Pathways to quiescence: SHARDS view on the Star Formation Histories of massive quiescent galaxies at 1.0 < z < 1.5

Abstract

We present Star Formation Histories (SFHs) for a sample of 104 massive (stellar mass M > 10${}^{10}$ M${}_{\odot }$) quiescent galaxies (MQGs) at $z$=1.0-1.5 from the analysis of spectro-photometric data from the SHARDS and HST/WFC3 G102 and G141 surveys of the GOODS-N field, jointly with broad-band observations from ultraviolet (UV) to far-infrared (Far-IR). The sample is constructed on the basis of rest-frame UVJ colours and specific star formation rates (sSFR=SFR/Mass). The Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of each galaxy are compared to models assuming a delayed exponentially declining SFH. A Monte Carlo algorithm characterizes the degeneracies, which we are able to break taking advantage of the SHARDS data resolution, by measuring indices such as MgUV and D4000. The population of MQGs shows a duality in their properties. The sample is dominated (85%) by galaxies with young mass-weighted ages, tM $<$ 2 Gyr, short star formation timescales, $⟨\tau ⟩$ $\sim$ 60-200 Myr, and masses log(M/M${}_{\odot }$) $\sim$ 10.5. There is an older population (15%) with tM$=$2 - 4 Gyr, longer star formation timescales, $⟨\tau ⟩$$\sim$ 400 Myr, and larger masses, log(M/M${}_{\odot }$) $\sim$ 10.7. The SFHs of our MQGs are consistent with the slope and the location of the Main Sequence (MS) of star-forming galaxies at $z$ $>$ 1.0, when our galaxies were 0.5-1.0 Gyr old. According to these SFHs, all the MQGs experienced a Luminous Infrared Galaxy (LIRG) phase that lasts for $\sim$ 500 Myr, and half of them an Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxy (ULIRG) phase for $\sim$ 100 Myr. We find that the MQG population is almost assembled at $z$ $\sim$ 1, and continues evolving passively with few additions to the population.

26 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (21)

• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
• Star Formation in AEGIS Field Galaxies since z=1.1 : The Dominance of Gradually Declining Star Formation, and the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies: I. Galaxy Mergers & Quasar Activity
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• UltraVISTA: a new ultra-deep near-infrared survey in COSMOS
• The stellar mass assembly of galaxies from z=0 to z=4. Analysis of a sample selected in the rest-frame near-infrared with Spitzer
• Compaction and Quenching of High-z Galaxies in Cosmological Simulations: Blue and Red Nuggets
• Size evolution of the most massive galaxies at 1.7<z<3 from GOODS NICMOS survey imaging
• The galaxy stellar mass function at 3.5<z<7.5 in the CANDELS/UDS, GOODS-South, and HUDF fields
• Stellar masses from the CANDELS survey: the GOODS-South and UDS fields
• Stellar populations from spectroscopy of a large sample of quiescent galaxies at z > 1: Measuring the contribution of progenitor bias to early size growth
• The Assembly Histories of Quiescent Galaxies Since z=0.7 from Absorption Line Spectroscopy
• An Improved Model of SiO Maser Emission in Miras
• A Surprisingly High Pair Fraction for Extremely Massive Galaxies at z ~ 3 in the GOODS NICMOS Survey
• Avoiding progenitor bias: The structural and mass evolution of Brightest Group and Cluster Galaxies in Hierarchical models since z~1
• The Mass Assembly History of Spheroidal Galaxies: Did Newly-Formed Systems Arise Via Major Mergers?
• The impact of Spitzer infrared data on stellar mass estimates - and a revised galaxy stellar mass function at 0 < z < 5
• First results from the VIRIAL survey: the stellar content of $UVJ$-selected quiescent galaxies at $1.5<z<2$ from KMOS
• A complete census of Herschel-detected infrared sources within the HST Frontier Fields

Cited by in corpus (33)

• A universal structural and star-forming relation since $z\sim 3$: connecting compact star-forming and quiescent galaxies
• MOSFIRE Spectroscopy of Quiescent Galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5. II - Star Formation Histories and Galaxy Quenching
• Non-parametric Star Formation History Reconstruction with Gaussian Processes I: Counting Major Episodes of Star Formation
• An observational determination of the evolving extragalactic background light from the multiwavelength HST/CANDELS survey in the Fermi and CTA era
• CEERS Key Paper V: A triality on the nature of HST-dark galaxies
• How to quench a galaxy
• Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program: A Mass-Dependent Slope of the Galaxy Size-Mass Relation at $z<1$
• Massive Dead Galaxies at z~2 with HST Grism Spectroscopy I. Star Formation Histories and Metallicity Enrichment
• CLEAR I: Ages and Metallicities of Quiescent Galaxies at $1.0<\mathbf{z}<1.8$ Derived from Deep Hubble Space Telescope Grism Data
• Optically-faint massive Balmer Break Galaxies at z>3 in the CANDELS/GOODS fields
• Stellar content of extremely red quiescent galaxies at z>2
• A duality in the origin of bulges and spheroidal galaxies
• SHARDS: Constraints on the dust attenuation law of star-forming galaxies at z~2
• A Method to Distinguish Quiescent and Dusty Star-forming Galaxies with Machine Learning
• An exquisitely deep view of quenching galaxies through the gravitational lens: Stellar population, morphology, and ionized gas
• Quantifying the suppression of the (un)-obscured star formation in galaxy cluster cores at 0.2$\lesssim$$z$$\lesssim$0.9
• The Correlation between Black Hole Mass and Stellar Mass for Classical Bulges and the Cores of Ellipticals
• Missing Giants: Predictions on Dust-Obscured Galaxy Stellar Mass Assembly Throughout Cosmic Time
• Probing the Star Formation Main Sequence down to $10^8$ M${}_{\odot }$ at $1.0<z<3.0$
• The evolution of the gas fraction of quiescent galaxies modeled as a consequence of their creation rate
• Differential attenuation in star-forming galaxies at 0.3 $\lesssim$ $z$ $\lesssim$ 1.5 in the SHARDS/CANDELS field
• Accelerated quenching and chemical enhancement of massive galaxies in a $z\sim 4$ gas-rich halo
• Evolution of the anti-truncated stellar profiles of S0 galaxies since $z=0.6$ in the SHARDS survey: I - Sample and Methods
• Bulgeless galaxies in the COSMOS field: environment and star formation evolution at $z<1$
• The Puzzling Origin of Massive Compact Galaxies in MaNGA
• A deeper look at the dust attenuation law of star-forming galaxies at high redshift
• Insights on star formation histories and physical properties of $1.2\le z\lesssim 4$ Herschel-detected galaxies
• Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to $z\sim 1$. II. Stellar content of quiescent galaxies within the dust-corrected stellar mass$-$colour and the $UVJ$ colour$-$colour diagrams
• The Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS). XII. Spatially Resolved Galaxy Star Formation Histories and True Evolutionary Paths at z > 1
• Probing the earliest phases in the formation of massive galaxies with simulated HST+JWST imaging data from Illustris
• J-PAS: A Neural Network Approach to Single Stellar Population Characterization
• From naked spheroids to disky galaxies: how do massive disk galaxies shape their morphology?
• Lack of influence of the environment in the earliest stages of massive galaxy formation