PhotoIFU: NIRCam as a Photometric Integral Field Unit for Mapping Feedback in Galaxies
Yongda Zhu, Marcia J. Rieke, Courtney Carreira, Yang Sun, Zhiyuan Ji, Jianwei Lyu, Christina C. Williams, Stacey Alberts, Feng Yuan, Yuxuan Zou, Yurina Nakazato, Andrew J. Bunker, Sandro Tacchella, Fengwu Sun, George H. Rieke, Eiichi Egami, Jacopo Chevallard, Kevin Hainline, Zheng Ma, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Pierluigi Rinaldi, Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino, Tristen Shields, Meredith Stone, Christopher N. A. Willmer, Zihao Wu, Minghao Yue, Junyu Zhang
astro-ph.GA
Submitted: 2026-07-25
Comments: 22 pages. Submitted to ApJ. The code will be made publicly available
Code: https://github.com/ydzhuastro/photoifu
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: We present PhotoIFU, a workflow that uses deep multi-band imaging as a low-resolution photometric integral field unit.
Terminology
Abstract
We present PhotoIFU, a workflow that uses deep multi-band imaging as a low-resolution photometric integral field unit. Applied to PSF-matched JWST/NIRCam imaging, PhotoIFU treats each spatial pixel as a coarse SED element and fits the pixel SEDs with Prospector to map resolved stellar-population and ISM-related properties. We apply this approach to three galaxies at z=1.3 --3.7 in JADES: two systems with extended ionized line emission and one post-starburst galaxy with an exceptionally strong neutral outflow. Pixel-by-pixel SED fitting gives maps of stellar-mass surface density, specific star formation rate, dust attenuation, gas-phase metallicity, and recent star-formation history. We find that regions selected from the extended-emission or outflow geometry occupy distinct parts of the resolved SED-property distribution compared with the full host. In the systems with extended ionized emission, these regions are generally less dusty, consistent with ionized emission being observed along dust-poor, low-column-density pathways through the host. In the neutral-outflow system, the selected regions show enhanced recent star formation, suggesting that compact rejuvenation may mark the aftermath of an earlier energetic phase. These results show that galactic outflows and extended emission-line structures can be spatially associated with measurable differences in resolved host-galaxy stellar populations and ISM-related properties. PhotoIFU provides an imaging-based method for resolved SED mapping of feedback-related structures in larger galaxy samples where full spectroscopic integral-field mapping is unavailable.
Sources
- JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) Data Release 5: Catalogs of inferred morphological properties of galaxies from JWST/NIRCam imaging in GOODS-N and GOODS-S
- Overview of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES)
- A UV-Luminous Galaxy at z=11 with Surprisingly Weak Star Formation Activity
- JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) Data Release 5: NIRCam Imaging in GOODS-S and GOODS-N
- Clump-Scale Dust Attenuation in Epoch of Reionization Galaxies: Spatially Resolved Properties from FirstLight Simulations
- GA-NIFS: JWST/NIRSpec IFS view of the z~3.5 galaxy GS5001 and its close environment at the core of a large-scale overdensity
- JWST NIRCam simulations and observations of AGN ionization cones in cosmic noon galaxies
- Spatially Resolved AGN Ionization and Star Formation at Cosmic Noon with JWST/JEMS
- Scikit-learn: Machine Learning in Python
- Extreme Galaxy-scale Outflows Are Frequent among Luminous Early Quasars
- RIOJA. A Clumpy Galaxy Assembly at Redshift 6.81 Revealed by JWST
- RIOJA. Young Starburst and Ionized Gas Outflows in a $z = 7.212$ Galaxy Uncovered by JWST NIRCam and NIRSpec Observations
- The SMILES Mid-Infrared Survey
- Confirming Near- to Mid-IR Photometrically-Identified Obscured AGNs in the JWST era
- JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) Data Release 5: Photometric Catalog
- GA-NIFS: high prevalence of dusty and metal-enriched outflows in massive and luminous star-forming galaxies at $z\sim3-9$
- JADES: Discovery of Large Reservoirs of Small Dust Grains in the Circumgalactic Medium of Massive Galaxies at $z\sim3.5$ through Deep JWST/NIRCam Imaging and Grism Spectroscopy
- Extreme Neutral Outflow in a non-AGN Quiescent Galaxy at z~1.3
- GA-NIFS: The interplay between feedback and star formation at 3 < z < 9 probed by JWST/NIRSpec IFU
- GA-NIFS: Powerful and frequent outflows in moderate-luminosity active galactic nuclei at $z\sim3-6$
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