An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2

TL;DR

This study presents an ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a typical compact, quiescent galaxy at z=2.2, revealing its stellar population, low star formation rate, and potential AGN activity, providing insights into galaxy quenching processes.

Contribution

First detailed spectrum of a z>2 quiescent galaxy showing absorption features and emission lines, indicating low star formation and possible AGN presence.

Findings

Low current SFR (<1% of past average)

Dominated by evolved stellar population

Potential low-luminosity AGN detected

Abstract

Several recent studies have shown that about half of the massive galaxies at z~2 are in a quiescent phase. Moreover, these galaxies are commonly found to be ultra-compact with half-light radii of ~1 kpc. We have obtained a ~29 hr spectrum of a typical quiescent, ultra-dense galaxy at z=2.1865 with the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph. The spectrum exhibits a strong optical break and several absorption features, which have not previously been detected in z>2 quiescent galaxies. Comparison of the spectral energy distribution with stellar population synthesis models implies a low star formation rate (SFR) of 1-3 Msol/yr, an age of 1.3-2.2 Gyr, and a stellar mass of ~2x10^11 Msol. We detect several faint emission lines, with emission-line ratios of [NII]/Halpha, [SII]/Halpha and [OII]/[OIII] typical of low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions. Thus, neither the stellar continuum nor the nebular emission implies active star formation. The current SFR is <1% of the past average SFR. If this galaxy is representative of compact quiescent galaxies beyond z=2, it implies that quenching of star formation is extremely efficient and also indicates that low luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) could be common in these objects. Nuclear emission is a potential concern for the size measurement. However, we show that the AGN contributes <8% to the rest-frame optical emission. A possible post-starburst population may affect size measurements more strongly; although a 0.5 Gyr old stellar population can make up <10% of the total stellar mass, it could account for up to ~40% of the optical light. Nevertheless, this spectrum shows that this compact galaxy is dominated by an evolved stellar population.