Rapid Quenching of Galaxies at Cosmic Noon

Park, Minjung; Belli, Sirio; Conroy, Charlie; Tacchella, Sandro; Leja, Joel; Cutler, Sam E.; Johnson, Benjamin D.; Nelson, Erica J.; Emami, Razieh

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acd54a

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 110 publications

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“…Crucially, on the basis of colours alone, this (mini-)quenched galaxy would have been identified as ‘star forming’ by the colour selection criteria 23 , even if including the extension to fast-quenched galaxies 24 . Indeed, its rest-frame U – V colour of 0.16 ± 0.03 mag places it outside the quiescent region of the U V J diagram, regardless of V – J colour 25 , as it is the case for other quiescent galaxies at high redshift 7 . However, thanks to JWST/NIRSpec, we can place stringent upper limits on the nebular emission-line fluxes.…”

Section: Mainmentioning

confidence: 84%

A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang

Looser,

D’Eugenio,

Maiolino

et al. 2024

Nature

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Local and low-redshift (z < 3) galaxies are known to broadly follow a bimodal distribution: actively star-forming galaxies with relatively stable star-formation rates and passive systems. These two populations are connected by galaxies in relatively slow transition. By contrast, theory predicts that star formation was stochastic at early cosmic times and in low-mass systems1–4. These galaxies transitioned rapidly between starburst episodes and phases of suppressed star formation, potentially even causing temporary quiescence—so-called mini-quenching events5,6. However, the regime of star-formation burstiness is observationally highly unconstrained. Directly observing mini-quenched galaxies in the primordial Universe is therefore of utmost importance to constrain models of galaxy formation and transformation7,8. Early quenched galaxies have been identified out to redshift z < 5 (refs. 9–12) and these are all found to be massive (M⋆ > 1010 M⊙) and relatively old. Here we report a (mini-)quenched galaxy at z = 7.3, when the Universe was only 700 Myr old. The JWST/NIRSpec spectrum is very blue (U–V = 0.16 ± 0.03 mag) but exhibits a Balmer break and no nebular emission lines. The galaxy experienced a short starburst followed by rapid quenching; its stellar mass (4–6 × 108 M⊙) falls in a range that is sensitive to various feedback mechanisms, which can result in perhaps only temporary quenching.

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Section: Mainmentioning

confidence: 84%

A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang

Looser,

D’Eugenio,

Maiolino

et al. 2024

Nature

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“…However, when rederiving the rest-frame colors using the spectroscopic redshifts, two of the primary targets (HM3-107590 and HM4-55878) shift just outside the quiescent box. Given their location, though, we expect these galaxies to be post-starburst or young quiescent galaxies (e.g., Whitaker et al 2012;Belli et al 2019;Suess et al 2021;Park et al 2023) and thus still have quiescent populations. We will further assess their star formation properties in the next section.…”

Section: Galaxy Sample and Success Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first direct detection of Balmer and metal absorption lines took nearly 30 hr with GNIRS (Gemini-South) on one galaxy, and the lines were still only marginally detected (e.g., Kriek et al 2009;van Dokkum et al 2009). With the advent of more efficient near-IR spectrographs such as X-Shooter (VLT; Vernet et al 2011), KMOS (VLT; Sharples et al 2013), and MOSFIRE (Keck Observatory;McLean et al 2012), spectroscopic redshifts, robust velocity dispersion measurements, and dynamical mass estimates became available for substantial samples or stacks of distant quiescent galaxies (e.g., van de Sande et al 2011Bezanson et al 2013;Belli et al 2014Belli et al , 2017bLonoce et al 2015;Mendel et al 2015;Onodera et al 2015;Saracco et al 2019;Carnall et al 2022;Park et al 2023;Zhuang et al 2023). In recent years, spectroscopic studies have pushed to even higher redshifts (z > 3; e.g., Glazebrook et al 2017;Schreiber et al 2018;Tanaka et al 2019;Forrest et al 2020;Esdaile et al 2021;Antwi-Danso et al 2023;Carnall et al 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Heavy Metal Survey: Star Formation Constraints and Dynamical Masses of 21 Massive Quiescent Galaxies at z = 1.3–2.3

Kriek,

Beverage,

Price

et al. 2024

ApJ

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In this paper, we present the Heavy Metal Survey, which obtained ultradeep medium-resolution spectra of 21 massive quiescent galaxies at 1.3 < z < 2.3 with Keck/LRIS and MOSFIRE. With integration times of up to 16 hr per band per galaxy, we observe numerous Balmer and metal absorption lines in atmospheric windows. We successfully derive spectroscopic redshifts for all 21 galaxies, and for 19 we also measure stellar velocity dispersions (σ v ), ages, and elemental abundances, as detailed in an accompanying paper. Except for one emission-line active galactic nucleus, all galaxies are confirmed as quiescent through their faint or absent Hα emission and evolved stellar spectra. For most galaxies exhibiting faint Hα, elevated [N ii]/Hα suggests a non-star-forming origin. We calculate dynamical masses (M dyn) by combining σ v with structural parameters obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope COSMOS(-DASH) survey and compare them with stellar masses (M *) derived using spectrophotometric modeling, considering various assumptions. For a fixed initial mass function (IMF), we observe a strong correlation between M dyn/M * and σ v . This correlation may suggest that a varying IMF, with high-σ v galaxies being more bottom heavy, was already in place at z ∼ 2. When implementing the σ v -dependent IMF found in the cores of nearby early-type galaxies and correcting for biases in our stellar mass and size measurements, we find a low scatter in M dyn/M * of 0.14 dex. However, these assumptions result in unphysical stellar masses, which exceed the dynamical masses by 34%. This tension suggests that distant quiescent galaxies do not simply grow inside-out into today’s massive early-type galaxies and the evolution is more complicated.

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“…In this work, we investigate galaxies with C Q > 0.49 (defined as quiescent by Belli et al 2019) and t 50 > 30 Myr, indicated by solid black and dotted blue lines, respectively, in the UVJ diagram shown in the left and center panels of Figure 1. This extension to the traditional quiescent box has been proven to capture rapidly quenched and post-starburst galaxies (e.g., Park et al 2023).…”

Section: Sample Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Distinct Classes of Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST PRIMER and UNCOVER

Cutler,

Whitaker,

Weaver

et al. 2024

ApJL

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We present a measurement of the low-mass quiescent size–mass relation at cosmic noon (1 < z < 3) from the JWST PRIMER and UNCOVER treasury surveys, which highlights two distinct classes of quiescent galaxies. While the massive population is well studied at these redshifts, the low-mass end has been previously underexplored due to a lack of observing facilities with sufficient sensitivity and spatial resolution. We select a conservative sample of low-mass quiescent galaxy candidates using rest-frame UVJ colors and specific star formation rate criteria and measure galaxy morphology in both rest-frame UV/optical wavelengths (F150W) and rest-frame near-infrared (F444W). We confirm an unambiguous flattening of the low-mass quiescent size–mass relation, which results from the separation of the quiescent galaxy sample into two distinct populations at log ( M ⋆ / M ⊙ ) ∼ 10.3 : low-mass quiescent galaxies that are notably younger and have disky structures, and massive galaxies consistent with spheroidal morphologies and older median stellar ages. These separate populations imply mass quenching dominates at the massive end while other mechanisms, such as environmental or feedback-driven quenching, form the low-mass end. This stellar mass-dependent slope of the quiescent size–mass relation could also indicate a shift from size growth due to star formation (low masses) to growth via mergers (massive galaxies). The transition mass between these two populations also corresponds with other dramatic changes and characteristic masses in several galaxy evolution scaling relations (e.g., star formation efficiency, dust obscuration, and stellar-to-halo mass ratios), further highlighting the stark dichotomy between low-mass and massive galaxy formation.

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Rapid Quenching of Galaxies at Cosmic Noon

Cited by 10 publications

References 110 publications

A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang

A recently quenched galaxy 700 million years after the Big Bang

The Heavy Metal Survey: Star Formation Constraints and Dynamical Masses of 21 Massive Quiescent Galaxies at z = 1.3–2.3

Two Distinct Classes of Quiescent Galaxies at Cosmic Noon Revealed by JWST PRIMER and UNCOVER

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