Reconstructing the Assembly of Massive Galaxies. II. Galaxies Develop Massive and Dense Stellar Cores as They Evolve and Head Toward Quiescence at Cosmic Noon

Abstract

We use the SED-fitting code Prospector to reconstruct the nonparametric star formation history (SFH) of massive ($\log M_{\ast }>10.3$) star-forming galaxies (SFGs) and quiescent galaxies (QGs) at redshift $z_{\mathrm{obs}}\sim 2$ to investigate the joint evolution of star-formation activity and structural properties. We find significant correlations between the SFH of the galaxies and their morphology. Compared to extended SFGs, compact SFGs are more likely to have experienced multiple star-formation episodes, with the fractional mass formed during the older ($\ge 1$ Gyr) episode being larger, suggesting that high-redshift SFGs assembled their central regions earlier and then kept growing in central mass as they become more compact. The SFH of compact QGs does not significantly differ from the average for this category, and shows an early burst followed by a gradual decline of the star formation rate. The SFH of extended QGs, however, is similar to that of post-starburst galaxies and their morphology is also frequently disturbed. Knowledge of the SFH also enables us to empirically reconstruct the structural evolution of individual galaxies. While the progenitor effect is clearly observed and accounted for in our analysis, it alone is insufficient to explain the observed structural evolution. We show that, as they evolve from star-forming phase to quiescence, galaxies grow massive dense stellar cores. Quenching begins at the center and then propagates outward to the rest of the structure. We discuss possible physical scenarios for the observed evolution and find that our empirical constraints are in good quantitative agreement with the model predictions from dissipative accretion of gas to the center followed by massive starbursts before final quiescence (wet compaction).

arXiv comment31 pages, 20 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (135)

• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• Star Formation in Galaxies Along the Hubble Sequence
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• MESA Isochrones and Stellar Tracks (MIST). I: Solar-Scaled Models
• 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
• Mass and environment as drivers of galaxy evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the origin of the Schechter function
• MESA Isochrones and Stellar Tracks (MIST) 0: Methods for the construction of stellar isochrones
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling I: The relevance of uncertain aspects of stellar evolution and the IMF to the derived physical properties of galaxies
• A Unified, Merger-Driven Model for the Origin of Starbursts, Quasars, the Cosmic X-Ray Background, Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Spheroids
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• UV Star Formation Rates in the Local Universe
• The reversal of the star formation-density relation in the distant universe
• Quantifying the bimodal color-magnitude distribution of galaxies
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• Galaxy Zoo : Morphologies derived from visual inspection of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The Dependence of Star Formation History and Internal Structure on Stellar Mass for 10^5 Low-Redshift Galaxies
• 3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since $z=3$
• Nearly 5000 Distant Early-Type Galaxies in COMBO-17: a Red Sequence and its Evolution since z~1
• The size distribution of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling III: model calibration, comparison, and evaluation
• GOODS-Herschel: an infrared main sequence for star-forming galaxies
• Formation of Massive Galaxies at High Redshift: Cold Streams, Clumpy Disks and Compact Spheroids
• The Evolution of the Stellar Mass Functions of Star-Forming and Quiescent Galaxies to z = 4 from the COSMOS/UltraVISTA Survey
• Modeling the Panchromatic Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
• Detection of quiescent galaxies in a bicolor sequence from z=0-2
• The Star-formation Mass Sequence out to z=2.5
• The Herschel view of the dominant mode of galaxy growth from z=4 to the present day
• The Growth of Massive Galaxies Since z=2
• Inferring the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies with BAGPIPES: Evidence for multiple quenching mechanisms
• Black holes in galaxy mergers: The formation of red elliptical galaxies
• An updated MILES stellar library and stellar population models
• Galaxy Structure and Mode of Star Formation in the SFR-Mass Plane from z ~ 2.5 to z ~ 0.1
• Stellar Population Inference with Prospector
• From rings to bulges: evidence for rapid secular galaxy evolution at z~2 from integral field spectroscopy in the SINS survey
• The Stellar Populations and Evolution of Lyman Break Galaxies
• Compaction and Quenching of High-z Galaxies in Cosmological Simulations: Blue and Red Nuggets
• Structural Parameters of Galaxies in CANDELS
• How to Measure Galaxy Star Formation Histories II: Nonparametric Models
• The Relation Between Compact, Quiescent High Redshift Galaxies and Massive Nearby Elliptical Galaxies: Evidence for Hierarchical, Inside-Out Growth
• CANDELS Multi-wavelength Catalogs: Source Detection and Photometry in the GOODS-South Field
• Deriving Physical Properties from Broadband Photometry with Prospector: Description of the Model and a Demonstration of its Accuracy Using 129 Galaxies in the Local Universe
• Wet Disc Contraction to Galactic Blue Nuggets and Quenching to Red Nuggets
• The NEWFIRM Medium-band Survey: Photometric Catalogs, Redshifts and the Bimodal Color Distribution of Galaxies out to z~3
• Structure and star formation in galaxies out to z=3: evidence for surface density dependent evolution and upsizing
• Can Minor Merging Account for the Size Growth of Quiescent Galaxies? New Results from the CANDELS Survey
• The Evolution of the Star-forming Interstellar Medium across Cosmic Time
• Mergers and Bulge Formation in Lambda-CDM: Which Mergers Matter?
• Nebular Continuum and Line Emission in Stellar Population Synthesis Models
• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies: II. Formation of Red Ellipticals
• The cosmological size and velocity dispersion evolution of massive early-type galaxies
• Resolved Galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Star Formation in Disks at High Redshift
• Evolution of Interstellar Medium, Star Formation, and Accretion at High Redshift
• Bulge Growth and Quenching since z = 2.5 in CANDELS/3D-HST
• Four phases of angular-momentum buildup in high-z galaxies: from cosmic-web streams through an extended ring to disc and bulge
• A Link Between Star Formation Quenching and Inner Stellar Mass Density in SDSS Central Galaxies
• Star formation rates and masses of z ~ 2 galaxies from multicolour photometry
• Toy Models for Galaxy Formation versus Simulations
• Evolution of Density Profiles in High-z Galaxies: Compaction and Quenching Inside-Out
• High-redshift clumpy discs and bulges in cosmological simulations
• A catalog of visual-like morphologies in the 5 CANDELS fields using deep-learning
• Stellar masses from the CANDELS survey: the GOODS-South and UDS fields
• Constraints on the assembly and dynamics of galaxies. II. Properties of kiloparsec-scale clumps in rest-frame optical emission of z ~ 2 star-forming galaxies
• Stellar Content from high resolution galactic spectra via Maximum A Posteriori
• How to measure galaxy star-formation histories I: Parametric models
• The Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC): Deep Medium-Band optical imaging and high quality 32-band photometric redshifts in the ECDF-S
• The evolving relations between size, mass, surface density, and star formation in 3x10^4 galaxies since z=2
• A universal structural and star-forming relation since $z\sim 3$: connecting compact star-forming and quiescent galaxies
• The Formation of Massive, Compact Galaxies at z=2 in the Illustris Simulation
• Recovering galaxy star formation and metallicity histories from spectra using VESPA
• A simple model for the size-evolution of elliptical galaxies
• Where stars form: inside-out growth and coherent star formation from HST Halpha maps of 2676 galaxies across the main sequence at z~1
• The Dependence of Quenching upon the Inner Structure of Galaxies at 0.5<z< 0.8 in the DEEP2/AEGIS Survey
• Clumpy Galaxies in CANDELS. I. The Definition of UV Clumps and the Fraction of Clumpy Galaxies at 0.5<z<3
• The FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE): ultraviolet to far-infrared catalogs, medium-bandwidth photometric redshifts with improved accuracy, stellar masses, and confirmation of quiescent galaxies to z~3.5
• The Dead Sequence: A Clear Bimodality in Galaxy Colors from z=0 to z=2.5
• The Majority of Compact Massive Galaxies at z~2 are Disk Dominated
• MOSFIRE Spectroscopy of Quiescent Galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5. II - Star Formation Histories and Galaxy Quenching
• COSMOS-DASH: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Relation Since z~3 from new Wide Field WFC3 Imaging Combined with CANDELS/3DHST
• HST/WFC3 Confirmation of the Inside-Out Growth of Massive Galaxies at 0<z<2 and Identification of their Star Forming Progenitors at z~3
• The Rise and Fall of Passive Disk Galaxies: Morphological Evolution Along the Red Sequence Revealed by COSMOS
• 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
• The CANDELS/SHARDS multi-wavelength catalog in GOODS-N: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts, Stellar Masses, Emission line fluxes and Star Formation Rates
• Multi-Wavelength View of Kiloparsec-Scale Clumps in Star-Forming Galaxies at z~2
• How Well Can We Measure the Stellar Mass of a Galaxy: The Impact of the Assumed Star Formation History Model in SED Fitting
• Superdense Massive Galaxies in Wings Local Clusters
• Fast, Slow, Early, Late: Quenching Massive Galaxies at z~0.8
• The Morphologies of Massive Galaxies at 1<z<3 in the CANDELS-UDS Field: Compact Bulges, and the Rise and Fall of Massive Disks
• The Rising Star-Formation Histories of Distant Galaxies and Implications for Gas Accretion with Time
• Sub-kpc ALMA imaging of compact star-forming galaxies at z~2.5: revealing the formation of dense galactic cores in the progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies
• CANDELS Observations of the Structural Properties and Evolution of Galaxies in a Cluster at z=1.62
• Effect of local environment and stellar mass on galaxy quenching and morphology at $0.5<z<2.0$
• CANDELS Multiwavelength Catalogs: Source Identification and Photometry in the CANDELS COSMOS Survey Field
• Non-parametric Star Formation History Reconstruction with Gaussian Processes I: Counting Major Episodes of Star Formation
• Effect of environment on galaxies mass-size distribution: unveiling the transition from outside-in to inside-out evolution
• The evolution of the mass-size relation for early type galaxies from z~1 to the present: dependence on environment, mass-range and detailed morphology
• SHARDS: an optical spectro-photometric survey of distant galaxies
• Star formation quenching in massive galaxies
• Galaxy evolution in overdense environments at high redshift: passive early-type galaxies in a cluster at redshift 2
• A New Census of the 0.2< z <3.0 Universe, Part II: The Star-Forming Sequence
• Predicting Quiescence: The Dependence of Specific Star Formation Rate on Galaxy Size and Central Density at 0.5<z<2.5
• A New Census of the 0.2 < z < 3.0 Universe, Part I: The Stellar Mass Function
• Surface density effects in quenching: cause or effect?
• Relative merits of different types of rest-frame optical observations to constrain galaxy physical parameters
• Bulge-forming galaxies with an extended rotating disk at z~2
• The Hubble Sequence beyond z=2 for Massive Galaxies: Contrasting Large Star-Forming and Compact Quiescent Galaxies
• A massive, dead disk galaxy in the early Universe
• Spatially resolved Halpha maps and sizes of 57 strongly star-forming galaxies at z~1 from 3D-HST: evidence for rapid inside-out assembly of disk galaxies
• Non-linear violent disc instability with high Toomre's Q in high-redshift clumpy disc galaxies
• The Subaru COSMOS 20: Subaru Optical Imaging of the HST COSMOS Field with 20 Filters
• The imprint of rapid star formation quenching on the spectral energy distributions of galaxies
• Early formation of massive, compact, spheroidal galaxies with classical profiles by violent disc instability or mergers
• Hot dust in Panchromatic SED Fitting: Identification of AGN and improved galaxy properties
• Structural Evolution of Early-type Galaxies to z=2.5 in CANDELS
• Resolving Quiescent Galaxies at $z\gtrsim 2$: II. Direct Measures of Rotational Support
• GOODS-ALMA 2.0: Source catalog, number counts, and prevailing compact sizes in 1.1 mm galaxies
• Fossil Evidence for the Two-phase Formation of Elliptical Galaxies
• Discovery of a Strongly Lensed Massive Quiescent Galaxy at z=2.636: Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy and Indications of Rotation
• Morphologies and Color Gradients of Luminous Evolved Galaxies at z~1.5
• The intrinsic characteristics of galaxies on the SFR-stellar mass plane at 1.2<z<4: I. the correlation between stellar age, central density and position relative to the main sequence
• KMOS-3D Reveals Low-Level Star Formation Activity in Massive Quiescent Galaxies at 0.7 < z < 2.7
• Revealing environmental dependence of molecular gas content in a distant X-ray cluster at z=2.51
• HST/WFC3 grism observations of $z\sim 1$ clusters: The cluster vs. field stellar mass-size relation and evidence for size growth of quiescent galaxies from minor mergers
• Rejuvenation in $z\sim 0.8$ quiescent galaxies in LEGA-C
• CLEAR II: Evidence for Early Formation of the Most Compact Quiescent Galaxies at High Redshift
• On the Gas Content, Star Formation Efficiency, and Environmental Quenching of Massive Galaxies in Proto-Clusters at z~2.0-2.5
• Low Gas Fractions Connect Compact Star-Forming Galaxies to their z ~ 2 Quiescent Descendants
• The ASTRODEEP-GS43 catalogue: new photometry and redshifts for the CANDELS GOODS-South field
• A Comparison of the Stellar, CO and Dust-Continuum Emission from Three, Star-Forming HUDF Galaxies at $z\sim 2$
• Reconstructing the Assembly of Massive Galaxies. I: The Importance of the Progenitor Effect in the Observed Properties of Quiescent Galaxies at $z\approx 2$
• AGN Selection Methods Have Profound Impacts on the Distributions of Host Galaxy Properties
• Evidence of Environmental Quenching at Redshift z ~ 2
• CANDELS Sheds Light on the Environmental Quenching of Low-mass Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (11)

• CEERS Key Paper V: A triality on the nature of HST-dark galaxies
• Rapid Quenching of Galaxies at Cosmic Noon
• JADES + JEMS: A Detailed Look at the Buildup of Central Stellar Cores and Suppression of Star Formation in Galaxies at Redshifts 3 < z < 4.5
• The dawn of disks: unveiling the turbulent ionised gas kinematics of the galaxy population at $z\sim 4-6$ with JWST/NIRCam grism spectroscopy
• Spatially resolved emission lines in galaxies at $4\le z<10$ from the JADES survey: evidence for enhanced central star formation
• JADES: Rest-frame UV-to-NIR Size Evolution of Massive Quiescent Galaxies from Redshift z=5 to z=0.5
• A two-phase model of galaxy formation: III. The formation of globular clusters
• Self-Similar Buildup and Inside-Out Growth: Tracing the Evolution of Intermediate to High-Mass Star-Forming Galaxies Since $z=2$
• Recent star formation in 0.5<z<1.5 quiescent galaxies
• Reconstructing the Assembly of Massive Galaxies. III: Quiescent Galaxies Loose Angular Momentum as They Evolve in a Mass-dependent Fashion
• Two-phase formation of galaxies: the coevolution between galaxies and dark matter halos