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

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ID: 333414
2026
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Abstract
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 ($9<\log (\rm M_{\star }/\rm M_{\odot })<11.5$) 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 ($\rm M_{\star }\gtrsim 10^{10}~M_{\odot }$) 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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Authors Gabriel Maheson, Sandro Tacchella, Sirio Belli, Minjung Park, A. Lola Danhaive, Letizia Bugiani, R. L. Davies, Razieh Emami, Amir H. Khoram, Laurence Lam, Joel Leja, J. Trevor Mendel, Erica June Nelson
Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag2012
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag2012
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