An Ancient Massive Quiescent Galaxy Found in a Gas-rich z ∼ 3 Group

Kalita, Boris S.; Daddi, Emanuele; D’Eugenio, Chiara; Valentino, Francesco; Rich, R. Michael; Gómez-Guijarro, Carlos; Coogan, Rosemary T.; Delvecchio, Ivan; Elbaz, David; Neill, James D.; Puglisi, Annagrazia; Strazzullo, Veronica

Abstract

Deep Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and Hubble Space Telescope observations reveal the presence of a quenched massive galaxy within the z = 2.91 galaxy group RO-1001. With a mass-weighted stellar age of 1.6 ± 0.4 Gyr this galaxy is one of the oldest known at z ∼ 3, implying that most of its 1011 M⊙ of stars were rapidly formed at z > 6–8. This is a unique example of the predominantly passive evolution of a galaxy over at least 3 < z < 6 following its high-redshift quenching and a smoking-gun event pointing to the early imprint of an age–environment relation. At the same time, being in a dense group environment with extensive cold gas reservoirs as betrayed by a giant Lyα halo, the existence of this galaxy demonstrates that gas accretion shutdown is not necessary for quenching and its maintenance.

Citation

Kalita, B. S., Daddi, E., D’Eugenio, C., Valentino, F., Rich, R. M., Gómez-Guijarro, C., Coogan, R. T., Delvecchio, I., Elbaz, D., Neill, J. D., Puglisi, A., & Strazzullo, V. (2021). An Ancient Massive Quiescent Galaxy Found in a Gas-rich z ∼ 3 Group. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 917(2), Article L17. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac16dc

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 22, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 16, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Oct 14, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 14, 2021
• Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
• Print ISSN: 2041-8205
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-8213
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 917
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: L17
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac16dc
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1227041