Misc,
MOSFIRE Absorption Line Spectroscopy of z > 2 Quiescent Galaxies: Probing a Period of Rapid Size Growth
(2014)cite arxiv:1404.4872Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letters.
Abstract
Using the MOSFIRE near-infrared multi-slit spectrograph on the Keck 1
Telescope, we have secured high signal-to-noise ratio absorption line spectra
for six massive galaxies with redshift 2 < z < 2.5. Five of these galaxies lie
on the red sequence and show signatures of passive stellar populations in their
rest-frame optical spectra. By fitting broadened spectral templates we have
determined stellar velocity dispersions and, with broad-band HST and Spitzer
photometry and imaging, stellar masses and effective radii. Using this enlarged
sample of galaxies we confirm earlier suggestions that quiescent galaxies at z
> 2 have small sizes and large velocity dispersions compared to local galaxies
of similar stellar mass. The dynamical masses are in very good agreement with
stellar masses (log Mstar/Mdyn = -0.02 +/- 0.03), although the average
stellar-to-dynamical mass ratio is larger than that found at lower redshift
(-0.23 +/- 0.05). By assuming evolution at fixed velocity dispersion, not only
do we confirm a surprisingly rapid rate of size growth but we also consider the
necessary evolutionary track on the mass-size plane and find a slope alpha =
dlogR / dlogM > ~2 inconsistent with most numerical simulations of minor
mergers. Both results suggest an additional mechanism may be required to
explain the size growth of early galaxies.
