The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS)

Environment-size relation of massive passive galaxies at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.8^⋆

¹ INAF – Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica Milano, Via Corti 12, 20133 Milano, Italy
e-mail: adriana.gargiulo@inaf.it
² INAF – Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
³ Institute of Physics, Jan Kochanowski University, ul. Swietokrzyska 15, 25-406 Kielce, Poland
⁴ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G. B. Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
⁵ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Brera 28, 20122 Milano – Via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy
⁶ Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
⁷ Aix Marseille Univ., CNRS, LAM, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Marseille, France
⁸ INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
⁹ Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, 06300 Nice, France
¹⁰ Instituto de Astronomía y Ciencias Planetarias, Universidad de Atacama, Avenida Copayapu 485, Copiapò, Chile
¹¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia – Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹² National Centre for Nuclear Research, ul. Pasteura 7, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland
¹³ INFN, Sezione di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
¹⁴ Department of Astronomy & Physics, Saint Mary’s University, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3, Canada
¹⁵ Aix-Marseille Université, Jardin du Pharo, 58 bd Charles Livon, 13284 Marseille Cedex 7, France
¹⁶ IRAP, 9 Av. du colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
¹⁷ Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, Orla 171, 30-001 Cracow, Poland
¹⁸ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9SS, UK
¹⁹ INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
²⁰ Aix Marseille Univ., Univ. Toulon, CNRS, CPT, Marseille, France
²¹ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
²² INFN, Sezione di Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
²³ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, RM, Italy
²⁴ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Ch. d’Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
²⁵ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK

Received: 8 June 2018
Accepted: 5 July 2019

Abstract

We use the unparalleled statistics of the VIPERS survey to investigate the relation between the surface mean stellar mass density Σ = ℳ/(2 πR_e²) of massive passive galaxies (MPGs, ℳ ≥ 10¹¹ M_⊙) and their local environment in the redshift range 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 0.8. Passive galaxies were selected on the basis of their NUVrK colors (∼900 objects), and the environment was defined as the galaxy density contrast, δ, using the fifth nearest-neighbor approach. The analysis of Σ versus δ was carried out in two stellar mass bins. In galaxies with ℳ ≤ 2 × 10¹¹ M_⊙, no correlation between Σ and δ is observed. This implies that the accretion of satellite galaxies, which is more frequent in denser environments (groups or cluster outskirts) and efficient in reducing the galaxy Σ, is not relevant in the formation and evolution of these systems. Conversely, in galaxies with ℳ > 2 × 10¹¹ M_⊙, we find an excess of MPGs with low Σ and a deficit of high-Σ MPGs in the densest regions with respect to other environments. We interpret this result as due to the migration of some high-Σ MPGs (< 1% of the total population of MPGs) into low-Σ MPGs, probably through mergers or cannibalism of small satellites. In summary, our results imply that the accretion of satellite galaxies has a marginal role in the mass-assembly history of most MPGs. We have previously found that the number density of VIPERS massive star-forming galaxies (MSFGs) declines rapidily from z = 0.8 to z = 0.5, which mirrors the rapid increase in the number density of MPGs. This indicates that the MSFGs at z ≥ 0.8 migrate to the MPG population. Here, we investigate the Σ–δ relation of MSFGs at z ≥ 0.8 and find that it is consistent within 1σ with that of low-Σ MPGs at z ≤ 0.8. Thus, the results of this and our previous paper show that MSFGs at z ≥ 0.8 are consistent in terms of number and environment with being the progenitors of low-Σ MPGs at z <  0.8.