Related papers: Morphologies of Two Massive Old Galaxies at z ~ 2.…

We describe a study of morphologies of galaxies with old stellar populations in radio-source fields at z ~ 2.5. A significant fraction of these are dominated by disks of old stars, and none we have found so far has the properties of…

At redshift z = 2, when the Universe was just three billion years old, half of the most massive galaxies were extremely compact and had already exhausted their fuel for star formation(1-4). It is believed that they were formed in intense…

We investigate the stellar structure of massive, quiescent galaxies at z~2, based on Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 imaging from the Early Release Science program. Our sample of 14 galaxies has stellar masses of M* > 10^{10.8} Msol and…

We have examined in detail the morphologies of seven z~1.5 passively evolving luminous red galaxies using high resolution HST NICMOS and ACS imaging data. Almost all of these galaxies appear to be relaxed systems, with smooth morphologies…

We present a simple theoretical framework for massive galaxies at high redshift, where the main assembly and star formation occurred, and report on the first cosmological simulations that reveal clumpy disks consistent with our analysis.…

Massive galaxies, such as nearby ellipticals, have relatively low number densities, yet they host the majority of the stellar mass in the universe. Understanding their origin is a central problem of galaxy formation. Age dating of stellar…

We have identified a clustering of red galaxies from deep optical/IR images obtained as part of the Institute for Astronomy Deep Survey. Photometric spectral-energy distributions indicate that most of these galaxies comprise nearly pure old…

I discuss current observational constraints on the star-formation and stellar-assembly histories of galaxies at high redshifts. The data on massive galaxies at z<1 implies that their stellar populations formed at z>2, and that their…

In these proceedings, we summarize recent results from our "SINS" VLT/SINFONI integral-field survey, focusing on the 52 detected UV/optically-selected star-forming galaxies at z~2. Our H-alpha emission-line imaging and kinematic data of…

We have identified six early-type galaxies at z>2.8 in the central 5.76 arcmin^2 Hubble Ultra Deep Field NICMOS region based on a pronounced broad-band discontinuity between the NICMOS F110W and F160W bandpasses. These galaxies have red…

We use Spitzer MIPS data from the FIDEL Legacy Project in the Extended Groth Strip to analyze the stellar mass assembly of massive (M>10^11 M_sun) galaxies at z<2 as a function of structural parameters. We find 24 micron emission for more…

In the early Universe finding massive galaxies that have stopped forming stars present an observational challenge as their rest-frame ultraviolet emission is negligible and they can only be reliably identified by extremely deep…

Studying the resolved stellar populations of the different structural components which build massive galaxies directly unveils their assembly history. We aim at characterizing the stellar population properties of a representative sample of…

Galaxies with the mass of the Milky Way dominate the stellar mass density of the Universe but it is uncertain how and when they were assembled. Here we study progenitors of these galaxies out to z=2.5, using data from the 3D-HST and CANDELS…

It is believed that massive galaxies have quenched their star formation because of active galactic nucleus feedback. However, recent studies have shown that some massive galaxies are still forming stars. We analyze the morphology of star…

When the cosmic star formation history peaks (z ~ 2), galaxies vigorously fed by cosmic reservoirs are gas dominated and contain massive star-forming clumps, thought to form by violent gravitational instabilities in highly turbulent…

We measure the sizes of 82 massive (M>10^11 M_sun) galaxies at 1.7<z<3 utilizing deep HST NICMOS data taken in the GOODS North and South fields. Our sample is almost an order of magnitude larger than previous studies at these redshifts,…

Bulges are a major galaxy component in the nearby universe, and are one of the primary features that differentiates and defines galaxies. The origin of bulges can be directly probed in part by examining distant galaxies to search for high…

We present constraints on the stellar-mass distribution of distant galaxies. These stellar-mass estimates derive from fitting population-synthesis models to the galaxies' observed multi-band spectrophotometry. We discuss the complex…

We have used deep, HST, near-IR imaging to study the morphological properties of the most massive galaxies at high z, modelling the WFC3/IR H-band images of the ~200 galaxies in the CANDELS-UDS field with 1 < z_phot < 3, and stellar masses…