Stellar Velocity Dispersion of a Massive Quenching Galaxy at z = 4.01

Creators: Tanaka, Masayuki; Valentino, Francesco; Toft, Sune; Onodera, Masato; Shimakawa, Rhythm; Ceverino, Daniel; Faisst, Andreas L.; Gallazzi, Anna; Gómez-Guijarro, Carlos; Kubo, Mariko; Magdis, Georgios E.; Steinhardt, Charles L.; Stockmann, Mikkel; Yabe, Kiyoto; Zabl, Johannes

Abstract

We present the first stellar velocity dispersion measurement of a massive quenching galaxy at z = 4. The galaxy is first identified as a massive z ≥ 4 galaxy with suppressed star formation from photometric redshifts based on deep multiband data. A follow-up spectroscopic observation with MOSFIRE on Keck revealed strong multiple absorption features, which are identified as Balmer lines, giving a secure redshift of z = 4.01. This is the most distant quiescent galaxy known to date. Thanks to the high S/N of the spectrum, we are able to estimate the stellar velocity dispersion, σ=268±59 km s⁻¹, making a significant leap from the previous highest redshift measurement at z = 2.8. Interestingly, we find that the velocity dispersion is consistent with that of massive galaxies today, implying no significant evolution in velocity dispersion over the last 12 Gyr. Based on a stringent upper limit on its physical size from deep optical images (r_(eff) < 1.3 kpc), we find that its dynamical mass is consistent with the stellar mass inferred from photometry. Furthermore, the galaxy is located on the mass fundamental plane extrapolated from lower redshift galaxies. The observed no strong evolution in σ suggests that the mass in the core of massive galaxies does not evolve significantly, while most of the mass growth occurs in the outskirts of the galaxies, which also increases the size. This picture is consistent with a two-phase formation scenario in which mass and size growth is due to accretion in the outskirts of galaxies via mergers. Our results imply that the first phase may be completed as early as z ~ 4.

Additional Information

© 2019 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2019 September 23; revised 2019 October 15; accepted 2019 October 22; published 2019 November 6. This work is supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant Nos. JP23740144 and JP15K17617. F.V. and G.E.M. acknowledge the Villum Fonden research grant 13160 "Gas to stars, stars to dust: tracing star formation across cosmic time." F.V. acnknowledges the Carlsberg Fonden research grant CF18-0388 "Galaxies: Rise And Death." The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation under grant No. 140. S.T. and G.E.M. acknowledge support from the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant funding scheme (project ConTExt, grant No. 648179). M.O. acknowledges support by KAKENHI JP17K14257. K.Y. acknowledges support by JSPS KAKENHI grant No. JP18K13578. We thank the anonymous referee for a useful report, which helped improve the paper. The HSC collaboration includes the astronomical communities of Japan and Taiwan, and Princeton University. The HSC instrumentation and software were developed by NAOJ, Kavli IPMU, the University of Tokyo, KEK, ASIAA, and Princeton University. Funding was contributed by the FIRST program from Japanese Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency, the Toray Science Foundation, NAOJ, Kavli IPMU, KEK, ASIAA, and Princeton University. This paper makes use of software developed for LSST. We thank the LSST Project for making their code available as free software at http://dm.lsst.org. This paper is based in part on data collected at the Subaru Telescope and retrieved from the HSC data archive system, which is operated by Subaru Telescope and ADC at NAOJ. Data analysis was in part carried out with the cooperation of CfCA and NAOJ. Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS website is http://www.sdss.org/. The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are the American Museum of Natural History, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, University of Basel, University of Cambridge, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Drexel University, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, the Korean Scientist Group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST), Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. Facility: Keck(MOSFIRE). -

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Erratum - Tanaka_2020_ApJL_894_L13.pdf

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