The Properties and Evolution of a K-band Selected Sample of Massive Galaxies at z~0.4 - 2 in the Palomar/DEEP2 Survey

Abstract

We present the results of a study on the properties and evolution of massive (M_* > 10^11 M_0) galaxies at z~0.4 - 2 utilising Keck spectroscopy, near-Infrared Palomar imaging, and Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer data covering fields targeted by the DEEP2 galaxy spectroscopic survey. Our sample is K band selected based on wide-area NIR imaging from the Palomar Observatory Wide-Field Infrared Survey, which covers 1.53 deg^2 to K_s,vega~20.5. Our major findings include: (i) statistically the mass and number densities of M_* > 10^11 M_0 galaxies show little evolution between z = 0 - 1, and from z ~ 0 - 2 for M_* > 10^11.5 M_0 galaxies. (ii) Using Hubble ACS imaging, we find that M_* > 10^11 selected galaxies show a nearly constant elliptical fraction of ~70-90% at all redshifts. The remaining objects are peculiars possibly undergoing mergers at z > 0.8, while spirals dominate the remainder at lower redshifts. (iii) We find that only a fraction (~60%) of massive galaxies with M_* > 10^11 M_0 are on the red-sequence at z~1.4, while nearly 100% evolve onto it by z~0.4. (iv) By utilising Spitzer MIPS imaging and [OII] line fluxes we argue that M_* > 10^11.5 galaxies have a steeply declining star formation rate density ~(1+z)^6. By examining the contribution of star formation to the evolution of the mass function, as well as the merger history through the CAS parameters, we determine that M_* >10^11 M_0 galaxies undergo on average 0.9^+0.7_-0.5 major mergers at 0.4 < z < 1.4. (v) A high (5%) fraction of all M_* > 10^11 M_0 galaxies are X-ray emitters. Roughly half of these are morphologically distorted ellipticals or peculiars. We compare our results with the Millennium simulation, finding that the number and mass densities of M_* > 10^11.5 M_0 galaxies are under predicted by a factor of > 100.

MNRAS, in press, 28 pages

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