Connecting galaxy structure, quenching, and halo environments during cosmic noon

The connection between galaxy structure, star formation activity, and large-scale environments provides important insights into the evolution of massive galaxies. However, the relative importance of different galaxy properties in predicting quenching and the environmental dependence of structurally distinct galaxy populations remain poorly constrained at cosmic noon (1 at most z<3). In this work, we investigate massive galaxies with M*/ M >10.5 at 1 at most z<3 using deep JWST/NIRCam imaging from the COSMOS-Web survey, combining measurements of central stellar mass surface density (Σ 1), star formation activity, and galaxy clustering. We find that Σ 1 is the most informative predictor of quenching among the considered properties, including stellar mass, effective radius, formation redshift, and local overdensity. The quenched fraction shows a strong dependence on Σ 1, increasing rapidly above a characteristic Σ 1. We further show that compact quenched galaxies exhibit a tendency toward stronger clustering than compact and extended star-forming galaxies, while compact and extended star-forming galaxies show similar clustering properties. These results highlight the importance of Σ 1 in tracing quenching and reveal that structural diversity among star-forming galaxies is not strongly reflected in their large-scale environments, providing new constraints on the interplay between galaxy structure, quenching, and halo environments during cosmic noon.