Smooth(er) Stellar Mass Maps in CANDELS: Constraints on the Longevity of
  Clumps in High-redshift Star-forming Galaxies
  We perform a detailed analysis of the resolved colors and stellar populations
of a complete sample of 323 star-forming galaxies at 0.5 < z < 1.5, and 326
star-forming galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 in the ERS and CANDELS-Deep region of
GOODS-South. Galaxies were selected to be more massive than 10^10 Msun and have
specific star formation rates above 1/t_H. We model the 7-band optical ACS +
near-IR WFC3 spectral energy distributions of individual bins of pixels,
accounting simultaneously for the galaxy-integrated photometric constraints
available over a longer wavelength range. We analyze variations in rest-frame
color, stellar surface mass density, age, and extinction as a function of
galactocentric radius and local surface brightness/density, and measure
structural parameters on luminosity and stellar mass maps. We find evidence for
redder colors, older stellar ages, and increased dust extinction in the nuclei
of galaxies. Big star-forming clumps seen in star formation tracers are less
prominent or even invisible on the inferred stellar mass distributions.
Off-center clumps contribute up to ~20% to the integrated SFR, but only 7% or
less to the integrated mass of all massive star-forming galaxies at z ~ 1 and z
~ 2, with the fractional contributions being a decreasing function of
wavelength used to select the clumps. The stellar mass profiles tend to have
smaller sizes and M20 coefficients, and higher concentration and Gini
coefficients than the light distribution. Our results are consistent with an
inside-out disk growth scenario with brief (100 - 200 Myr) episodic local
enhancements in star formation superposed on the underlying disk.
Alternatively, the young ages of off-center clumps may signal inward clump
migration, provided this happens efficiently on the order of an orbital
timescale.
