Inferring the star formation histories of the most massive and passive early-type galaxies at z<0.3

Abstract

Massive galaxies are key probes to understand how the baryonic matter evolves within the dark matter halos. We use the "archaeological" approach to infer the stellar population properties and star formation histories of the most massive (M > 10^10.75 Msun) and passive early-type galaxies (ETGs) at 0 < z < 0.3, based on stacked, high signal to noise ratio (SNR), Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra. We exploit the information present in the full-spectrum by means of the STARLIGHT public code to retrieve the ETGs evolutionary properties, such as age, metallicity and star formation history. We find that the stellar metallicities are slightly supersolar (Z ~ 0.027 +/- 0.002) and do not depend on redshift. Dust extinction is very low, with a mean of Av ~ 0.08 +/- 0.03 mag. The ETGs show an anti-hierarchical evolution (downsizing) where more massive galaxies are older. The SFHs can be approximated by a parametric function of the form SFR(t) \propto τ^-(c+1) t^(c) exp(-t/τ), with typical short e-folding times of τ~ 0.6 - 0.8 Gyr (and a dispersion of +/- 0.1 Gyr) and c ~ 0.1 (and a dispersion of +/- 0.05). The inferred SFHs are also used to place constraints on the properties and evolution of the ETG progenitors. In particular, the ETGs of our samples should have formed most stars through a phase of vigorous star formation (SFRs > 350-400 Msun yr^-1) at z ~ 4 - 5, and are quiescent by z ~ 1.5 -2. Our results represent an attempt to demonstrate quantitatively the evolutionary link between the most massive ETGs at z < 0.3 and the properties of suitable progenitors at high redshifts, also showing that the full-spectrum fitting is a powerful approach to reconstruct the star formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies.

arXiv comment25 pages, 25 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

References in corpus (139)

• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae
• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• The Origin of the Mass--Metallicity Relation: Insights from 53,000 Star-Forming Galaxies in the SDSS
• Observational Evidence of AGN Feedback
• Stellar Masses and Star Formation Histories for 10^5 Galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Parametric Recovery of Line-of-Sight Velocity Distributions from Absorption-Line Spectra of Galaxies via Penalized Likelihood
• The Average Star Formation Histories of Galaxies in Dark Matter Halos from z=0-8
• Stellar mass-to-light ratios and the Tully-Fisher relation
• Cold streams in early massive hot haloes as the main mode of galaxy formation
• Accurate photometric redshifts for the CFHT Legacy Survey calibrated using the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey
• The epochs of early-type galaxy formation as a function of environment
• New Insight on Galaxy Formation and Evolution from Keck Spectroscopy of the Hawaii Deep Fields
• MILES: A Medium resolution INT Library of Empirical Spectra
• NYU-VAGC: a galaxy catalog based on new public surveys
• The ages and metallicities of galaxies in the local universe
• Mass assembly in quiescent and star-forming galaxies since z=4 from UltraVISTA
• The formation history of elliptical galaxies
• The Evolution of the Stellar Mass Functions of Star-Forming and Quiescent Galaxies to z = 4 from the COSMOS/UltraVISTA Survey
• AMAZE. I. The evolution of the mass-metallicity relation at z>3
• Minor mergers and the size evolution of elliptical galaxies
• Clustering of Galaxies in a Hierarchical Universe: I. Methods and Results at z=0
• Modeling the Panchromatic Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
• Massive Molecular Outflows and Evidence for AGN Feedback from CO Observations
• Resolving Cosmic Structure Formation with the Millennium-II Simulation
• Passively Evolving Early-type Galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• The Dust Opacity of Star-Forming Galaxies
• The Growth of Massive Galaxies Since z=2
• A Survey of z>5.7 Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II: Discovery of Three Additional Quasars at z>6
• Observational evidence for AGN feedback in early-type galaxies
• Galaxy Stellar Mass Assembly between 0.2<z<2 from the S-COSMOS survey
• The Stellar Population Histories of Early-Type Galaxies. II. Controlling Parameters of the Stellar Populations
• Galaxy formation in the Planck Cosmology - I. Matching the observed evolution of star formation rates, colours and stellar masses
• A Dust-Obscured Massive Maximum-Starburst Galaxy at a Redshift of 6.34
• The Stellar Populations and Evolution of Lyman Break Galaxies
• PRIMUS: Constraints on Star Formation Quenching and Galaxy Merging, and the Evolution of the Stellar Mass Function From z=0-1
• zCOSMOS - 10k-bright spectroscopic sample. The bimodality in the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function: exploring its evolution with redshift
• The Complete Star Formation History of the Universe
• STELIB: a library of stellar spectra at R~2000
• The Atlas3D Project - XXX. Star formation histories and stellar population scaling relations of early-type galaxies
• Old Galaxies in the Young Universe
• Stellar Population Diagnostics of Elliptical Galaxy Formation
• The Recent and Continuing Assembly of Field Ellipticals by Red Mergers
• The Evolutionary History of Lyman Break Galaxies Between Redshift 4 and 6: Observing Successive Generations of Massive Galaxies in Formation
• Evidence for TP-AGB stars in high redshift galaxies, and their effect on deriving stellar population parameters
• LSD: Lyman-break galaxies Stellar populations and Dynamics. I: Mass, metallicity and gas at z~3.1
• The Many Manifestations of Downsizing: Hierarchical Galaxy Formation Models confront Observations
• Two bright submillimeter galaxies in a z=4.05 proto-cluster in GOODS-North, and accurate radio-infrared photometric redshifts
• Stellar population models at high spectral resolution
• Galacticus: A Semi-Analytic Model of Galaxy Formation
• The ATLAS${}^{3D}$ project - XXV: Two-dimensional kinematic analysis of simulated galaxies and the cosmological origin of fast and slow rotators
• The number density and mass density of star-forming and quiescent galaxies at 0.4 < z < 2.2
• Properties of Early-Type, Dry Galaxy Mergers and the Origin of Massive Elliptical Galaxies
• The Relation Between SFR and Stellar Mass for Galaxies at 3.5 $\le z\le$ 6.5 in CANDELS
• GMASS Ultradeep Spectroscopy of Galaxies at 1.4<z<2. II. Superdense passive galaxies: how did they form and evolve ?
• UV to Mid-IR Observations of Star-forming Galaxies at z~2: Stellar Masses and Stellar Populations
• Evolution of the dust emission of massive galaxies up to z=4 and constraints on their dominant mode of star formation
• The star formation histories of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• MIUSCAT: extended MILES spectral coverage. I. Stellar populations synthesis models
• Star formation rates and masses of z ~ 2 galaxies from multicolour photometry
• The galaxy stellar mass function at 3.5<z<7.5 in the CANDELS/UDS, GOODS-South, and HUDF fields
• The Fundamenal Plane in CL0024 at z=0.4: Implications for the Evolution of the Mass-to-Light Ratio
• The Intense Starburst HDF850.1 in a Galaxy Overdensity at z=5.2 in the Hubble Deep Field
• The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: Final data release and cosmological results
• Mass downsizing and "top-down" assembly of early-type galaxies
• Early-Type Galaxy Archeology: Ages, Abundance Ratios, and Effective Temperatures from Full-Spectrum Fitting
• NOAO Fundamental Plane Survey -- II. Age and Metallicity along the Red Sequence
• The evolving relations between size, mass, surface density, and star formation in 3x10^4 galaxies since z=2
• A Rapidly Star-forming Galaxy 700 Million Years After the Big Bang at z=7.51
• The Assembly History of Field Spheroidals: Evolution of Mass-to-light Ratios and Signatures of Recent Star Formation
• A simple model for the size-evolution of elliptical galaxies
• Minute-Timescale >100 MeV gamma-ray variability during the giant outburst of quasar 3C 279 observed by Fermi-LAT in 2015 June
• Counting Low-Mass Stars in Integrated Light
• Recovering galaxy stellar population properties from broad-band spectral energy distribution fitting
• Simulations of the galaxy population constrained by observations from z=3 to the present day: implications for galactic winds and the fate of their ejecta
• A substantial population of massive quiescent galaxies at z~4 from ZFOURGE
• Modeling the color evolution of luminous red galaxies - improvements with empirical stellar spectra
• Evolved Galaxies at z > 1.5 from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey: The Formation Epoch of Massive Stellar Systems
• Spectroscopic Identification of Massive Galaxies at z~2.3 with Strongly Suppressed Star Formation
• The SINS/zC-SINF survey of z~2 galaxy kinematics: Evidence for powerful AGN-driven nuclear outflows in massive star-forming galaxies
• Dissecting the size evolution of elliptical galaxies since z~1: puffing up vs minor merging scenarios
• Evolution of Disk Galaxies in the GOODS-South Field: Number Densities and Size Distribution
• Near-IR bright galaxies at z~2. Entering the spheroid formation epoch ?
• Superdense galaxies and the mass-size relation at low redshift
• The Chemical Evolution of Star-Forming Galaxies Over the Last 11 Billion Years
• Forming Early-Type Galaxies in LambdaCDM Simulations -I. Assembly histories
• Quiescent Galaxies in the 3D-HST Survey: Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Large Number of Galaxies with Relatively Old Stellar Populations at z~2
• Stellar populations from spectroscopy of a large sample of quiescent galaxies at z > 1: Measuring the contribution of progenitor bias to early size growth
• Evidence for a Massive Post-Starburst Galaxy at z ~ 6.5
• The Assembly Histories of Quiescent Galaxies Since z=0.7 from Absorption Line Spectroscopy
• The metallicity of the most distant quasars
• Measuring Ages and Elemental Abundances from Unresolved Stellar Populations: Fe, Mg, C, N, and Ca
• Discovery of eight z ~ 6 quasars from Pan-STARRS1
• Quasar Elemental Abundances at High Redshifts
• New Clues on the Calcium Underabundance in Early-Type Galaxies
• A Population of Massive and Evolved Galaxies at z$\ga$5
• The Impossibly Early Galaxy Problem
• Chemical element ratios of SDSS early-type galaxies
• Molecular Gas in a Submillimeter Galaxy at z=4.5: Evidence for a Major Merger at 1 Billion Years after the Big Bang
• A Bayesian approach to the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation: methodology
• Iron Emission in z~6 QSOs
• The K20 survey. IV. The redshift distribution of Ks<20 galaxies: a test of galaxy formation models
• The Fraction of Quiescent Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe
• Spitzer bright, UltraVISTA faint sources in COSMOS: the contribution to the overall population of massive galaxies at z=3-7
• Fast evolving size of early-type galaxies at z>2 and the role of dissipationless (dry) merging
• A public catalogue of stellar masses, star formation and metallicity histories and dust content from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using VESPA
• The Progenitors of Local Ultra-massive Galaxies Across Cosmic Time: from Dusty Star-bursting to Quiescent Stellar Populations
• P-MaNGA: Full spectral fitting and stellar population maps from prototype observations
• Spot the difference. Impact of different selection criteria on observed properties of passive galaxies in zCOSMOS 20-k sample
• The population of early-type galaxies at 1<z<2 - New clues on their formation and evolution
• A Massive Galaxy in its Core Formation Phase Three Billion Years After the Big Bang
• The rise and fall of the star formation histories of blue galaxies at redshifts 0.2<z<1.4
• The different star-formation histories of blue and red spiral and elliptical galaxies
• Discovery of a Strongly Lensed Massive Quiescent Galaxy at z=2.636: Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy and Indications of Rotation
• The ages, metallicities and star formation histories of early-type galaxies in SDSS
• AGN feedback at z~2 and the mutual evolution of active and inactive galaxies
• Searching for massive galaxies at z>=3.5 in GOODS-North
• The evolution of quiescent galaxies at high redshift (z > 1.4)
• The early early type: discovery of a passive galaxy at z=3
• Unveiling the oldest and most massive galaxies at very high redshift
• The age dependence of the size-stellar mass relation and some implications
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The mass-metallicity relationship
• Constraining the expansion rate of the Universe using low-redshift ellipticals as cosmic chronometers
• Spectroscopic Confirmation of an Ultra Massive and Compact Galaxy at z=3.35: A Detailed Look at an Early Progenitor of Local Most Massive Ellipticals
• First results from the VIRIAL survey: the stellar content of $UVJ$-selected quiescent galaxies at $1.5<z<2$ from KMOS
• Old age and super-solar metallicity in a massive z~1.4 early-type galaxy from VLT/X-Shooter spectroscopy
• The evolution of galaxy metallicity scaling relations in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• A QSO host galaxy and its Lyalpha emission at z=6.43
• On the recovery of galaxy properties from SED fitting solutions
• The interstellar medium and feedback in the progenitors of the compact passive galaxies at z~2
• Properties of Luminous Red Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Discovery of Massive, Mostly Star-formation Quenched Galaxies with Extremely Large Lyman-alpha Equivalent Widths at z ~ 3
• The star-forming progenitors of massive red galaxies
• Are z>2 Herschel galaxies proto-spheroids?

Cited by in corpus (46)

• Inferring the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies with BAGPIPES: Evidence for multiple quenching mechanisms
• Euclid. I. Overview of the Euclid mission
• Modelling and interpreting spectral energy distributions of galaxies with BEAGLE
• Setting the Stage for Cosmic Chronometers. II. Impact of Stellar Population Synthesis Models Systematics and Full Covariance Matrix
• Eppur è piatto? The cosmic chronometer take on spatial curvature and cosmic concordance
• The VANDELS survey: the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies at 1.0 < z < 1.3
• The evolution of star formation histories of quiescent galaxies
• Setting the Stage for Cosmic Chronometers. I. Assessing the Impact of Young Stellar Populations on Hubble Parameter Measurements
• Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Protocluster at $z=3.37$ with a High Fraction of Quiescent Galaxies
• The Dramatic Size and Kinematic Evolution of Massive Early-Type Galaxies
• The cosmic evolution of the spatially-resolved star formation rate and stellar mass of the CALIFA survey
• The spatially-resolved star formation histories of CALIFA galaxies: Implications for galaxy formation
• ALMA measures rapidly depleted molecular gas reservoirs in massive quiescent galaxies at z~1.5
• Merging Rates of Compact Binaries in Galaxies: Perspectives for Gravitational Wave Detections
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: Radial Gradients in Stellar Population Properties of Early-Type and Late-Type Galaxies
• The GOGREEN survey: Post-infall environmental quenching fails to predict the observed age difference between quiescent field and cluster galaxies at z>1
• Rejuvenated galaxies with very old bulges at the origin of the bending of the main sequence and of the "green valley"
• The colors and sizes of recently quenched galaxies: a result of compact starburst before quenching
• Evolution of Galaxy Star Formation and Metallicity: Impact on Double Compact Objects Mergers
• Observational evidence of galaxy assembly bias
• Toward a Better Understanding of Cosmic Chronometers: Stellar Population Properties of Passive Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift
• New Analytic Solutions for Galaxy Evolution: Gas, Stars, Metals and Dust in local Early-Type Galaxies and in their high-z Starforming Progenitors
• The miniJPAS survey: Identification and characterization of galaxy populations with the J-PAS photometric system
• HST grism spectroscopy of z~3 massive quiescent galaxies: Approaching the metamorphosis
• The abundance of compact quiescent galaxies since z ~ 0.6
• In and out star formation in z~1.5 quiescent galaxies from rest-frame UV spectroscopy and the far-infrared
• Molecular Gas Reservoirs in Massive Quiescent Galaxies at $\mathrm{z}\sim 0.7$ Linked to Late Time Star Formation
• Chandra and ALMA observations of the nuclear activity in two strongly lensed star forming galaxies
• Angular Momentum of Early and Late Type Galaxies: Nature or Nurture?
• Stellar Mass Function of Active and Quiescent Galaxies via the Continuity Equation
• The Black Hole Mass Function Across Cosmic Times I. Stellar Black Holes and Light Seed Distribution
• Unveiling the nature of 11 dusty star-forming galaxies at the peak of cosmic star formation history
• Low-mass compact elliptical galaxies: spatially-resolved stellar populations and kinematics with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager
• WEAVE-StePS. A stellar population survey using WEAVE at WHT
• The submillimetre view of massive clusters at z~0.8-1.6
• Setting firmer constraints on the evolution of the most massive, central galaxies from their local abundances and ages
• The Black Hole Mass Function Across Cosmic Times II. Heavy Seeds and (Super)Massive Black Holes
• A methodology to select galaxies just after the quenching of star formation
• The evolution of radial gradients of MaNGA quiescent elliptical galaxies: inside-out quenching or outer mass growth?
• Catching galaxies in the act of quenching star formation
• Unveiling the Universe with Emerging Cosmological Probes
• Modelling the quenching of star formation activity from the evolution of the colour-magnitude relation in VIPERS
• Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to $z\sim 1$. III. The stellar content of the quiescent galaxy population during the last $8$ Gyr
• Local galaxies with compact cores as the possible descendants of massive compact quiescent galaxies at high redshift
• Ergodicity of FIRE: star formation variations within and between simulated galaxies
• Euclid preparation. Predicting star-forming galaxy scaling relations with the spectral stacking code SpectraPyle