Projeto Observacional para 2015B - SO2015B-021

Autor: Aldee Charbonnier
Instituição: UFRJ
e-mail: charbonnier@astro.ufrj.br

Co-autores:
Galliano Emmanuel
Thiago S. Gonçalves
Karin Delmestre
Paula R.T. Coelho

Título: Compact massive galaxies at intermediate redshift

Resumo: A population of massive, passive galaxies has been identified at high redshift (z~2), with sizes ~3 times smaller than that of local ellipticals. The existence of these compact passive galaxies with what seem to be elliptical-scale masses challenges our understanding: do these grow into today’s ellipticals by a means that does not entail a significant stellar mass growth? or, do these galaxies remain as relics of the past at lower redshifts? Within the context of what could support the latter option, we have found promising candidates for this population at intermediate redshifts, based on photometry from the CS82. By observing a selection of these objects in the restframe wavelength range 3500-5400 Å, we seek to derive secure spectroscopic redshifts and study the properties of their stellar populations. This will allow us to corroborate their relic nature and place constraints on the evolution of this population over cosmic time. We propose to observe a set of 9 massive compact quiescent galaxies at intermediate redshift (0.2