Diverse Structural Evolution at z > 1 in Cosmologically Simulated Galaxies

Understand

From mock Hubble Space Telescope images, we quantify non-parametric statistics of galaxy morphology, thereby predicting the emergence of relationships among stellar mass, star formation, and observed rest-frame optical structure at 1 < z < 3.

• We measure automated diagnostics of galaxy morphology in cosmological simulations of the formation of 22 central galaxies with 9.3 < log10 M_*/M_sun < 10.7.
• These high-spatial-resolution zoom-in calculations enable accurate modeling of the rest-frame UV and optical morphology.
• Even with small numbers of galaxies, we find that structural evolution is neither universal nor monotonic: galaxy interactions can trigger either bulge or disc formation, and optically bulge-dominated galaxies at this mass may not remain so forever.