Evolution in the Colors of Lyman Break Galaxies from z~4 to z~3

Abstract

The integrated colors of distant galaxies provide a means for interpreting the properties of their stellar content. Here we use rest-frame UV-to-optical colors to constrain the spectral energy distributions and stellar populations of color-selected, B-dropout galaxies at z~4 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). We combine the Advanced Camera for Surveys data with ground-based near-infrared images, which extend the coverage of galaxies at z~4 to the rest-frame B band. We observe a color-magnitude trend in the rest-frame m(UV)-B versus B diagram for the z~4 galaxies that has a fairly well-defined ``blue envelope,'' and is strikingly similar to that of color-selected, U-dropout galaxies at z~3. We also find that although the co-moving luminosity density at rest-frame UV wavelengths (1600 Å) is roughly comparable at z~3 and ~4, the luminosity density at rest-frame optical wavelengths increases by about one-third from z~4 to ~3. Although the star formation histories of individual galaxies may involve complex and stochastic events, the evolution in the global luminosity density of the UV-bright galaxy population corresponds to an average star formation history with a star formation rate that is constant or increasing over these redshifts. This suggests that the evolution in the luminosity density corresponds to an increase in the stellar mass density of >~33%.

Based on observations taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555, and based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile (ESO programs 168.A-0485, 64.O-0643, 66.A-0572, and 68.A-0544).