TY - JOUR
T1 - Dark-ages reionization and galaxy formation simulation - XIII. AGN quenching of high-redshift star formation in ZF-COSMOS-20115
AU - Qin, Yuxiang
AU - Mutch, Simon J.
AU - Duffy, Alan R.
AU - Geil, Paul M.
AU - Poole, Gregory B.
AU - Mesinger, Andrei
AU - Wyithe, J. Stuart B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/11
Y1 - 2017/11
N2 - Massive quiescent galaxies (MQGs) are thought to have formed stars rapidly at early times followed by a long period of quiescence. The recent discovery of aMQG, ZF-COSMOS-20115 at z ~ 4, only 1.5 Gyr after the big bang, places new constraints on galaxy growth and the role of feedback in early star formation. Spectroscopic follow-up confirmed ZF-COSMOS- 20115 as a MQG at z = 3.717 with an estimated stellar mass of ~1011 M⊙, showing no evidence of recent star formation. We use the MERAXES semi-analytic model to investigate how ZF-COSMOS-20115 analogues build stellar mass, and why they become quiescent. We identify three analogue galaxies with similar properties to ZF-COSMOS-20115. We find that ZF-COSMOS-20115 is likely hosted by a massive halo with virial mass of ~1013M⊙, having been through significant mergers at early times. These merger events drove intense growth of the nucleus, which later prevented cooling and quenched star formation. Therefore, ZFCOSMOS- 20115 is unlikely to have experienced strong or extended star formation events at z < 3.7.We find that the analogues host the most massive black holes in our simulation and were luminous quasars at z ~ 5, indicating that ZF-COSMOS-20115 and other MQGs may be the descendants of high-redshift quasars. In addition, themodel suggests that ZF-COSMOS-20115 formed in a region of intergalactic medium that was reionized early.
AB - Massive quiescent galaxies (MQGs) are thought to have formed stars rapidly at early times followed by a long period of quiescence. The recent discovery of aMQG, ZF-COSMOS-20115 at z ~ 4, only 1.5 Gyr after the big bang, places new constraints on galaxy growth and the role of feedback in early star formation. Spectroscopic follow-up confirmed ZF-COSMOS- 20115 as a MQG at z = 3.717 with an estimated stellar mass of ~1011 M⊙, showing no evidence of recent star formation. We use the MERAXES semi-analytic model to investigate how ZF-COSMOS-20115 analogues build stellar mass, and why they become quiescent. We identify three analogue galaxies with similar properties to ZF-COSMOS-20115. We find that ZF-COSMOS-20115 is likely hosted by a massive halo with virial mass of ~1013M⊙, having been through significant mergers at early times. These merger events drove intense growth of the nucleus, which later prevented cooling and quenched star formation. Therefore, ZFCOSMOS- 20115 is unlikely to have experienced strong or extended star formation events at z < 3.7.We find that the analogues host the most massive black holes in our simulation and were luminous quasars at z ~ 5, indicating that ZF-COSMOS-20115 and other MQGs may be the descendants of high-redshift quasars. In addition, themodel suggests that ZF-COSMOS-20115 formed in a region of intergalactic medium that was reionized early.
KW - Galaxies: evolution
KW - Galaxies: high-redshift
KW - Methods: numerical
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044329340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stx1852
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stx1852
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85044329340
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 471
SP - 4345
EP - 4354
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 4
ER -