Distant quiescent galaxies DJA data

Leveraging the large sample statistics, we robustly constrain the intrinsic scatter of the mass-size relation to ~0.3dex with no relevant dependence on the redshift and the filter used. At the population level, our multiwavelength modeling reveals that the size decreases with increasing observed wavelength, and the wavelength gradient decreases with increasing stellar mass. This result proves that in the near-IR bands, massive elliptical galaxies appear to be more compact.

The Sersic index shows no significant dependence on wavelength, regardless of the stellar mass. Following a forward-backward Bayesian fit analysis to assess the significance of several parameters in predicting the size of our sample, we identified no significant secondary dependence of the size on the axis ratio q, Sersic index n, UVJ-colors, or environment. The combination of stellar mass and redshift is sufficient to predict the size of quiescent galaxies at z>3, albeit with a large scatter.

This suggests that the commonly used parameters of a Sersic distribution cannot explain the large intrinsic scatter around the stellar mass-size relation, suggesting that other physical quantities need to be taken into account to break the degeneracy between evolution paths across the galaxy population.