Exploring the formation of spheroidal galaxies out to z~1.5 in GOODS

Abstract

(Abridged) The formation of massive spheroidal galaxies is studied on a visually classified sample of 910 galaxies extracted from the ACS/HST images of the GOODS North and South fields (0.4<z<.5). Three key observables are considered: comoving number density, internal colour distribution; and the Kormendy relation. The comoving number density of the most massive galaxies is found not to change significantly with redshift. One quarter of the whole sample of early-types are photometrically classified as blue galaxies. On a volume-limited subset out to z<0.7, the average stellar mass of the blue ellipticals is 5E9Msun compared to 4E10Msun for red ellipticals. On a volume-limited subsample of bright galaxies (Mv<-21) out to z=1.4 we find only 4% are blue early-types, in contrast with 26% for the full sample. The intrinsic colour distribution correlates overall bluer colours with **blue cores** (positive radial gradients of colour), suggesting an inside-out process of formation. The redshift evolution of the observed colour gradients is incompatible with a significant variaton in stellar age within each galaxy. The slope of the Kormendy relation in the subsample of massive galaxies does not change between z=0 and z=1.4.

16 pages, 11+4 figures, 1 table. Submitted for publication in MNRAS

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