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).

31 pages, 20 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (38)

• Cosmic Star Formation History
• Mass and environment as drivers of galaxy evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the origin of the Schechter function
• 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
• UV Star Formation Rates in the Local Universe
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• 3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since $z=3$
• Formation of Massive Galaxies at High Redshift: Cold Streams, Clumpy Disks and Compact Spheroids
• Detection of quiescent galaxies in a bicolor sequence from z=0-2
• The Herschel view of the dominant mode of galaxy growth from z=4 to the present day
• From rings to bulges: evidence for rapid secular galaxy evolution at z~2 from integral field spectroscopy in the SINS survey
• Compaction and Quenching of High-z Galaxies in Cosmological Simulations: Blue and Red Nuggets
• Structure and star formation in galaxies out to z=3: evidence for surface density dependent evolution and upsizing
• A Cosmological Framework for the Co-Evolution of Quasars, Supermassive Black Holes, and Elliptical Galaxies: II. Formation of Red Ellipticals
• Four phases of angular-momentum buildup in high-z galaxies: from cosmic-web streams through an extended ring to disc and bulge
• Stellar masses from the CANDELS survey: the GOODS-South and UDS fields
• The Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC): Deep Medium-Band optical imaging and high quality 32-band photometric redshifts in the ECDF-S
• The Formation of Massive, Compact Galaxies at z=2 in the Illustris Simulation
• Recovering galaxy star formation and metallicity histories from spectra using VESPA
• 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 Majority of Compact Massive Galaxies at z~2 are Disk Dominated
• 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
• 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
• Predicting Quiescence: The Dependence of Specific Star Formation Rate on Galaxy Size and Central Density at 0.5<z<2.5
• Bulge-forming galaxies with an extended rotating disk at z~2
• A massive, dead disk galaxy in the early Universe
• Early formation of massive, compact, spheroidal galaxies with classical profiles by violent disc instability or mergers
• Morphologies and Color Gradients of Luminous Evolved Galaxies at z~1.5
• 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
• 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 $z\approx 2$
• 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