Rights statement: This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Francesco D’Eugenio, Arjen van der Wel, Po-Feng Wu (吳柏锋), Tania M Barone, Josha van Houdt, Rachel Bezanson, Caroline M S Straatman, Camilla Pacifici, Adam Muzzin, Anna Gallazzi, Vivienne Wild, David Sobral, Eric F Bell, Stefano Zibetti, Lamiya Mowla, Marijn Franx, Inverse stellar population age gradients of post-starburst galaxies at z = 0.8 with LEGA-C, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 497, Issue 1, September 2020, Pages 389–404, is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/497/1/389/5872492
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Inverse stellar population age gradients of post-starburst galaxies at z=0.8 with LEGA-C
AU - D'Eugenio, Francesco
AU - Wel, Arjen van der
AU - Wu, Po-Feng
AU - Barone, Tania M.
AU - Houdt, Josha van
AU - Bezanson, Rachel
AU - Straatman, Caroline M. S.
AU - Pacifici, Camilla
AU - Muzzin, Adam
AU - Gallazzi, Anna
AU - Wild, Vivienne
AU - Sobral, David
AU - Bell, Eric F.
AU - Zibetti, Stefano
AU - Mowla, Lamiya
AU - Franx, Marijn
N1 - This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Francesco D’Eugenio, Arjen van der Wel, Po-Feng Wu (吳柏锋), Tania M Barone, Josha van Houdt, Rachel Bezanson, Caroline M S Straatman, Camilla Pacifici, Adam Muzzin, Anna Gallazzi, Vivienne Wild, David Sobral, Eric F Bell, Stefano Zibetti, Lamiya Mowla, Marijn Franx, Inverse stellar population age gradients of post-starburst galaxies at z = 0.8 with LEGA-C, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 497, Issue 1, September 2020, Pages 389–404, is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/497/1/389/5872492
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - We use deep, spatially resolved spectroscopy from the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysics Census Survey to study radial variations in the stellar population of 17 spectroscopically selected post-starburst (PSB) galaxies. We use spectral fitting to measure two Lick indices, H δA and Fe 4383 , and find that, on average, PSB galaxies have radially decreasing H δA and increasing Fe 4383 profiles. In contrast, a control sample of quiescent, non-PSB galaxies in the same mass range shows outwardly increasing H δA and decreasing Fe 4383 . The observed gradients are weak (≈−0.2 Å/Re), mainly due to seeing convolution. A two-SSP (simple stellar population) model suggests that intrinsic gradients are as strong as observed in local PSB galaxies (≈−0.8 Å/Re). We interpret these results in terms of inside-out growth (for the bulk of the quiescent population) versus star formation occurring last in the centre (for PSB galaxies). At z ≈ 0.8, central starbursts are often the result of gas-rich mergers, as evidenced by the high fraction of PSB galaxies with disturbed morphologies and tidal features (40 per cent). Our results provide additional evidence for multiple paths to quiescence: a standard path, associated with inside-out disc formation and with gradually decreasing star formation activity, without fundamental structural transformation, and a fast path, associated with centrally concentrated starbursts, leaving an inverse age gradient and smaller half-light radius.
AB - We use deep, spatially resolved spectroscopy from the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysics Census Survey to study radial variations in the stellar population of 17 spectroscopically selected post-starburst (PSB) galaxies. We use spectral fitting to measure two Lick indices, H δA and Fe 4383 , and find that, on average, PSB galaxies have radially decreasing H δA and increasing Fe 4383 profiles. In contrast, a control sample of quiescent, non-PSB galaxies in the same mass range shows outwardly increasing H δA and decreasing Fe 4383 . The observed gradients are weak (≈−0.2 Å/Re), mainly due to seeing convolution. A two-SSP (simple stellar population) model suggests that intrinsic gradients are as strong as observed in local PSB galaxies (≈−0.8 Å/Re). We interpret these results in terms of inside-out growth (for the bulk of the quiescent population) versus star formation occurring last in the centre (for PSB galaxies). At z ≈ 0.8, central starbursts are often the result of gas-rich mergers, as evidenced by the high fraction of PSB galaxies with disturbed morphologies and tidal features (40 per cent). Our results provide additional evidence for multiple paths to quiescence: a standard path, associated with inside-out disc formation and with gradually decreasing star formation activity, without fundamental structural transformation, and a fast path, associated with centrally concentrated starbursts, leaving an inverse age gradient and smaller half-light radius.
KW - astro-ph.GA
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/staa1937
DO - 10.1093/mnras/staa1937
M3 - Journal article
VL - 497
SP - 389
EP - 404
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
SN - 0035-8711
IS - 1
ER -