Young ages and other intriguing properties of massive compact galaxies in the Local Universe

Abstract

We characterize the kinematics, morphology, stellar populations and star formation histories of a sample of massive compact galaxies in the nearby Universe, which might provide a closer look to the nature of their high redshift (z > 1.0) massive counterparts. We find that nearby compact massive objects show elongated morphologies and are fast rotators. New high-quality long-slit spectra show that they have young mean luminosity-weighted ages (< 2Gyr) and solar metallicities or above ([Z/H]> 0.0). No significant stellar population gradients are found. The analysis of their star formation histories suggests that these objects have experienced recently enormous bursts which, in some cases, represent unprecedented large fractions of their total stellar mass. These galaxies seem to be truly unique, as they do not follow the characteristic kinematical and stellar population patterns of present-day massive ellipticals, spirals or even dwarfs.

16 pages, 11 figures; Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (14)

• K-corrections and filter transformations in the ultraviolet, optical, and near infrared
• The SAURON project -- X. The orbital anisotropy of elliptical and lenticular galaxies: revisiting the (V/sigma,epsilon) diagram with integral-field stellar kinematics
• Size evolution of the most massive galaxies at 1.7<z<3 from GOODS NICMOS survey imaging
• Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra - II. The stellar atmospheric parameters
• The SAURON project - VI. Line strength maps of 48 elliptical and lenticular galaxies
• NICMOS Imaging of DRGs in the HDF-S: A Relation Between Star-Formation and Size at z ~ 2.5
• Superdense massive galaxies in the Nearby Universe
• Dynamical masses of early-type galaxies at z~2: Are they truly superdense?
• On the interpretation of age and chemical composition of composite stellar populations determined with line-strength indices
• The Kormendy relation of massive elliptical galaxies at z~1.5. Evidence for size evolution ?
• A Catalog of Local E+A(post-starburst) Galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5
• The stellar velocity dispersion of a compact massive galaxy at z=1.80 using X-Shooter: confirmation of the evolution in the mass-size and mass-dispersion relations
• An optimized H_βindex for disentangling stellar population ages
• The Age, Metallicity and Alpha-Element Abundance of Galactic Globular Clusters from Single Stellar Population Models

Cited by in corpus (38)

• How do minor mergers promote inside-out growth of ellipticals, transforming the size, density profile and dark matter fraction?
• Stellar Kinematics of z~2 Galaxies and the Inside-Out Growth of Quiescent Galaxies
• Superdense galaxies and the mass-size relation at low redshift
• Relaxation and Stripping: The Evolution of Sizes, Dispersions and Dark Matter Fractions in Major and Minor Mergers of Elliptical Galaxies
• NGC1277: a massive compact relic galaxy in the nearby Universe
• Deep Absorption Line Studies of Quiescent Galaxies at z~2: The Dynamical Mass-Size Relation, and First Constraints on the Fundamental plane
• Resolving galaxies in time and space: II: Uncertainties in the spectral synthesis of datacubes
• The Stellar Halos of Massive Elliptical Galaxies II: Detailed Abundance Ratios at Large Radius
• Massive relic galaxies challenge the co-evolution of SMBHs and their host galaxies
• The initial mass function of a massive relic galaxy
• Comparison of Stellar Population Model Predictions Using Optical and Infrared Spectroscopy
• Expected number of massive galaxy relics in the present-day Universe
• Towards a census of super-compact massive galaxies in the Kilo Degree Survey
• X-shooter Spectroscopy and HST Imaging of 15 Ultra Massive Quiescent Galaxies at $z\gtrsim 2$
• The impact of a non-universal Initial Mass Function on the Star Formation Histories of Early-Type Galaxies
• The first sample of spectroscopically confirmed ultra-compact massive galaxies in the Kilo Degree Survey
• Building the largest spectroscopic sample of ultra-compact massive galaxies with the Kilo Degree Survey
• Stellar Dynamical Models for 797 $z\sim 0.8$ Galaxies from LEGA-C
• Low-mass compact elliptical galaxies: spatially-resolved stellar populations and kinematics with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager
• Evaluating Galaxy Dynamical Masses From Kinematics and Jeans Equilibrium in Simulations
• Two phase formation of massive elliptical galaxies : study through cross-correlation including spatial effect
• Disc cloaking: Establishing a lower limit to the number density of local compact massive spheroids/bulges and the potential fate of some high-z red nuggets
• The discrepancy between dynamical and stellar masses in massive compact galaxies traces non-homology
• A Search for Moderate-Redshift Survivors from the Population of Luminous Compact Passive Galaxies at High Redshift
• Compact Quiescent Galaxies at Intermediate Redshifts
• Exploring the AGN-Merger Connection in Arp 245 I: Nuclear Star Formation and Gas Outflow in NGC 2992
• Stellar populations in local AGNs: evidence for enhanced star formation in the inner 100pc
• The Puzzling Origin of Massive Compact Galaxies in MaNGA
• The supermassive black hole merger driven evolution of high-redshift red nuggets into present-day cored early-type galaxies
• Dynamical masses and non-homology of massive elliptical galaxies grown by dry mergers
• Fast Rotators at Cosmic Noon: Stellar Kinematics for 15 Quiescent Galaxies from JWST-SUSPENSE
• The merger history of massive spheroids since z~1 is size independent
• Lower mass normalization of the stellar initial mass function for dense massive early-type galaxies at z ~ 1.4
• The Origin of Massive Compact Galaxies: Lessons from IllustrisTNG
• The formation of compact massive relic galaxies in MOND
• Constraints on the evolutionary mechanisms of massive galaxies since $z\sim 1$ from their velocity dispersions
• Use of spatial cross correlation function to study formation mechanism of massive elliptical galaxies
• The size and mass evolution of the massive galaxies over cosmic time