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arXiv · 1210.4299

The early early type: discovery of a passive galaxy at z=3

Raphaël Gobat·Veronica Strazzullo·Emanuele Daddi·Masato Onodera·Alvio Renzini·Matthieu Béthermin·Mark Dickinson·Marcella Carollo·Andrea Cimatti
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Abstract

We present the discovery of a massive, quiescent galaxy at z=2.99. We have obtained a HST/WFC3 spectrum of this object and measured its redshift from the detection of a deep 4000A break consistent with an old population and a high metallicity. By stellar population modeling of both its grism spectrum and broad-band photometry, we derive an age of ~0.7 Gyr, implying a formation redshift of z>4, and a mass >10^11 Msun. Although this passive galaxy is the most distant confirmed so far, we find that it is slightly less compact than other z>2 early-types of similar mass, being overall more analogous to those z~1.6 field early-type galaxies. The discovery of this object shows that early-type galaxies are detectable to at least z=3 and suggests that the diversity of structural properties found in z=1.4-2 ellipticals to earlier epochs could have its origin in a variety of formation histories among their progenitors.

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Raphaël Gobat, Veronica Strazzullo, Emanuele Daddi, Masato Onodera, Alvio Renzini, Matthieu Béthermin, Mark Dickinson, Marcella Carollo, Andrea Cimatti. 2012-10-26. The early early type: discovery of a passive galaxy at z=3. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205%2F759%2F2%2Fl44

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