The Progenitors of Local Ultra-massive Galaxies Across Cosmic Time: from Dusty Star-bursting to Quiescent Stellar Populations

Abstract

Using the UltraVISTA catalogs, we investigate the evolution in the 11.4~Gyr since $z=3$ of the progenitors of local ultra-massive galaxies ($\log (M_{\mathrm{star}}/M_{\odot })\approx 11.8$; UMGs), providing a complete and consistent picture of how the most massive galaxies at $z=0$ have assembled. By selecting the progenitors with a semi-empirical approach using abundance matching, we infer a growth in stellar mass of 0.56${}_{-0.25}^{+0.35}$ dex, 0.45${}_{-0.20}^{+0.16}$~dex, and 0.27${}_{-0.12}^{+0.08}$ dex from $z=3$, $z=2$, and $z=1$, respectively, to $z=0$. At $z<1$, the progenitors of UMGs constitute a homogeneous population of only quiescent galaxies with old stellar populations. At $z>1$, the contribution from star-forming galaxies progressively increases, with the progenitors at $2<z<3$ being dominated by massive ($M_{\mathrm{star}}\approx 2\times 10^{11}$M${}_{\odot }$), dusty ($A_{\mathrm{V}}\sim$1--2.2 mag), star-forming (SFR$\sim$100--400~M${}_{\odot }$ yr${}^{-1}$) galaxies with a large range in stellar ages. At $z=2.75$, $\sim$15\% of the progenitors are quiescent, with properties typical of post-starburst galaxies with little dust extinction and strong Balmer break, and showing a large scatter in color. Our findings indicate that at least half of the stellar content of local UMGs was assembled at $z>1$, whereas the remaining was assembled via merging from $z\sim 1$ to the present. Most of the quenching of the star-forming progenitors happened between $z=2.75$ and $z=1.25$, in good agreement with the typical formation redshift and scatter in age of $z=0$ UMGs as derived from their fossil records. The progenitors of local UMGs, including the star-forming ones, never lived on the blue cloud since $z=3$. We propose an alternative path for the formation of local UMGs that refines previously proposed pictures and that is fully consistent with our findings.

20 pages, 15 figures (6 of which in appendix); accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

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