The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS): Environment-size relation of massive passive galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.8

A. Gargiulo , O. Cucciati , B. Garilli , M. Scodeggio , M. Bolzonella , G. Zamorani , G. de Lucia , J. Krywult , L. Guzzo , B. Granett , S. de La Torre (1) , U. Abbas , C. Adami (1) , S. Arnouts (1) , D. Bottini , A. Cappi (2, 3) , P. Franzetti , A. Fritz , C. Haines , A. Hawken , A. Iovino , V. Le Brun (1) , O. Le Fèvre (1) , D. Maccagni , K. Małek , F. Marulli , T. Moutard (1, 4) , M. Polletta (5, 6) , A. Pollo , L. Tasca (1) , R. Tojeiro , D. Vergani , A. Zanichelli , J. Bel (7, 8) , E. Branchini , J. Coupon , O. Ilbert (1) , L. Moscardini , J. Peacock

1 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
2 LAGRANGE - Joseph Louis LAGRANGE
3 OABO - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna
4 Saint Mary's University [Halifax]
5 AMU - Aix Marseille Université
6 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
7 CPT - Centre de Physique Théorique - UMR 7332
8 CPT - E3 Cosmologie

We use the statistics of the VIPERS survey to investigate the relation between the surface mean stellar mass density Sigma=Mstar/(2*pi*Re^2) of massive passive galaxies (MPGs, Mstar>10^11 Msun) and their environment in the redshift range 0.52*10^11 Msun, we find an excess of MPGs with low Sigma and a deficit of high-Sigma MPGs in the densest regions wrt other environments. We interpret this result as due to the migration of some high-Sigma MPGs (<1% of the total population of MPGs) into low-Sigma MPGs, probably through mergers or cannibalism of small satellites. In summary, our results imply that the accretion of satellite galaxies has a marginal role in the mass-assembly history of most MPGs. We have previously found that the number density of VIPERS massive star-forming galaxies (MSFGs) declines rapidily from z=0.8 to z=0.5, which mirrors the rapid increase in the number density of MPGs. This indicates that the MSFGs at z>0.8 migrate to the MPG population. Here, we investigate the Sigma-delta relation of MSFGs at z>0.8 and find that it is consistent within 1 sigma with that of low-Sigma MPGs at z<0.8. Thus, the results of this and our previous paper show that MSFGs at z>0.8 are consistent in terms of number and environment with being the progenitors of low-Sigma MPGs at z<0.8.

Domaines: Astrophysique galactique [astro-ph.GA]

A. Gargiulo, O. Cucciati, B. Garilli, M. Scodeggio, M. Bolzonella, et al.. The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS): Environment-size relation of massive passive galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.8. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2019, 631, pp.A15. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201833600⟩. ⟨hal-02448375⟩