2005ApJ...624L...9T

We take advantage of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field data to study the rest-frame optical and UV morphologies of the novel population of distant red galaxies (DRGs). Six galaxies with J-K_s>2.3 are found to K_s=21.5, five of which have photometric redshifts z_phot≳2, corresponding to a surface density of 0.9/arcmin2. The surface brightness distributions of the z_phot≳2 galaxies are better represented by exponential disks than R^1/4 laws. Two of the z_phot≳2 galaxies are extended, while three have compact morphologies. The rest-frame optical morphology of the z_phot≳2 galaxies is quite different from the rest-frame UV morphology: All the galaxies have red central components that dominate in the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) H₁₆₀-band images, as well as distinct off-center blue features that show up in (and often dominate) the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) images. The mean measured effective radius of the z_phot≳2 galaxies is <r_e>=1.9±1.4 kpc, similar (within the errors) to the mean size of Lyman break galaxies at similar redshifts. All the DRGs are resolved in the ACS images, while four are resolved in the NICMOS images. Two of the z_phot≳2 galaxies are bright X-ray sources and hence host active galactic nuclei (AGNs). One of these galaxies is resolved in the ACS and NICMOS images, which means that the AGN does not dominate its rest-frame UV/optical spectral energy distribution (SED), while the other is unresolved in the NICMOS images and hence could have an AGN-dominated SED. The diverse rest-frame optical and UV morphological properties of DRGs derived here suggest that they have complex stellar populations consisting of both evolved populations, which dominate the mass and the rest-frame optical light, and younger populations that show up as patches of star formation in the rest-frame UV light, in many ways resembling the properties of normal local galaxies. This interpretation is supported by fits to the broadband SEDs, which for all five z_phot≳2 galaxies are best represented by models with extended star formation histories and substantial amounts of dust.