The elemental abundances of quiescent galaxies in the LEGA-C survey: the (non-)evolution of [{\alpha}/Fe] from z = 0.75 to z = 0

TL;DR

This study measures alpha-element abundances in quiescent galaxies at z=0.75, finding most are alpha-enhanced and that these abundances have remained unchanged over the past 6.5 billion years.

Contribution

It provides the first measurement of [{eta}/Fe] in quiescent galaxies at z=0.75, showing no evolution in [{eta}/Fe] since then.

Findings

Most quiescent galaxies at z=0.75 are alpha-enhanced.

No significant correlation between [{eta}/Fe] and galaxy properties.

[{\alpha}/Fe] has remained constant over 6.5 billion years.

Abstract

We measure the [${\alpha}$/Fe] abundances for 183 quiescent galaxies at z = 0.60 - 0.75 with stellar masses ranging 10.4 \leq log10 10.4 $\leq$ log10 (M$_*$ /M$_\odot$) $\leq$ 11.6 selected from the LEGA-C survey. We estimate [${\alpha}$/Fe] from the ratio of the spectral indices Mgb (${\lambda} \sim 5177$ {\AA}) and Fe4383, compared to predictions of simple stellar population models. We find that 91% of quiescents in our sample have supersolar [${\alpha}$/Fe], with an average value of [${\alpha}$/Fe] = +0.24 $\pm$ 0.01. We find no significant correlation between [${\alpha}$/Fe] and stellar metallicity, mass, velocity dispersion, and average formation time. Galaxies that formed the bulk of their stellar mass on time scales shorter than 1 Gyr follow the same [${\alpha}$/Fe] distribution as those which formed on longer time scales. In comparison to local early-type galaxies and to stacked spectra of quiescent galaxies at z = 0.38 and z = 0.07, we find that the average [${\alpha}$/Fe] has not changed between z = 0.75 and the present time. Our work shows that the vast majority of massive quiescent galaxies at z $\sim$ 0.7 are ${\alpha}$-enhanced, and that no detectable evolution of the average [${\alpha}$/Fe] has taken place over the last $\sim$ 6.5 Gyr.