We analyze Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/H 160-band
observations of a sample of 48 Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter
Array detected submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in the Extended Chandra
Deep Field South field, to study their stellar morphologies and sizes.
We detect 79% ± 17% of the SMGs in the H 160-band
imaging with a median sensitivity of 27.8 mag, and most (80%) of the
nondetections are SMGs with 870 μm fluxes of S 870 <3
mJy. With a surface brightness limit of μ H ~ 26 mag
arcsec-2, we find that 82% ± 9% of the H
160-band-detected SMGs at z = 1-3 appear to have disturbed
morphologies, meaning they are visually classified as either irregulars
or interacting systems, or both. By determining a Sérsic fit to
the H 160 surface brightness profiles, we derive a median
Sérsic index of n = 1.2 ± 0.3 and a median half-light
radius of re = 4.4+1.1-0.5 kpc for our
SMGs at z = 1-3. We also find significant displacements between the
positions of the H 160 component and 870 μm emission in
these systems, suggesting that the dusty starburst regions and
less-obscured stellar distribution are not colocated. We find
significant differences in the sizes and the Sérsic index between
our z = 2-3 SMGs and z ~ 2 quiescent galaxies, suggesting that a major
transformation of the stellar light profile is needed in the quenching
processes if SMGs are progenitors of the red-and-dead z ~ 2 galaxies.
Given the short-lived nature of SMGs, we postulate that the majority of
the z = 2-3 SMGs with S 870 gsim 2 mJy are early/mid-stage
major mergers.