Morphological properties of massive galaxies at high−z from GOODS

We have used the BzK-selection to identify a composite population of passive, and star-forming galaxies at redshifts 1.4 ≤ z ≤ 2.5 from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). Using an unprecedented large sample of galaxies in this redshift range, we characterize the morphological diversity through the analysis of the surface-brightness profile shapes for 171 galaxies with passive SEDs, and 1068 star-forming galaxies. We find that the z ~ 2 galaxies display a wide range of morphologies, from spheroidals to disk-like. Interestingly, the galaxies with passively-evolving SEDs predominantly have steep profiles as seen for the classical bulges at low redshifts, although they are very compact with r_e < 3 kpc. The star-forming galaxies on the other hand exhibit mostly disk-like and merger morphologies, and have sizes comparable to their low−z counterparts. Our results emphasize the need for an unbiased selection in order to reveal the morphological diversities, and range of galaxy properties at high redshifts.