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Register a new userEvolution of Quiescent and Star-Forming Galaxies Since z~1.5 as a Function of Their Velocity Dispersions
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We measure stellar masses and structural parameters for 5,500 quiescent and 20,000 star-forming galaxies at 0.3<zleq1.5 in the Newfirm Medium Band Survey COSMOS and UKIDSS UDS fields. We combine these measurements to infer velocity dispersions and determine how the number density of galaxies at fixed inferred dispersion, or the Velocity Dispersion Function (VDF), evolves with time for each population. We show that the number of galaxies with high velocity dispersions appears to be surprisingly stable with time, regardless of their star formation history. Furthermore, the overall VDF for star-forming galaxies is constant with redshift, extending down to the lowest velocity dispersions probed by this study. The only galaxy population showing strong evolution are quiescent galaxies with low inferred dispersions, whose number density increases by a factor of ~4 since z=1.5. This build-up leads to an evolution in the quiescent fraction of galaxies such that the threshold dispersion above which quiescent galaxies dominate the counts moves to lower velocity dispersion with time. We show that our results are qualitatively consistent with a simple model in which star-forming galaxies quench and are added to the quiescent population. In order to compensate for the migration into the quiescent population, the velocity dispersions of star-forming galaxies must increase, with a rate that increases with dispersion.
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We follow the structural evolution of star forming galaxies (SFGs) like the Milky Way by selecting progenitors to z~1.3 based on the stellar mass growth inferred from the evolution of the star forming sequence. We select our sample from the 3D-HST survey, which utilizes spectroscopy from the HST WFC3 G141 near-IR grism and enables precise redshift measurements for our sample of SFGs. Structural properties are obtained from Sersic profile fits to CANDELS WFC3 imaging. The progenitors of z=0 SFGs with stellar mass M=10^{10.5} Msun are typically half as massive at z~1. This late-time stellar mass assembly is consistent with recent studies that employ abundance matching techniques. The descendant SFGs at z~0 have grown in half-light radius by a factor of ~1.4 since z~1. The half-light radius grows with stellar mass as r_e M^{0.29}. While most of the stellar mass is clearly assembling at large radii, the mass surface density profiles reveal ongoing mass growth also in the central regions where bulges and pseudobulges are common features in present day late-type galaxies. Some portion of this growth in the central regions is due to star formation as recent observations of H-alpha maps for SFGs at z~1 are found to be extended but centrally peaked. Connecting our lookback study with galactic archeology, we find the stellar mass surface density at R=8 kpc to have increased by a factor of ~2 since z~1, in good agreement with measurements derived for the solar neighborhood of the Milky Way.
Several authors have reported that the dynamical masses of massive compact galaxies ($M_star gtrsim 10^{11} mathrm{M_odot}$, $r_mathrm{e} sim 1 mathrm{kpc}$), computed as $M_mathrm{dyn} = 5.0 sigma_mathrm{e}^2 r_mathrm{e} / G$, are lower than their stellar masses $M_star$. In a previous study from our group, the discrepancy is interpreted as a breakdown of the assumption of homology that underlie the $M_mathrm{dyn}$ determinations. Here, we present new spectroscopy of six redshift $z approx 1.0$ massive compact ellipticals from the Extended Groth Strip, obtained with the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias. We obtain velocity dispersions in the range $161-340 mathrm{km s^{-1}}$. As found by previous studies of massive compact galaxies, our velocity dispersions are lower than the virial expectation, and all of our galaxies show $M_mathrm{dyn} < M_star$ (assuming a Salpeter initial mass function). Adding data from the literature, we build a sample covering a range of stellar masses and compactness in a narrow redshift range $mathit{z approx 1.0}$. This allows us to exclude systematic effects on the data and evolutionary effects on the galaxy population, which could have affected previous studies. We confirm that mass discrepancy scales with galaxy compactness. We use the stellar mass plane ($M_star$, $sigma_mathrm{e}$, $r_mathrm{e}$) populated by our sample to constrain a generic evolution mechanism. We find that the simulations of the growth of massive ellipticals due to mergers agree with our constraints and discard the assumption of homology.
We present Keck-I MOSFIRE near-infrared spectroscopy for a sample of 13 compact star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at redshift $2leq z leq2.5$ with star formation rates of SFR$sim$100M$_{odot}$ y$^{-1}$ and masses of log(M/M$_{odot}$)$sim10.8$. Their high integrated gas velocity dispersions of $sigma_{rm{int}}$=230$^{+40}_{-30}$ km s$^{-1}$, as measured from emission lines of H$_{alpha}$ and [OIII], and the resultant M$_{star}-sigma_{rm{int}}$ relation and M$_{star}$$-$M$_{rm{dyn}}$ all match well to those of compact quiescent galaxies at $zsim2$, as measured from stellar absorption lines. Since log(M$_{star}$/M$_{rm{dyn}}$)$=-0.06pm0.2$ dex, these compact SFGs appear to be dynamically relaxed and more evolved, i.e., more depleted in gas and dark matter ($<$13$^{+17}_{-13}$%) than their non-compact SFG counterparts at the same epoch. Without infusion of external gas, depletion timescales are short, less than $sim$300 Myr. This discovery adds another link to our new dynamical chain of evidence that compact SFGs at $zgtrsim2$ are already losing gas to become the immediate progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies by $zsim2$.
We study the evolution of the core (r<1 kpc) and effective (r<r_e) stellar-mass surface densities, in star-forming and quiescent galaxies. Since z=3, both populations occupy distinct, linear relations in log(Sigma_e) and log(Sigma_1) vs. log(M). These structural relations exhibit slopes and scatter that remain almost constant with time while their normalizations decline. For SFGs, the normalization declines by less than a factor of 2 from z=3, in both Sigma_e and Sigma_1. Such mild declines suggest that SFGs build dense cores by growing along these relations. We define this evolution as the structural main sequence (Sigma-MS). Quiescent galaxies follow different relations (Sigma^Q_e, Sigma^Q_1) off the Sigma-MS by having higher densities than SFGs of the same mass and redshift. The normalization of Sigma^Q_e declines by a factor of 10 since z=3, but only a factor of 2 in Sigma^Q_1. Thus, the common denominator for quiescent galaxies at all redshifts is the presence of a dense stellar core, and the formation of such cores in SFGs is the main requirement for quenching. Expressed in 2D as deviations off the SFR-MS and off Sigma^Q_1 at each redshift, the distribution of massive galaxies forms a universal, L-shaped sequence that relates two fundamental physical processes: compaction and quenching. Compaction is a process of substantial core-growth in SFGs relative to that in the Sigma-MS. This process increases the core-to-total mass and Sersic index, thereby, making compact SFGs. Quenching occurs once compact SFGs reach a maximum central density above Sigma^Q_1 > 9.5 M_sun/kpc^2. This threshold provides the most effective selection criterion to identify the star-forming progenitors of quiescent galaxies at all redshifts.
For the first time, we present the size evolution of a mass-complete (log(M*/Msol)>10) sample of star-forming galaxies over redshifts z=1-7, selected from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE). Observed H-band sizes are measured from the Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/F160W imaging. Distributions of individual galaxy masses and sizes illustrate that a clear mass-size relation exists up to z~7. At z~7, we find that the average galaxy size from the mass-size relation is more compact at a fixed mass of log(M*/Msol)=10.1, with r_1/2,maj=1.02+/-0.29 kpc, than at lower redshifts. This is consistent with our results from stacking the same CANDELS HST/F160W imaging, when we correct for galaxy position angle alignment. We find that the size evolution of star-forming galaxies is well fit by a power law of the form r_e = 7.07(1 + z)^-0.89 kpc, which is consistent with previous works for normal star-formers at 1<z<4. In order to compare our slope with those derived Lyman break galaxy studies, we correct for different IMFs and methodology and find a slope of -0.97+/-0.02, which is shallower than that reported for the evolution of Lyman break galaxies at z>4 (r_epropto(1 +z)^-1.2+/-0.06). Therefore, we conclude the Lyman break galaxies likely represent a subset of highly star-forming galaxies that exhibit rapid size growth at z>4.
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