The Detection of a Red Sequence of Massive Field Galaxies at z~2.3 and its Evolution to z~0

Details The Detection of a Red Sequence of Massive Field Galaxies at z~2.3 and its Evolution to z~0 The Detection of a Red Sequence of Massive Field Galaxies at z~2.3 and its Evolution to z~0

2008-04-28

arxiv.org/abs/0804.4175v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Scientific paper

10.1086/589677

The existence of massive galaxies with strongly suppressed star formation at z~2.3, identified in a previous paper, suggests that a red sequence may already be in place beyond z=2. In order to test this hypothesis, we study the rest-frame U-B color distribution of massive galaxies at 23 sigma) red sequence, which hosts ~60% of the stellar mass at the high-mass end. The red-sequence galaxies have little or no ongoing star formation, as inferred from both emission-line diagnostics and stellar continuum shapes. Their strong Balmer breaks and their location in the rest-frame U-B, B-V plane indicate that they are in a post-starburst phase, with typical ages of ~0.5-1.0 Gyr. In order to study the evolution of the red sequence, we compare our sample with spectroscopic massive galaxy samples at 0.0210^11 Msol) of the red sequence grow by factors of ~8 and ~6, respectively. We explore simple models to explain the observed evolution. Passive evolution models predict too strong d(U-B), and produce z~0 galaxies that are too red. More complicated models that include aging, galaxy transformations, and red mergers can explain both the number density and color evolution of the massive end of the red sequence between z~2.3 and the present.

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