Tracing the Evolution of the Elliptical Galaxy Population

Details Tracing the Evolution of the Elliptical Galaxy Population Tracing the Evolution of the Elliptical Galaxy Population

Aug 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001noao.prop...77d&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2001B-0077

Physics

Scientific paper

The evolution of the elliptical galaxy population can provide a critical test of hierarchical galaxy formation models. Hierarchical models predict a strong evolution in the number density of the elliptical galaxy population with redshift in contrast to traditional single-burst, passive evolution models. It has been established that cluster ellipticals appear to evolve passively; the next step is to identify the 0.5~lt z ~lt 2 field ellipticals (i.e., those not in rich clusters) in order to trace the evolution of the general population. Early results from the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey show that the reddest galaxies trace a loop in the B_WRI color-color plane. We hypothesize that these galaxies may be the progenitors of the present- day field elliptical galaxy population. We propose to identitify this population by obtaining (lambda)(lambda)0.6-1µ spectra of a sample of 100 galaxies in this red envelope population, selected from the NDWFS Cetus and Bootes fields. We will determine the redshift distribution, spectral properties (i.e., stellar population content and star formation rate) of the sample galaxies and use these in combination with photometric redshifts to constrain the number density evolution, luminosity evolution and clustering properties of the population.

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