FIGS: Spectral fitting constraints on the star formation history of massive galaxies since Cosmic Noon

Abstract

We constrain the stellar population properties of a sample of 52 massive galaxies, with stellar mass log Ms>10.5, over the redshift range 0.5<z<2 by use of observer-frame optical and near-infrared slitless spectra from HST's ACS and WFC3 grisms. The deep exposures (~100 ks) allow us to target individual spectra of massive galaxies to F160W=22.5AB. Our spectral fitting approach uses a set of six base models adapted to the redshift and spectral resolution of each observation, and fits the weights of the base models, including potential dust attenuation, via an MCMC method. Our sample comprises a mixed distribution of quiescent (19) and star-forming galaxies (33). We quantify the width of the age distribution (Dt) that is found to dominate the variance of the retrieved parameters according to Principal Component Analysis. The population parameters follow the expected trend towards older ages with increasing mass, and Dt appears to weakly anti-correlate with stellar mass, suggesting a more efficient star formation at the massive end. As expected, the redshift dependence of the relative stellar age (measured in units of the age of the Universe at the source) in the quiescent sample rejects the hypothesis of a single burst (aka monolithic collapse). Radial colour gradients within each galaxy are also explored, finding a wider scatter in the star-forming subsample, but no conclusive trend with respect to the population parameters.

arXiv comment20 pages, 12+3 figures, 4+3 tables. MNRAS, in press

References in corpus (61)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• A Simple Model for the Absorption of Starlight by Dust in Galaxies
• The ages and metallicities of galaxies in the local universe
• The size distribution of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• Detection of quiescent galaxies in a bicolor sequence from z=0-2
• Passively Evolving Early-type Galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• The Two Phases of Galaxy Formation
• The Chandra Deep Field-North Survey. XIII. 2 Ms Point-Source Catalogs
• Confirmation of the remarkable compactness of massive quiescent galaxies at z~2.3: early-type galaxies did not form in a simple monolithic collapse
• Structural Parameters of Galaxies in CANDELS
• The size evolution of galaxies since z~3: combining SDSS, GEMS and FIRES
• Old Galaxies in the Young Universe
• Stellar Population Diagnostics of Elliptical Galaxy Formation
• IRAC Mid-Infrared Imaging of the Hubble Deep Field South: Star Formation Histories and Stellar Masses of Red Galaxies at z>2
• GMASS Ultradeep Spectroscopy of Galaxies at 1.4<z<2. II. Superdense passive galaxies: how did they form and evolve ?
• MIUSCAT: extended MILES spectral coverage. I. Stellar populations synthesis models
• A catalog of visual-like morphologies in the 5 CANDELS fields using deep-learning
• The Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 Early Release Science data: Panchromatic Faint Object Counts for 0.2-2 microns wavelength
• Stellar masses from the CANDELS survey: the GOODS-South and UDS fields
• The Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: 2 Ms Source Catalogs
• Stellar Kinematics of z~2 Galaxies and the Inside-Out Growth of Quiescent Galaxies
• Radial variations in the stellar initial mass function of early-type galaxies
• Charting the evolution of the ages and metallicities of massive galaxies since z=0.7
• Dissecting the size evolution of elliptical galaxies since z~1: puffing up vs minor merging scenarios
• The Stellar Initial Mass Function in Early-Type Galaxies from Absorption Line Spectroscopy. III. Radial Gradients
• Stellar populations from spectroscopy of a large sample of quiescent galaxies at z > 1: Measuring the contribution of progenitor bias to early size growth
• CANDELS Visual Classifications: Scheme, Data Release, and First Results
• The Assembly Histories of Quiescent Galaxies Since z=0.7 from Absorption Line Spectroscopy
• Variations of the stellar initial mass function in the progenitors of massive early-type galaxies and in extreme starburst environments
• A massive, quiescent, population II galaxy at a redshift of 2.1
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Global stellar populations on the size-mass plane
• Radial constraints on the Initial Mass Function from TiO features and Wing-Ford band in Early-type Galaxies
• Color and Stellar Population Gradients in Passively Evolving Galaxies at z~2 from HST/WFC3 Deep Imaging in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• IMF and [Na/Fe] abundance ratios from optical and NIR Spectral Features in Early-type Galaxies
• Unveiling dark halos in lensing galaxies
• CLEAR I: Ages and Metallicities of Quiescent Galaxies at $1.0<\mathbf{z}<1.8$ Derived from Deep Hubble Space Telescope Grism Data
• Massive and Newly Dead: Discovery of a Significant Population of Galaxies with High Velocity Dispersions and Strong Balmer Lines at z~1.5 from Deep Keck Spectra and HST/WFC3 Imaging
• The elliptical colour-magnitude relation as a discriminant between the monolithic and merger paradigms: the importance of progenitor bias
• Early-type galaxies in the PEARS survey: Probing the stellar populations at moderate redshift
• The Faint and Extremely Red K-band Selected Galaxy Population in the DEEP2/Palomar Fields
• SFHs OF $Z\sim 1$ Galaxies in LEGA-C
• FIGS -- Faint Infrared Grism Survey: Description and Data Reduction
• Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 Grism Spectroscopy and Imaging of a Growing Compact Galaxy at z=1.9
• The Evolution of Early-type Field Galaxies Selected from a NICMOS Map of the Hubble Deep Field North
• The Structure and Star Formation History of Early-Type Galaxies in the UDF/GRAPES Survey
• Exploring the formation of spheroidal galaxies out to z~1.5 in GOODS
• Simulating and interpreting deep observations in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with the JWST/NIRSpec low-resolution 'prism'
• On breaking the age-metallicity degeneracy in early-type galaxies: Outflows versus Star Formation Efficiency
• Ages of massive galaxies at $0.5<z<2.0$ from 3D-HST rest-frame optical spectroscopy
• Parametrising Star Formation Histories
• The road to the red sequence: A detailed view of the formation of a massive galaxy at z~2
• Chronos: A NIR spectroscopic galaxy survey. From the formation of galaxies to the peak of activity
• Spectrophotometric Redshifts In The Faint Infrared Grism Survey: Finding Overdensities Of Faint Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Fast, Slow, Early, Late: Quenching Massive Galaxies at z~0.8
• L-GALAXIES 2020: The evolution of radial metallicity profiles and global metallicities in disc galaxies
• CLEAR II: Evidence for Early Formation of the Most Compact Quiescent Galaxies at High Redshift
• The GOGREEN survey: Post-infall environmental quenching fails to predict the observed age difference between quiescent field and cluster galaxies at z>1
• An exquisitely deep view of quenching galaxies through the gravitational lens: Stellar population, morphology, and ionized gas
• Age, metallicity and star formation history of spheroidal galaxies in cluster at z~1.2
• The Gemini/HST Galaxy Cluster Project: Environment Effects on the Stellar Populations in the Lynx Clusters at z=1.27
• LEGA-C stellar populations scaling relations. I: Chemo-archaeological downsizing trends at z~0.7