J/MNRAS/490/417 VANDELS massive quiescent galaxies at 1.0<z<1.3 (Carnall+, 2019)
The VANDELS survey:
the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies at 1.0<z<1.3.
Carnall A.C., McLure R.J., Dunlop J.S., Cullen F., McLeod D.J., Wild V.,
Johnson B.D., Appleby S., Dave R., Amorin R., Bolzonella M., Castellano M.,
Cimatti A., Cucciati O., Gargiulo A., Garilli B., Marchi F., Pentericci L.,
Pozzetti L., Schreiber C., Talia M., Zamorani G.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 490, 417-439 (2019)>
=2019MNRAS.490..417C 2019MNRAS.490..417C (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Galaxies ; Redshifts ; Photometry ; Spectroscopy ; Ultraviolet ;
Optical ; Infrared
Keywords: methods: statistical - galaxies: evolution - galaxies: star formation
Abstract:
We present a Bayesian full-spectral-fitting analysis of 75 massive
(M*>1010.3M☉) UVJ-selected galaxies at redshifts of
1.0<z<1.3, combining extremely deep rest-frame ultraviolet
spectroscopy from VANDELS with multiwavelength photometry. By the use
of a sophisticated physical plus systematic uncertainties model,
constructed within the BAGPIPES code, we place strong constraints on
the star-formation histories (SFHs) of individual objects. We first
constrain the stellar mass versus stellar age relationship, finding a
steep trend towards earlier average formation time with increasing
stellar mass (downsizing) of 1.48+0.34-0.39Gyr per decade in mass,
although this shows signs of flattening at M*>1011M☉. We
show that this is consistent with other spectroscopic studies from
0<z<2. This relationship places strong constraints on the AGN-feedback
models used in cosmological simulations. We demonstrate that, although
the relationships predicted by SIMBA and ILLUSTRISTNG agree well with
observations at z=0.1, they are too shallow at z=1, predicting an
evolution of =<0.5Gyr per decade in mass. Secondly, we consider the
connections between green-valley, post-starburst, and quiescent
galaxies, using our inferred SFH shapes and the distributions of
galaxy physical properties on the UVJ diagram. The majority of our
lowest-mass galaxies (M*∼1010.5M☉) are consistent with
formation in recent (z<2), intense starburst events, with time-scales
of =<500Myr. A second class of objects experience extended
star-formation epochs before rapidly quenching, passing through both
green-valley and post-starburst phases. The most massive galaxies in
our sample are extreme systems: already old by z=1, they formed at z∼5
and quenched by z=3. However, we find evidence for their continued
evolution through both AGN and rejuvenated star-formation activity.
Description:
VANDELS (McLure et al. 2018MNRAS.479...25M 2018MNRAS.479...25M; Pentericci et al.
2018A&A...616A.174P 2018A&A...616A.174P, Cat. V/151) is a large, recently completed ESO
Public Spectroscopic Survey using the VIMOS instrument on the VLT at
Paranal Observatory. The survey targeted 2106 high-redshift galaxies
in the UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) field and Chandra Deep Field
South (CDFS).
The VANDELS passive sample was selected by the following process.
First, objects were required to have 1.0<zphot<2.5. Then, we
selected objects with H<22.5mag (corresponding to stellar masses of
log(M*/M☉)≳10). Next, object were selected by rest-frame UVJ
colours (U-V>0.88(V-J)+0.49, U-V>1.2 and V-J<1.6). Finally, to ensure
that all targets would be detected with sufficient SNR in the VIMOS
spectra we imposed i<25mag. This process results in a parent sample of
812 objects.
This VANDELS passive sample is not mass complete across the whole
redshift range from 1.0<z<2.5, so we decided to impose additional
redshift and stellar-mass limits. We apply the limits of zspec<1.3
and log(M*/M☉)>10.3. Finally, we require that objects have
received >90 per cent of their final exposure time in VANDELS DR2, and
have a spectroscopic redshift quality flag of 3 or 4 (corresponding to
>95 per cent probability of being correct), resulting in a sample of
75 objects. The final sample has a near-uniform distribution in
redshift within our chosen limits.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 93 75 Details of the sample of 75 VANDELS objects
considered in this work
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See also:
V/151 : VANDELS High-Redshift Galaxy Evolution (McLure+, 2017)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 18 A18 --- Name VANDELS unique galaxy identification
20- 26 F7.4 deg RAdeg Right ascension (J2000)
28- 35 F8.4 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
37- 41 F5.2 mag imag i-band AB magnitude
43- 47 F5.2 mag Hmag H-band AB magnitude
49- 53 F5.3 --- zpec Spectroscopic redshift, measured by the
VANDELS team in Pentericci et al.
(2018A&A...616A.174P 2018A&A...616A.174P, Cat. V/151)
55- 58 F4.2 arcsec re ? Effective radii in arcseconds, taken from
van der Wel et al. (2014ApJ...788...28V 2014ApJ...788...28V)
60- 63 F4.1 0.1nm-1 SNR Average SNR over the spectral range from
7450-7550Å
65- 69 F5.2 [Msun] b_logM* 16th percentile of the posterior probability
distribution for the stellar mass
71- 75 F5.2 [Msun] logM* 50th percentile of the posterior probability
distribution for the stellar mass
77- 81 F5.2 [Msun] B_logM* 84th percentile of the posterior probability
distribution for the stellar mass
83- 85 F3.1 --- b_zform 16th percentile of the posterior probability
distribution for the formation redshift
87- 89 F3.1 --- zform 50th percentile of the posterior probability
distribution for the formation redshift
91- 93 F3.1 --- B_zform 84th percentile of the posterior probability
distribution for the formation redshift
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Ana Fiallos [CDS] 24-Jan-2023