Gravitationally Lensed View of DSFG-1 in PLCK G165.7+67.0: Strong Dust Emission and Spatially Resolved Stellar Population Analysis with JWST and SMA

Journal article, 2026

We present a detailed stellar population analysis of the strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxy (DSFG) PLCK G165.7+67.0 DSFG-1 at z = 2.236, combining JWST NIRCam imaging with new Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations. This source is multiply imaged into two lensed components: image 1a, with a moderate magnification factor of mu similar to 5, and image 1bc, with an extreme magnification factor of mu similar to 40. The new SMA observations detect significant dust continuum emission at 225 and 273 GHz, with combined flux densities of Scont = 1.19 +/- 0.38 mJy in image 1a and Scont = 10.02 +/- 0.85 mJy in image 1bc, indicating active star formation at subkiloparsec scales. Based on the integrated spectral energy distribution modeling, DSFG-1 exhibits a lensing-amplification-corrected stellar mass of M star = (1.2 +/- 0.4) & times; 1010 M circle dot and a star formation rate of 103 +/- 14 M circle dot yr-1, similar to previous H alpha-based results, placing it four times above the star-forming main sequence at this redshift. Its location on the size-mass plane and its morphological properties suggest that the system occupies a transitional phase between star-forming late-type galaxies and compact early-type systems. Together with its elevated star formation activity, this is consistent with a rapidly evolving galaxy observed during cosmic noon. We further investigated the spatially resolved stellar population properties and found significant spatial variations in stellar age and dust attenuation. These results point to a nonuniform star formation history and highlight the complex interplay between dust geometry, stellar growth, and gravitational lensing, consistent with a merger scenario.