Search

We present the first study of spatially integrated higher-order stellar kinematics over cosmic time. We use deep rest-frame optical spectroscopy of quiescent galaxies at redshifts z  = 0.05, 0.3, and 0.8 from the SAMI, MAGPI, and LEGA-C surveys to measure the excess kurtosis h 4 of the stellar velocity distribution, the latter parametrized as a Gauss-Hermite series. Conservatively using a redshift-independent cut in stellar mass (⁠|$M_\star = 10^{11}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }$|⁠) and matching the stellar-mass distributions of our samples, we find 7σ evidence of h 4 increasing with cosmic time, from a median value of 0.019 ± 0.002 at z  = 0.8 to 0.059 ± 0.004 at z  = 0.06. Alternatively, we use a physically motivated sample selection based on the mass distribution of the progenitors of local quiescent galaxies as inferred from numerical simulations; in this case, we find 10σ evidence. This evolution suggests that, over the last 7 Gyr, there has been a gradual decrease in the rotation-to-dispersion ratio and an increase in the radial anisotropy of the stellar velocity distribution, qualitatively consistent with accretion of gas-poor satellites. These findings demonstrate that massive galaxies continue to accrete mass and increase their dispersion support after becoming quiescent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first statistical study of spatially integrated non-Gaussian stellar kinematics spanning 7 Gyr in cosmic time. We use deep, rest-frame optical spectroscopy of massive galaxies (stellar mass |$M_\star \gt 10^{10.5} \, \mathrm{M_\odot }$|⁠) at redshifts z = 0.05, 0.3, and 0.8 from the SAMI, MAGPI, and LEGA-C surveys, to measure the excess kurtosis h 4 of the stellar velocity distribution, the latter parametrized as a Gauss–Hermite series. We find that at all redshifts where we have large enough samples, h 4 anticorrelates with the ratio between rotation and dispersion, highlighting the physical connection between these two kinematic observables. In addition, and independently from the anticorrelation with rotation-to-dispersion ratio, we also find a correlation between h 4 and M ⋆, potentially connected to the assembly history of galaxies. In contrast, after controlling for mass, we find no evidence of independent correlation between h 4 and aperture velocity dispersion or galaxy size. These results hold for both star-forming and quiescent galaxies. For quiescent galaxies, h 4 also correlates with projected shape, even after controlling for the rotation-to-dispersion ratio. At any given redshift, star-forming galaxies have lower h 4 compared to quiescent galaxies, highlighting the link between kinematic structure and star-forming activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of a search for high-redshift (z > 9) galaxy candidates in the JWST UNCOVER survey, using deep NIRCam and NIRISS imaging in seven bands over ∼45 arcmin2 and ancillary Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations. The NIRCam observations reach a 5σ limiting magnitude of ∼29.2 AB. The identification of high- z candidates relies on a combination of a dropout selection and photometric redshifts. We find 16 candidates at 9 < z < 12 and three candidates at 12 < z < 13, eight candidates are deemed very robust. Their lensing amplification ranges from μ = 1.2 to 11.5. Candidates have a wide range of (lensing corrected) luminosities and young ages, with low stellar masses [6.8 < log(M⋆/M⊙) < 9.5] and low star formation rates (SFR = 0.2–7 M⊙ yr−1), confirming previous findings in early JWST observations of z > 9. A few galaxies at z ∼ 9−10 appear to show a clear Balmer break between the F 356 W and F 444 W / F 410 M bands, which helps constrain their stellar mass. We estimate blue UV continuum slopes between β = −1.8 and −2.3, typical for early galaxies at z > 9 but not as extreme as the bluest recently discovered sources. We also find evidence for a rapid redshift-evolution of the mass-luminosity relation and a redshift evolution of the UV continuum slope for a given range of intrinsic magnitude, in line with theoretical predictions. These findings suggest that deeper JWST observations are needed to reach the fainter galaxy population at those early epochs, and follow-up spectroscopy will help better constrain the physical properties and star formation histories of a larger sample of galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify the first quiescent galaxies in TNG300, the largest volume of the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulation suite, and explore their quenching processes and time evolution to z  = 0. We find that the first quiescent galaxies with stellar masses M * > 3 × 1010 M⊙ and specific star formation rates sSFR < 10−11 yr−1 emerge at z ∼ 4.2 in TNG300. Suppression of star formation in these galaxies begins with a thermal mode of active galactic nucleus feedback at z ∼ 6, and a kinetic feedback mode acts in each galaxy by z ∼ 4.7 to complete the quenching process, which occurs on a time-scale of ∼0.35 Gyr. Surprisingly, we find that the majority of these galaxies are not the main progenitors of their z  = 0 descendants; instead, four of the five galaxies fall into more massive galaxies in subsequent mergers at a range of redshifts 2.5 < z < 0.2. By z  = 0, these descendants are the centres of galaxy clusters with average stellar masses of 8 × 1011 M⊙. We make predictions for the first quenched galaxies to be located by the JWST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore how the presence of detectable molecular gas depends on the inferred star formation histories (SFHs) in eight massive, quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 0.7. Half of the sample have clear detections of molecular gas, traced by CO(2â€"1). We find that the molecular gas content is unrelated to the rate of star formation decline prior to the most recent 1 Gyr, suggesting that the gas reservoirs are not left over from their primary star formation epoch. However, the recent SFHs of CO-detected galaxies demonstrate evidence for secondary bursts of star formation in their last Gyr. The fraction of stellar mass formed in these secondary bursts ranges from f burst ≈ 0.3%â€"6% and ended between t end-burst ≈ 0â€"330 Myr ago. The CO-detected galaxies form a higher fraction of mass in the last Gyr ( f M 1 Gyr = 2.6 % ± 1.8 %) compared to the CO-undetected galaxies ( f M 1 Gyr = 0.2 % ± 0.1 %). The galaxies with gas reservoirs have enhanced late-time star formation, highlighting this as a contributing factor to the observed heterogeneity in the gas reservoirs in high-redshift quiescent galaxies. We find that the amount of gas and star formation driven by these secondary bursts are inconsistent with that expected from dry minor mergers, and instead are likely driven by recently accreted gas, i.e., gas-rich minor mergers. This conclusion would not have been made based on SFRUV+IR measurements alone, highlighting the power of detailed SFH modeling in the interpretation of gas reservoirs. Larger samples are needed to understand the frequency of low-level rejuvenation among quiescent galaxies at intermediate redshifts, and to what extent this drives the diversity of molecular gas reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate changes in stellar population age and metallicity ([Z/H]) scaling relations for quiescent galaxies from intermediate redshift (0.60 ≤   |$z$| ≤ 0.76) using the LEGA-C Survey to low redshift (0.014 ≤   |$z$| ≤ 0.10) using the SAMI Galaxy Survey. Specifically, we study how the spatially integrated global age and metallicity of individual quiescent galaxies vary in the mass–size plane, using the stellar mass M * and a dynamical mass proxy derived from the virial theorem M D  ∝ σ2  R e. We find that, similarly to at low redshift, the metallicity of quiescent galaxies at 0.60 ≤   |$z$| ≤ 0.76 closely correlates with M / R e (a proxy for the gravitational potential or escape velocity), in that galaxies with deeper potential wells are more metal-rich. This supports the hypothesis that the relation arises due to the gravitational potential regulating the retention of metals by determining the escape velocity for metal-rich stellar and supernova ejecta to escape the system and avoid being recycled into later stellar generations. Conversely, we find no correlation between age and surface density (⁠|$M/R_\mathrm{e}^2$|⁠) at 0.60 ≤   |$z$| ≤ 0.76, despite this relation being strong at low redshift. We consider this change in the age– |$M/R_\mathrm{e}^2$| relation in the context of the redshift evolution of the star-forming and quiescent mass–size relations, and find our results are consistent with galaxies forming more compactly at higher redshifts and remaining compact throughout their evolution. Furthermore, galaxies appear to quench at a characteristic surface density that decreases with decreasing redshift. The |$z$| ∼  0 age– |$M/R_\mathrm{e}^2$| relation is therefore a result of building up the quiescent and star-forming populations with galaxies that formed at a range of redshifts and therefore a range of surface densities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galaxy evolution is driven by a variety of physical processes that are predicted to proceed at different rates for different dark matter haloes and environments across cosmic times. A record of this evolution is preserved in galaxy stellar populations, which we can access using absorption-line spectroscopy. Here we explore the large LEGA-C survey (DR3) to investigate the role of the environment and stellar mass on stellar populations at z ∼ 0.6–1 in the COSMOS field. Leveraging the statistical power and depth of LEGA-C, we reveal significant gradients in Dn4000 and Hδ equivalent widths (EWs) distributions over the stellar mass versus environment 2D spaces for the massive galaxy population (M > 1010M⊙) at z ∼ 0.6–1.0. Dn4000 and Hδ EWs primarily depend on stellar mass, but they also depend on environment at fixed stellar mass. By splitting the sample into centrals and satellites, and in terms of star-forming galaxies and quiescent galaxies, we reveal that the significant environmental trends of Dn4000 and Hδ EW, when controlling for stellar mass, are driven by quiescent galaxies. Regardless of being centrals or satellites, star-forming galaxies reveal Dn4000 and Hδ EWs, which depend strongly on their stellar mass and are completely independent of the environment at 0.6 < z < 1.0. The environmental trends seen for satellite galaxies are fully driven by the trends that hold only for quiescent galaxies, combined with the strong environmental dependency of the quiescent fraction at fixed stellar mass. Our results are consistent with recent predictions from simulations that point toward massive galaxies forming first in overdensities or the most compact dark matter haloes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galaxy evolution is driven by a variety of physical processes that are predicted to proceed at different rates for different dark matter haloes and environments across cosmic times. A record of this evolution is preserved in galaxy stellar populations, which we can access using absorption-line spectroscopy. Here we explore the large LEGA-C survey (DR3) to investigate the role of the environment and stellar mass on stellar populations at z ∼ 0.6â€"1 in the COSMOS field. Leveraging the statistical power and depth of LEGA-C, we reveal significant gradients in D n 4000 and H δ equivalent widths (EWs) distributions over the stellar mass versus environment 2D spaces for the massive galaxy population (M > 1010 M ⊙) at z ∼ 0.6â€"1.0. D n 4000 and H δ EWs primarily depend on stellar mass, but they also depend on environment at fixed stellar mass. By splitting the sample into centrals and satellites, and in terms of star-forming galaxies and quiescent galaxies, we reveal that the significant environmental trends of D n 4000 and H δ EW, when controlling for stellar mass, are driven by quiescent galaxies. Regardless of being centrals or satellites, star-forming galaxies reveal D n 4000 and H δ EWs, which depend strongly on their stellar mass and are completely independent of the environment at 0.6 < z < 1.0. The environmental trends seen for satellite galaxies are fully driven by the trends that hold only for quiescent galaxies, combined with the strong environmental dependency of the quiescent fraction at fixed stellar mass. Our results are consistent with recent predictions from simulations that point toward massive galaxies forming first in overdensities or the most compact dark matter haloes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the H 160 morphological catalogs for the COSMOS-DASH survey, the largest area near-IR survey using HST-WFC3 to date. Utilizing the “Drift And SHift” observing technique for HST-WFC3 imaging, the COSMOS-DASH survey imaged approximately 0.5 deg2 of the UltraVISTA deep stripes (0.7 deg2, when combined with archival data). Global structural parameters are measured for 51,586 galaxies within COSMOS-DASH using GALFIT (excluding the CANDELS area) with detection using a deep multi-band HST image. We recover consistent results with those from the deeper 3D-HST morphological catalogs, finding that, in general, sizes and Sérsic indices of typical galaxies are accurate to limiting magnitudes of H 160 < 23 and H 160 < 22 ABmag, respectively. In size-mass parameter space, galaxies in COSMOS-DASH demonstrate robust morphological measurements out to z ∼ 2 and down to log (M ⋆ / M ⊙) ∼ 9. With the advantage of the larger area of COSMOS-DASH, we measure a flattening of the quiescent size-mass relation below log (M ⋆ / M ⊙) ∼ 10.5 that persists out to z ∼ 2. We show that environment is not the primary driver of this flattening, at least out to z = 1.2, whereas internal physical processes may instead govern the structural evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the connection between the kinematics, structures and stellar populations of massive galaxies at 0.6 < z < 1.0 using the fundamental plane (FP). Combining stellar kinematic data from the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysics Census (LEGA-C) survey with structural parameters measured from deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we obtain a sample of 1419 massive () galaxies that span a wide range in morphology, star formation activity, and environment, and therefore is representative of the massive galaxy population at z ∼ 0.8. We find that quiescent and star-forming galaxies occupy the parameter space of the g-band FP differently and thus have different distributions in the dynamical mass-to-light ratio (Mdyn/Lg), largely owing to differences in the stellar age and recent star formation history, and to a lesser extent, the effects of dust attenuation. In contrast, we show that both star-forming and quiescent galaxies lie on the same mass FP at z ∼ 0.8, with a comparable level of intrinsic scatter about the plane. We examine the variation in Mdyn/M* through the thickness of the mass FP, finding no significant residual correlations with stellar population properties, Sérsic index, or galaxy overdensity. Our results suggest that, at fixed size and velocity dispersion, the variations in Mdyn/Lg of massive galaxies reflect an approximately equal contribution of variations in M*/Lg, and variations in the dark matter fraction or initial mass function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) CO(2–1) spectroscopy of six massive (log10 / > 11.3) quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 1.5. These data represent the largest sample using CO emission to trace molecular gas in quiescent galaxies above z > 1, achieving an average 3σ sensitivity of ∼ 1010. We detect one galaxy at 4σ significance and place upper limits on the molecular gas reservoirs of the other five, finding molecular gas mass fractions (3σ upper limits). This is 1–2 orders of magnitude lower than coeval star-forming galaxies at similar stellar mass, and comparable to galaxies at z = 0 with similarly low specific star formation rate (sSFR). This indicates that their molecular gas reservoirs were rapidly and efficiently used up or destroyed, and that gas fractions are uniformly low (<6%) despite the structural diversity of our sample. The implied rapid depletion time of molecular gas (< 0.6 Gyr) disagrees with extrapolations of empirical scaling relations to low sSFR. We find that our low gas fractions are instead in agreement with predictions from both the recent simba cosmological simulation, and from analytical "bathtub" models for gas accretion onto galaxies in massive dark matter halos (log at z = 0). Such high mass halos reach a critical mass of log by z ∼ 4 that halt the accretion of baryons early in the universe. Our data are consistent with a simple picture where galaxies truncate accretion and then consume the existing gas at or faster than typical main-sequence rates. Alternatively, we cannot rule out that these galaxies reside in lower mass halos, and low gas fractions may instead reflect either stronger feedback, or more efficient gas consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use reconstructed star formation (SF) histories of quiescent galaxies at z = 0.6–1 in the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysics Census survey to identify secondary SF episodes that, after an initial period of quiescence, moved the galaxies back to the star-forming main sequence (blue cloud). 16 ± 3% of the z ∼ 0.8 quiescent population has experienced such rejuvenation events in the redshift range of 0.7 < z < 1.5 after reaching quiescence at some earlier time. On average, these galaxies first became quiescent at z = 1.2, and those that rejuvenated, remained quiescent for ∼1 Gyr before their secondary SF episode, which lasted ∼0.7 Gyr. The stellar mass attributed to rejuvenation is on average 10% of the galaxy stellar mass, with rare instances of an increase of more than a factor of 2. Overall, rejuvenation events only contribute ∼2% of the total stellar mass in z ∼ 0.8 quiescent galaxies and we conclude that rejuvenation is not an important evolutionary channel when considering the growth of the red sequence. However, our results complicate the interpretation of galaxy demographics in color space: the galaxies with rejuvenation events tend to lie in the so-called "green valley," yet their progenitors were quiescent at z ∼ 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collisions and interactions between gas-rich galaxies are thought to be pivotal stages in their formation and evolution, causing the rapid production of new stars, and possibly serving as a mechanism for fueling supermassive black holes (BH). Harnessing the exquisite spatial resolution (~0.5 arcsec) afforded by the first ~170 deg2 of the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey, we present our new constraints on the importance of galaxy-galaxy major mergers (1:4) in growing BHs throughout the last ~8 Gyrs. Utilizing mid-infrared observations in the WISE All-Sky survey, we robustly select active galactic nuclei (AGN) and mass-matched control galaxy samples, totaling ~140,000 spectroscopically confirmed systems at i<22 mag. We identify galaxy interaction signatures using a novel machine-learning random forest decision tree technique allowing us to select statistically significant samples of major-mergers, minor-mergers/irregular-systems, and non-interacting galaxies. We use these samples to show that galaxies undergoing mergers are a factor ~2-7 more likely to contain luminous obscured AGN than non-interacting galaxies, and this is independent of both stellar mass and redshift to z < 0.9. Furthermore, based on our comparison of AGN fractions in mass-matched samples, we determine that the most luminous AGN population (LAGN > 1045 erg/s) systematically reside in merging systems over non-interacting galaxies. Our findings show that galaxy-galaxy interactions do, on average, trigger luminous AGN activity substantially more often than in secularly evolving non-interacting galaxies, and we further suggest that the BH growth rate may be closely tied to the dynamical time of the merger system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using stellar kinematics measurements,we investigate the growth of massive,quiescent galaxies from z ~ 2 to today. We present X-Shooter spectra from the UV to NIR and dynamical mass measurements of five quiescent massive (>1011 M☉) galaxies at z ~ 2. This triples the sample of z > 1.5 galaxies with well-constrained (σ < 100 km s-1) velocity dispersion measurements. From spectral population synthesis modeling we find that these galaxies have stellar ages that range from 0.5 to 2 Gyr,with no signs of ongoing star formation. We measure velocity dispersions (290-450 km s-1) from stellar absorption lines and find that they are 1.6-2.1 times higher than those of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at the same mass. Sizes are measured using GALFIT from Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 H160 and UDS K-band images. The dynamical masses correspond well to the spectral energy distribution based stellar masses,with dynamical masses that are ~15% higher.We find that M"/Mdyn may decrease slightly with time,which could reflect the increase of the dark matter fraction within an increasing effective radius. We combine different stellar kinematic studies from the literature and examine the structural evolution from z ~2 to z ~0: we confirm that at fixed dynamical mass,the effective radius increases by a factor of ~2.8,and the velocity dispersion decreases by a factor of ~1.7. The mass density within one effective radius decreases by a factor of ~20, while within a fixed physical radius (1 kpc) it decreases only mildly (factor of ~2). When we allow for an evolving mass limit by selecting a population of galaxies at fixed number density,a stronger size growth with time is found (factor of ~4),velocity dispersion decreases by a factor of ~1.4,and interestingly, the mass density within 1 kpc is consistent with no evolution. This finding suggests that massive quiescent galaxies at z ~ 2 grow inside out, consistent with the expectations from minor mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dense interiors of massive galaxies are among the most intriguing environments in the universe. In this paper,we ask when these dense cores were formed and determine how galaxies gradually assembled around them. We select galaxies that have a stellar mass >3 × 1010M☼ inside r = 1 kpc out to z = 2.5, using the 3D-HST survey and data at low redshift. Remarkably, the number density of galaxies with dense cores appears to have decreased from z = 2.5 to the present. This decrease is probably mostly due to stellar mass loss and the resulting adiabatic expansion, with some contribution from merging. We infer that dense cores were mostly formed at z > 2.5, consistent with their largely quiescent stellar populations. While the cores appear to form early, the galaxies in which they reside show strong evolution: their total masses increase by a factor of 2-3 from z = 2.5 to z = 0 and their effective radii increase by a factor of 5-6. As a result, the contribution of dense cores to the total mass of the galaxies in which they reside decreases from ∼50% at z = 2.5 to ∼15% at z = 0. Because of their early formation, the contribution of dense cores to the total stellar mass budget of the universe is a strong function of redshift. The stars in cores with M1 kpc > 3 × 1010M☼ make up ∼0.1% of the stellar mass density of the universe today but 10%-20% at z ∼ 2, depending on their initial mass function. The formation of these cores required the conversion of ∼1011M☼ of gas into stars within ∼1 kpc, while preventing significant star formation at larger radii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]