Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > The Fundamental Plane in the LEGA-C Survey

Electronic data

  • 2103.12753

    Rights statement: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication/published in The Astrophysical Journal. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abf1e7

    Accepted author manuscript, 1.79 MB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

The Fundamental Plane in the LEGA-C Survey: Unraveling the M/L Ratio Variations of Massive Star-forming and Quiescent Galaxies at z ∼ 0.8

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
  • A. De Graaff
  • R. Bezanson
  • M. Franx
  • A. Van Der Wel
  • B. Holden
  • J. Van De Sande
  • E.F. Bell
  • F. D'Eugenio
  • M.V. Maseda
  • A. Muzzin
  • D. Sobral
  • C.M.S. Straatman
  • P.-F. Wu
Close
Article number103
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>28/05/2021
<mark>Journal</mark>The Astrophysical Journal
Issue number2
Volume913
Number of pages24
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

We explore the connection between the kinematics, structures and stellar populations of massive galaxies at 0.6 <z <1.0 using the fundamental plane (FP). Combining stellar kinematic data from the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysics Census (LEGA-C) survey with structural parameters measured from deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we obtain a sample of 1419 massive () galaxies that span a wide range in morphology, star formation activity, and environment, and therefore is representative of the massive galaxy population at z ∼ 0.8. We find that quiescent and star-forming galaxies occupy the parameter space of the g-band FP differently and thus have different distributions in the dynamical mass-to-light ratio (M dyn/L g ), largely owing to differences in the stellar age and recent star formation history, and to a lesser extent, the effects of dust attenuation. In contrast, we show that both star-forming and quiescent galaxies lie on the same mass FP at z ∼ 0.8, with a comparable level of intrinsic scatter about the plane. We examine the variation in M dyn/M ∗ through the thickness of the mass FP, finding no significant residual correlations with stellar population properties, Sérsic index, or galaxy overdensity. Our results suggest that, at fixed size and velocity dispersion, the variations in M dyn/L g of massive galaxies reflect an approximately equal contribution of variations in M ∗/L g , and variations in the dark matter fraction or initial mass function. 

Bibliographic note

This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication/published in The Astrophysical Journal. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abf1e7