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Thanks to decades of observations using HST, the structure of galaxies at redshift z>2 has been widely studied in the rest-frame ultraviolet regime, which traces recent star formation from young stellar populations. But, we still have little information about the spatial distribution of the older, more evolved, stellar populations, constrained by the rest-frame infrared portion of galaxies' spectral energy distribution. We present the morphological characterization of a sample of 21 massive galaxies ( (M_/M_) >9. 5) at redshift 33 massive galaxies show a smooth distribution of their rest-infrared light, strongly supporting the increasing number of regular disk galaxies already in place at early epochs. On the contrary, the ultraviolet structure obtained from HST observations is generally more irregular, catching the most recent episodes of star formation. Importantly, we find a segregation of morphologies across cosmic time, having massive galaxies at redshift z>4 later-type morphologies compared to z3 galaxies. These findings suggest a transition phase in galaxy assembly and central mass build up already taking place at z3-4. MIRI provides unique information about the structure of the mature stellar population of high-redshift galaxies, unveiling that massive galaxies beyond cosmic noon are prevalently compact disk galaxies with smooth mass distribution.
Costantin et al. (Fri,) studied this question.