First Look at z > 1 Bars in the Rest-frame Near-infrared with JWST Early CEERS Imaging

Stellar bars are key drivers of secular evolution in galaxies and can be effectively studied using rest-frame near-infrared (NIR) images, which trace the underlying stellar mass and are less impacted by dust and star formation than rest-frame UV or optical images. We leverage the power of JWST CEERS NIRCam images to present the first quantitative identification and characterization of stellar bars at z > 1 based on rest-frame NIR F444W images of high resolution (similar to 1.3 kpc at z similar to 1-3). We identify stellar bars in these images using quantitative criteria based on ellipse fits. For this pilot study, we present six examples of robustly identified bars at z > 1 with spectroscopic redshifts, including the two highest-redshift bars at z similar to 2.136 and 2.312 quantitatively identified and characterized to date. The stellar bars at z similar to 1.1-2.3 presented in our study have projected semimajor axes of similar to 2.9-4.3 kpc and projected ellipticities of similar to 0.41-0.53 in the rest-frame NIR. The barred host galaxies have stellar masses similar to 1 x 10(10) to 2 x 10(11) M (circle dot) and star formation rates of similar to 21-295 M (circle dot) yr(-1), and several have potential nearby companions. Our finding of bars at z similar to 1.1-2.3 demonstrates the early onset of such instabilities and supports simulations where bars form early in massive dynamically cold disks. It also suggests that if these bars at lookback times of 8-11 Gyr survive out to present epochs, bar-driven secular processes may operate over a long time and have a significant impact on some galaxies by z similar to 0.