THE SIZE EVOLUTION OF PASSIVE GALAXIES: OBSERVATIONS FROM THE WIDE-FIELD CAMERA 3 EARLY RELEASE SCIENCE PROGRAM

We present the size evolution of passively evolving galaxies at z ~ 2 identified in Wide-Field Camera 3 imaging from the Early Release Science program. Our sample was constructed using an analog to the passive BzK galaxy selection criterion, which isolates galaxies with little or no ongoing star for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Astrophysical journal 2012-04, Vol.749 (1), p.1-11
Main Authors:	RYAN, R. E, MCCARTHY, P. J, BALICK, B, BOND, H. E, BUSHOUSE, H, CALZETTI, D, CROCKETT, R. M, DISNEY, M, DOPITA, M. A, FROGEL, J. A, HALL, D. N. B, HOLTZMAN, J. A, COHEN, S. H, KAVIRAJ, S, KIMBLE, R. A, MACKENTY, J, MUTCHLER, M, PARESCE, F, SAHA, A, SILK, J. I, TRAUGER, J, WALKER, A. R, WHITMORE, B. C, YAN, H, YOUNG, E, HATHI, N. P, KOEKEMOER, A. M, RUTKOWSKI, M. J, MECHTLEY, M. R, WINDHORST, R. A, O'CONNELL, R. W
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Astronomical models Astronomy ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY CAMERAS Earth, ocean, space Evolution Exact sciences and technology GALACTIC EVOLUTION GALAXIES MASS Mathematical models PHOTOMETRY RED SHIFT STARS Stellar mass TELESCOPES Uncertainty
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Summary:	We present the size evolution of passively evolving galaxies at z ~ 2 identified in Wide-Field Camera 3 imaging from the Early Release Science program. Our sample was constructed using an analog to the passive BzK galaxy selection criterion, which isolates galaxies with little or no ongoing star formation at z [> ~] 1.5. We identify 30 galaxies in ~40 arcmin super(2) to H < 25 mag. By fitting the 10-band Hubble Space Telescope photometry from 0.22 mu m [< ~] [lambda] sub(obs) [< ~] 1.6 mu m with stellar population synthesis models, we simultaneously determine photometric redshift, stellar mass, and a bevy of other population parameters. Based on the six galaxies with published spectroscopic redshifts, we estimate a typical redshift uncertainty of ~0.033(1 + z). We determine effective radii from Sersic profile fits to the H-band image using an empirical point-spread function. By supplementing our data with published samples, we propose a mass-dependent size evolution model for passively evolving galaxies, where the most massive galaxies (M[low ] ~ 10 super(11) M) undergo the strongest evolution from z ~ 2 to the present. Parameterizing the size evolution as (1 + z) super(- alpha ), we find a tentative scaling of alpha [approx =] (- 0.6 + or - 0.7) + (0.9 + or - 0.4)log(M[low ]/10 super(9) M sub([middot in circle])), where the relatively large uncertainties reflect the poor sampling in stellar mass due to the low numbers of high-redshift systems. We discuss the implications of this result for the redshift evolution of the M[low *]-R sub(e) relation for red galaxies.
ISSN:	0004-637X 1538-4357