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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

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


Authors

Boris S. Kalita

Emanuele Daddi

Chiara D’Eugenio

Francesco Valentino

R. Michael Rich

Carlos Gómez-Guijarro

Rosemary T. Coogan

Ivan Delvecchio

David Elbaz

James D. Neill

Veronica Strazzullo



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., …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

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© 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved





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