Superdense Massive Galaxies in the Nearby Universe

Trujillo, I.; Cenarro, A. Javier; de Lorenzo-Cáceres, Adriana; Vazdekis, Alexandre; de la Rosa, I. G.; Cava, Antonio
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 692, Issue 2, pp. L118-L122 (2009).

Advertised on:
2
2009
Number of authors
6
IAC number of authors
5
Citations
167
Refereed citations
149
Description
Superdense massive galaxies (re ~ 1 kpc; M ~ 1011 M sun) were common in the early universe (z gsim 1.5). Within some hierarchical merging scenarios, a non-negligible fraction (1%-10%) of these galaxies is expected to survive since that epoch, retaining their compactness and presenting old stellar populations in the present universe. Using the NYU Value-Added Galaxy Catalog from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6, we find only a tiny fraction of galaxies (~0.03%) with re lsim 1.5 kpc and M sstarf gsim 8 × 1010 M sun in the local universe (z < 0.2). Surprisingly, they are relatively young (~2 Gyr) and metal-rich ([Z/H] ~0.2). The consequences of these findings within the current two competing size evolution scenarios for the most massive galaxies ("dry" mergers vs. "puffing up" due to quasar activity) are discussed.
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