English

Structural evolution of quiescent galaxies at intermediate redshifts at UV and red rest-frame wavelengths

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-01-14 v2

Abstract

We model the wavelength dependence of structural parameters for a mass-limited sample (M>1010MM_\star>10^{10}M_\odot) of 27,000\sim27,000 quiescent galaxies with 0.2<z<0.60.2 < z < 0.6 using grizygrizy photometry from Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam and dense spectroscopy from the HectoMAP survey. Based on S\'ersic profile fits in all five bands, we estimate the circularized half-light radius Re,cR_{e,c} and S\'ersic index nn in two rest-frames: UV (3500 \r{A}) and red (7000 \r{A}). Combined with MM_\star, zz, and Dn4000_n4000, Re,cR_{e,c} and nn enable exploration of the evolution in the structural properties - stellar mass correlations for quiescent galaxies with different stellar population ages. At intermediate redshift, quiescent galaxies at all stellar masses show a systematic decline in Re,cR_{e,c} and rise in nn with rest-frame wavelength. These structural variations are stronger for galaxies that recently joined the quiescent population (newcomers) than for the descendants of galaxies that are already quiescent at the survey limit, z0.6z \sim 0.6 (aging population). The combined evidence supports inside-out quenching as the dominant mechanism halting star formation during this epoch. The typical size of a M1011MM_\star\sim10^{11}M_\odot quiescent galaxy increases by 30%\sim30\% between z0.6z \sim 0.6 and z0.2z \sim 0.2 in the red and remains constant in the UV; newcomers are 20%\sim20\% larger than the aging population. In the UV, quiescent galaxies maintain a constant n4n\sim4 for the aging population and n2n\sim2 for newcomers; in the red, both subpopulations have de Vaucouleurs profiles. Our findings link newcomers to their direct progenitors in the star-forming population. For the aging population, we suggest minor mergers with progressively redder satellites at lower redshifts as the primary driver of quiescent galaxy evolution. Forthcoming sensitive large-area imaging surveys will allow testing this prediction.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2507.10675,
  title  = {Structural evolution of quiescent galaxies at intermediate redshifts at UV and red rest-frame wavelengths},
  author = {Michele Pizzardo and Ivana Damjanov and Jubee Sohn and Margaret J. Geller},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.10675},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Accepted for publication in Astronomy&Astrophysics. 18 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables. Abstract abridged as required by arXiv submission rules