Spitzer Observations of Red Galaxies: Implication for High-Redshift Star Formation

Details Spitzer Observations of Red Galaxies: Implication for High-Redshift Star Formation Spitzer Observations of Red Galaxies: Implication for High-Redshift Star Formation

2005-11-18

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511566v1

New Astron.Rev.50:134-139,2006

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

To appear in the proceedings of UC Irvine May 2005 workshop on "First Light & Reionization", eds. E. Barton & A. Cooray, New A

Scientific paper

10.1016/j.newar.2005.11.023

My colleagues and I identified distant red galaxies (DRGs) with J-K>2.3 mag in the GOODS-S field. These galaxies reside at z~1-3.5, (=2.2) and based on their ACS (0.4-1 micron), ISAAC (1-2.2 micron), and IRAC (3-8 micron) photometry, they typically have inferred stellar masses > 10^11 solar masses. Interestingly, more than 50% of these objects have 24 micron flux densities >50 micro-Jy. Attributing the IR emission to star-formation implies SFRs of \~100-1000 solar masses per year. As a result, galaxies with stellar masses >10^11 solar masses have specific SFRs equal to or exceeding the global value at z~1.5-3. In contrast, galaxies with >10^11 solar masses z~0.3-0.75 have specific SFRs less than the global average, and more than an order of magnitude lower than that for massive DRGs at z~1.5-3. Thus, the bulk of star formation in massive galaxies is largely complete by z~1.5. The red colors and large inferred stellar masses in the DRGs suggest that much of the star formation in these galaxies occurred at redshifts z>5-6. Using model star-formation histories that match the DRG colors and stellar masses at z~2-3, and measurements of the UV luminosity density at z>5-6, we consider what constraints exist on the stellar initial mass function in the progenitors of the massive DRGs at z~2-3.

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