Superdense massive galaxies in the Nearby Universe

Details Superdense massive galaxies in the Nearby Universe Superdense massive galaxies in the Nearby Universe

2009-01-08

arxiv.org/abs/0901.1032v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; 3 figures

Scientific paper

10.1088/0004-637X/692/2/L118

Superdense massive galaxies (r_e~1 kpc; M~10^{11} Msun) were common in the early universe (z>1.5). Within some hierarchical merging scenarios, a non-negligible fraction (1-10%) of these galaxies is expected to survive since that epoch retaining their compactness and presenting old stellar populations in the present universe. Using the NYU Value-Added Galaxy Catalog from the SDSS Data Release 6 we find only a tiny fraction of galaxies (~0.03%) with r_e<1.5 kpc and M_*>8x10^{10} Msun in the local Universe (z<0.2). Surprinsingly, they are relatively young (~2 Gyr) and metal-rich ([Z/H]~0.2). The consequences of these findings within the current two competing size evolution scenarios for the most massive galaxies ("dry" mergers vs "puffing up" due to quasar activity) are discussed.

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