$\scriptsize\mathrm{{SQuIGG\overrightarrow{L}E}}$: Studying Quenching in Intermediate-z Galaxies—Gas, $\scriptsize\mathrm{{Angu\overrightarrow{L}ar}}$ Momentum, and Evolution
OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information)
Abstract
We describe the Studying Quenching in Intermediate-z Galaxies: Gas, $\scriptsize\mathrm{\rm{angu}}\overrightarrow{L}{\rm{ar}}$ momentum, and Evolution ($\scriptsize\mathrm{{SQuIGG\overrightarrow{L}E}}$) survey of intermediate-redshift post-starburst galaxies. We leverage the large sky coverage of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to select ~1300 recently quenched galaxies at 0.5 < z ≤ 0.9 based on their unique spectral shapes. These bright, intermediate-redshift galaxies are ideal laboratories to study the physics responsible for the rapid quenching of star formation: they are distant enough to be useful analogs for high-redshift quenching galaxies, but low enough redshift that multiwavelength follow-up observations are feasible with modest telescope investments. We use the Prospector code to infer the stellar population properties and nonparametric star formation histories (SFHs) of all galaxies in the sample. We find that $\scriptsize\mathrm{{SQuIGG\overrightarrow{L}E}}$ galaxies are both very massive (M* ~ 1011.25 M⊙) and quenched, with inferred star formation rates ≲1 M⊙ yr-1, more than an order of magnitude below the star-forming main sequence. The best-fit SFHs confirm that these galaxies recently quenched a major burst of star formation: >75% of $\scriptsize\mathrm{{SQuIGG\overrightarrow{L}E}}$ galaxies formed at least a quarter of their total stellar mass in the recent burst, which ended just ~200 Myr before observation. We find that $\scriptsize\mathrm{{SQuIGG\overrightarrow{L}E}}$ galaxies are on average younger and more burst-dominated than most other z ≲ 1 post-starburst galaxy samples. This large sample of bright post-starburst galaxies at intermediate redshift opens a wide range of studies into the quenching process. In particular, the full $\scriptsize\mathrm{{SQuIGG\overrightarrow{L}E}}$ survey will investigate the molecular gas reservoirs, morphologies, kinematics, resolved stellar populations, active galactic nucleus incidence, and infrared properties of this unique sample of galaxies in order to place definitive constraints on the quenching process.
Authors 15
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Katherine A. Suess corresponding
University of California, Santa Cruz · Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology · University of California, Berkeley · Stanford University
Affiliation as printed
Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
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Leiden University · Leiden Observatory · University of California, Berkeley
Affiliation as printed
Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O.Box 9513, NL-2300 AA Leiden, The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
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The University of Texas at Austin
Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, 2515 Speedway, Stop C1400, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
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Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian
Affiliation as printed
Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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University of Copenhagen · University of Florida · DTU Space · Technical University of Denmark
Affiliation as printed
Cosmic Dawn Centre at the Niels Bohr Institue, University of Copenhagen and DTU-Space, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
University of Florida Informatics Institute, 432 Newell Drive, CISE Bldg E251 Gainesville, FL 32611, US
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North Carolina State University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Mathematics, North Carolina State University, 2108 SAS Hall Box 8205, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1085 S University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, 211 Bryant Space Science Center, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
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