The LEGA-C of nature and nurture in stellar populations of galaxies at z~0.6-1.0: D4000 and H-delta reveal different assembly histories for quiescent galaxies in different environments

Autor: Sobral, David, Wel, Arjen van der, Bezanson, Rachel, Bell, Eric, Muzzin, Adam, D'Eugenio, Francesco, Darvish, Behnam, Gallazzi, Anna, Wu, Po-Feng, Maseda, Michael, Matthee, Jorryt, Paulino-Afonso, Ana, Straatman, Caroline, Dokkum, Pieter van
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2112.08372
Popis: Galaxy evolution is driven by a variety of physical processes which are predicted to proceed at different rates for different dark matter haloes and environments across cosmic times. A record of this evolution is preserved in galaxy stellar populations, which we can access using absorption-line spectroscopy. Here we explore the large LEGA-C survey (DR3) to investigate the role of the environment and stellar mass on stellar populations at z~0.6-1.0 in the COSMOS field. Leveraging the statistical power and depth of LEGA-C, we reveal significant gradients in D4000 and H-delta equivalent widths (EWs) distributions over the stellar mass vs environment 2D spaces for the massive galaxy population (M>10^10 M$_{\odot}$) at z~0.6-1.0. D4000 and H-delta EWs primarily depend on stellar mass, but they also depend on environment at fixed stellar mass. By splitting the sample into centrals and satellites, and in terms of star-forming galaxies and quiescent galaxies, we reveal that the significant environmental trends of D4000 and H-delta EW when controlling for stellar mass are driven by quiescent galaxies. Regardless of being centrals or satellites, star-forming galaxies reveal D4000 and H-delta EWs which depend strongly on their stellar mass and are completely independent of the environment at 0.6
Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 18 pages, 9 figures
Databáze: OpenAIRE