
DOI:
EISSN:
1365-2966
ISSN:
0035-8711


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
2309324
UUID:
uuid_6c4d3eb3-2c47-4d7d-a347-1e064e3d961e
Local pid:
pubs:2309324
Source identifiers:
3456954
Deposit date:
2025-11-10
ARK identifier:
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