SFHs OF $Z\sim 1$ Galaxies in LEGA-C

Abstract

Using high resolution spectra from the VLT LEGA-C program, we reconstruct the star formation histories (SFHs) of 607 galaxies at redshifts $z=0.6-1.0$ and stellar masses $\gtrsim 10^{10}$M${}_{\odot }$ using a custom full spectrum fitting algorithm that incorporates the emcee and FSPS packages. We show that the mass-weighted age of a galaxy correlates strongly with stellar velocity dispersion (${\sigma }_{\ast }$) and ongoing star-formation (SF) activity, with the stellar content in higher-${\sigma }_{\ast }$ galaxies having formed earlier and faster. The SFHs of quiescent galaxies are generally consistent with passive evolution since their main SF epoch, but a minority show clear evidence of a rejuvenation event in their recent past. The mean age of stars in galaxies that are star-forming is generally significantly younger, with SF peaking after $z<1.5$ for almost all star-forming galaxies in the sample: many of these still have either constant or rising SFRs on timescales $>100$Myrs. This indicates that $z>2$ progenitors of $z\sim 1$ star-forming galaxies are generally far less massive. Finally, despite considerable variance in the individual SFHs, we show that the current SF activity of massive galaxies ($>$L${}_{\ast }$) at $z\sim 1$ correlates with SF levels at least $3$Gyrs prior: SFHs retain `memory' on a large fraction of the Hubble time. Our results illustrate a novel approach to resolve the formation phase of galaxies, and in identifying their individual evolutionary paths, connects progenitors and descendants across cosmic time. This is uniquely enabled by the high-quality continuum spectroscopy provided by the LEGA-C survey.

arXiv comment18 pages, 9 figures, accepted by ApJ

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