The fate of high-redshift massive compact galaxies
Date Issued
2016
Author(s)
de la Rosa, Ignacio G.
•
•
Ferreras, Ignacio
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Sánchez Almeida, Jorge
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Dalla Vecchia, Claudio
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Martínez-Valpuesta, Inma
•
Stringer, Martin
Abstract
Massive high-redshift quiescent compact galaxies (nicknamed red nuggets) have been traditionally connected to present-day elliptical galaxies, often overlooking the relationships that they may have with other galaxy types. We use large bulge-disc decomposition catalogues based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to check the hypothesis that red nuggets have survived as compact cores embedded inside the haloes or discs of present-day massive galaxies. In this study, we designate a compact core as the bulge component that satisfies a prescribed compactness criterion. Photometric and dynamic mass-size and mass-density relations are used to show that, in the inner regions of galaxies at z ∼ 0.1, there are abundant compact cores matching the peculiar properties of the red nuggets, an abundance comparable to that of red nuggets at z ∼ 1.5. Furthermore, the morphology distribution of the present-day galaxies hosting compact cores is used to demonstrate that, in addition to the standard channel connecting red nuggets with elliptical galaxies, a comparable fraction of red nuggets might have ended up embedded in discs. This result generalizes the inside-out formation scenario; present-day massive galaxies can begin as dense spheroidal cores (red nuggets), around which either a spheroidal halo or a disc is formed later.
Volume
457
Issue
2
Start page
1916
Issn Identifier
0035-8711
Ads BibCode
2016MNRAS.457.1916D
Rights
open.access
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