Morphologies of Two Massive Old Galaxies at z ~ 2.5

Abstract

We present the results of NICMOS imaging of two massive galaxies photometrically selected to have old stellar populations at z ~ 2.5. Both galaxies are dominated by apparent disks of old stars, although one of them also has a small bulge comprising about one-third of the light at rest-frame 4800 Å. The presence of massive disks of old stars at high redshift means that at least some massive galaxies in the early universe have formed directly from the dissipative collapse of a large mass of gas. The stars formed in disks like these may have made significant contributions to the stellar populations of massive spheroids at the present epoch.

Based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program No. 10418. Additional data were collected at the Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, and at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.