Stellar population gradients at cosmic noon as a constraint to the evolution of passive galaxies

Abstract

Context: The radial variations of the stellar populations properties within passive galaxies at high redshift contain information about their assembly mechanisms, based on which galaxy formation and evolution scenarios may be distinguished. Aims: The aim of this work is to give constraints on massive galaxy formation scenarios through one of the first analyses of age and metallicity gradients of the stellar populations in a sample of passive galaxies at $z>1.6$ based on spectroscopic data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Methods: We combined G$141$ deep slitless spectroscopic data and F$160$W photometric data of the spectroscopically passive galaxies at $1.6<z<2.4$ with $H_{160}<22.0$ in the field of view of the cluster JKCS $041$. We extracted spectra from different zones of the galaxies, and we analysed them by fitting them with a library of synthetic templates of stellar population models to obtain estimates of the age and metallicity gradients. Results: We obtained reliable measurements of age and metallicity parameters in different spatial zones of $\text{four}$ galaxies. We performed spatially resolved measurements in individual high-redshift galaxies without the need of peculiar situations (i.e. gravitational lensing) for the first time. All four galaxies exhibit negative metallicity gradients. Their amplitude, similar to that measured in galaxies in the local Universe, suggests that the stellar populations of passive galaxies from $z\sim 2$ to $z=0$ are not redistributed. Conclusions: Although the sample we analysed is small, the results we obtained suggest that the main mechanism that determines the spatial distribution of the stellar population properties within passive galaxies is constrained in the first $3$ Gyr of the Universe. This is consistent with the revised monolithic scenario.

arXiv comment19 pages, 25 figures. Submitted 25/10/2021, Accepted 26/01/2022

References in corpus (64)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• Cold streams in early massive hot haloes as the main mode of galaxy formation
• The hierarchical formation of the brightest cluster galaxies
• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• The formation history of elliptical galaxies
• Minor mergers and the size evolution of elliptical galaxies
• Differential Galaxy Evolution in Cluster and Field Galaxies at z=0.3
• A Recipe for Galaxy Formation Shaun Cole
• The Growth of Massive Galaxies Since z=2
• The Relation Between Compact, Quiescent High Redshift Galaxies and Massive Nearby Elliptical Galaxies: Evidence for Hierarchical, Inside-Out Growth
• Can Minor Merging Account for the Size Growth of Quiescent Galaxies? New Results from the CANDELS Survey
• Evolution of the Hubble Sequence in Hierarchical Models for Galaxy Formation
• Stellar Population Diagnostics of Elliptical Galaxy Formation
• The Ages of Elliptical Galaxies in a Merger Model
• A wide field Hubble Space Telescope study of the cluster CL0024+16 at z=0.4. I: morphological distributions to 5 Mpc radius
• The SAURON project - XVII. Stellar population analysis of the absorption line strength maps of 48 early-type galaxies
• GRAPE-SPH Chemodynamical Simulation of Elliptical Galaxies I: Evolution of Metallicity Gradients
• A Spitzer-Selected Galaxy Cluster at z=1.62
• Spatially resolved spectroscopy of Coma cluster early -- type galaxies: III. The stellar population gradients
• A simple model for the size-evolution of elliptical galaxies
• Compact High-Redshift Galaxies Are the Cores of the Most Massive Present-Day Spheroids
• Stellar Kinematics of z~2 Galaxies and the Inside-Out Growth of Quiescent Galaxies
• A substantial population of massive quiescent galaxies at z~4 from ZFOURGE
• Unequal-mass galaxy mergers and the creation of cluster S0 galaxies
• Spectroscopic Confirmation of the Rich z=1.80 Galaxy Cluster JKCS 041 Using the WFC3 Grism: Environmental Trends in the Ages and Structure of Quiescent Galaxies
• Effects of Ram-Pressure from Intracluster Medium on the Star Formation Rate of Disk Galaxies in Clusters of Galaxies
• Charting the evolution of the ages and metallicities of massive galaxies since z=0.7
• Chemical Enrichment and the Origin of the Colour-Magnitude Relation of Elliptical Galaxies in a Hierarchical Merger Model
• On Sizes, Kinematics, M/L Gradients, and Light Profiles of Massive Compact Galaxies at z~2
• Spatially resolved spectroscopy of early-type galaxies over a range in mass
• Age and metallicity gradients in early-type galaxies: A dwarf to giant sequence
• Early-type galaxies at large galactocentric radii - II. Metallicity gradients, and the [Z/H]--mass, [alpha/Fe]--mass relations
• Constraining The Assembly Of Normal And Compact Passively Evolving Galaxies From Redshift z=3 To The Present With CANDELS
• The mass-metallicity gradient relation of early-type galaxies
• The Dependence of the Mass Assembly History of Cold Dark Matter Halos on Environment
• First Results from the 3D-HST Survey: The Striking Diversity of Massive Galaxies at z>1
• JKCS041: a Coma cluster progenitor at z=1.803
• JKCS041: a colour-detected galaxy cluster at z_phot=1.9 with deep potential well as confirmed by X-ray data
• The SAURON Project - XIV. No escape from V${}_{\mathrm{esc}}$: a global and local parameter in early-type galaxy evolution
• Color and Stellar Population Gradients in Passively Evolving Galaxies at z~2 from HST/WFC3 Deep Imaging in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• Stellar populations of early-type galaxies in different environments III. Line-strength gradients
• Insights into formation scenarios of massive Early-Type galaxies from spatially resolved stellar population analysis in CALIFA
• Massive Dead Galaxies at z~2 with HST Grism Spectroscopy I. Star Formation Histories and Metallicity Enrichment
• The early early type: discovery of a passive galaxy at z=3
• Stellar populations in gas-rich galaxy mergers II. Feedback effects of Type Ia and II supernovae
• Line Strengths in Early-Type Cluster Galaxies at z=0.33: Implications for alpha/Fe, Nitrogen and the Histories of E/S0s
• Do observed metallicity gradients of early-type galaxies support a hybrid formation scenario?
• Spectroscopic confirmation of a mature galaxy cluster at redshift two
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Stellar population radial gradients in early-type galaxies
• Spatially Resolved Colors and Stellar Population Properties in Early-Type Galaxies at z ~ 1.5
• Resolved Multi-element Stellar Chemical Abundances in the Brightest Quiescent Galaxy at z $\sim$ 2
• Dating the stellar population in massive early-type galaxies at $z\sim$1.5
• Formation and evolution of early-type galaxies. II. Models with quasi-cosmological initial conditions
• Inverse stellar population age gradients of post-starburst galaxies at z=0.8 with LEGA-C
• Stellar population gradients in Fornax Cluster S0 galaxies: connecting bulge and disk evolution
• New UBVRI colour distributions in E-type galaxies I.The data
• Size growth of red-sequence early-type galaxies in clusters in the last 10 Gyr
• Star formation and environment in clusters up to z~2.2
• Metal Deficiency in Two Massive Dead Galaxies at $z\sim 2$
• The cosmic epoch dependence of environmental effects on size evolution of red-sequence early-type galaxies
• Stellar Population and Elemental Abundance Gradients of Early-type Galaxies
• The Role of Clustering of Sub-Clumps in Bright Elliptical Galaxy Formation from a Low-Spin Seed Galaxy

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Beyond the Ultra-deep Frontier Fields And Legacy Observations (BUFFALO): a high-resolution strong + weak-lensing view of Abell 370
• The evolution of radial gradients of MaNGA quiescent elliptical galaxies: inside-out quenching or outer mass growth?
• A big step forward with SHARP: spatially resolved stellar population properties in passive galaxies at z > 1.5