{
  "id": "2105.12750",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2021-05-26T18:00:05.000Z",
  "updated": "2021-05-26T18:00:05.000Z",
  "title": "Elemental Abundances and Ages of $z\\sim0.7$ Quiescent Galaxies on the Mass-Size Plane: Implication for Chemical Enrichment and Star-Formation Quenching",
  "authors": [
    "Aliza G. Beverage",
    "Mariska Kriek",
    "Charlie Conroy",
    "Rachel Bezanson",
    "Marijn Franx",
    "Arjen van der Wel"
  ],
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA"
  ],
  "abstract": "We present elemental abundances and stellar population ages for 68 massive quiescent galaxies at $0.59\\leq z\\leq0.75$ from the LEGA-C survey. The abundance patterns and ages, derived from full-spectrum modeling, are examined as a function of stellar mass ($M_*$) and size (i.e., half-light radius; $R_e$). We find that both [Mg/H] and [Fe/H] do not vary with stellar mass but are correlated with $M_*/R_e$ for quiescent galaxies with $M_*>10^{10.5} M_\\odot$. Thus, at fixed mass, compact quiescent galaxies are on average more metal rich. This result reinforces the picture that supernova feedback and gravitational potential regulate chemical enrichment. [Mg/Fe] does not vary with $M_*$ or $M_*/R_e$, but there is a marginal positive relation between age and mass. Our results support low-redshift findings that more massive galaxies form their stars at earlier times. However, in contrast to low-redshift studies, star formation timescale does not appear to depend on mass or size. We also compare the mass-[Fe/H] and mass-[Mg/H] relations to stacks of quiescent galaxies at $z\\sim0$ and find that both relations increase by $\\sim0.2$ dex over the past 7 Gyr. Furthermore, at $z\\sim0.7$ we find a clear trend with age, such that older quiescent galaxies have lower metallicities. Both results can be explained by a chemical evolution model in which galaxies quench via gas removal. Future work, in particular with JWST/NIRSpec, will extend this analysis to higher redshifts, allowing us to fully exploit abundance patterns to study the formation histories of quiescent galaxies.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2021-05-26T18:00:05.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "quiescent galaxies",
      "elemental abundances",
      "mass-size plane",
      "star-formation quenching",
      "abundance patterns"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}