Resolved SED Modeling with JWST and ALMA: The Role of Stellar Mass Surface Density in Regulating Star Formation in Cosmic Noon Galaxies

Abstract: We present kpc-scale ($0.2''-0.5''$) physical property maps of 35 main-sequence galaxies at $z \approx 0.5-3.7$, with stellar masses of $\log(M_<em>/M_\odot) \sim 9.7-11.7$ and star formation rates of $$\mathrm{SFR} \sim 1.4-280\,\mathrm{M_\odot\,yr<sup>{-1}}$$, selected from the ALMA Spectroscopic Survey (ASPECS) in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Leveraging the unique HST, JWST (NIRCam and MIRI), and ALMA observations, we perform spatially resolved spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling across the UV-to-FIR regime. We find that incorporating MIRI and/or ALMA data reduces the overestimation of dust luminosity (by up to $\sim0.8$ dex), while ALMA observations further mitigate the age-dust degeneracy. In the absence of such data, restricting the SED model library based on the observed unresolved colors can partially mitigate these biases. The stellar masses ($M_{</em>}$) derived from resolved and unresolved modeling are consistent within $\sim0.05$ dex, suggesting that mass discrepancies (attributed to outshining) are less significant for cosmic noon main-sequence galaxies when rest-frame near-infrared (NIR; e.g., $\sim1-3\,μ\mathrm{m}$) data are included. After normalization to the same reference, the composite SED of our sample closely resembles that of local starburst galaxies such as M82, suggesting similar dust attenuation and re-emission properties. Finally, we find that the molecular gas fraction and depletion time correlate with the effective stellar mass surface density ($$Σ<em>{\rm eff,*} = M</em>{<em>}/2πR_{\rm eff,M_</em>}<sup>2$$) similarly to that observed in local galaxies. These results provide a first qualitative view of how the stellar gravitational potential influences gas regulation and star formation in galaxies beyond the local Universe.