Luminosities and masses of galaxies out to z~3

We use very deep near-infrared images of the Hubble Deep Field-South in the J_s_, H, and K_s_ bands, taken as part of FIRES at the VLT, to follow the evolution of the optical rest-frame sizes of galaxies. For a total of 168 galaxies with K_s,AB_ <=23.5, we find that the rest-frame V-band sizes r_e,V_ of luminous galaxies (<L_V_>~2x10^10^h^-2^L_{sun}_) at 2<z<3 are 3 times smaller than for equally luminous galaxies today.

In contrast, the mass-size relation has evolved relatively little: the size at mass <M_*_>~2x10^10^h^-2^M_{sun}_ has changed by 20% (+/-20%) since z~2.5. Both results can be reconciled by the fact that the stellar M/L ratio is lower in the luminous high-z galaxies than in nearby ones because they have young stellar populations. The lower incidence of large galaxies at z~3 seems to reflect the rarity of galaxies with high stellar mass.