2005/11/18 by A. van der Wel, M. Franx, P. G. van Dokkum +4 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/499919
published as Astrophys.J.636:L21-L24,2005 · 5 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJL
arxiv created 2005/11/18 · openalex publication_date 2005/12/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We measure the evolution of the rest-frame K -band fundamental plane from z = 1 to the present by using IRAC imaging of a sample of early-type galaxies in the Chandra Deep Field-South at z ~ 1 with accurately measured dynamical masses. We find that M / L K evolves as Δ ln( M / L K ) = (-1.18 ± 0.10) z , which is slower than in the B band [Δ ln( M / L B ) = (-1.46 ± 0.09) z ]. In the B band, the evolution has been demonstrated to be strongly mass-dependent. In the K band, we find a weaker trend: galaxies more massive than M = 2 × 10 11 M ☉ evolve as Δ ln( M / L K ) = (-1.01 ± 0.16) z ; less massive galaxies evolve as Δ ln( M / L K ) = (-1.27 ± 0.11) z . As expected from stellar population models, the evolution in M / L K is slower than the evolution in M / L B . However, when we make a quantitative comparison, we find that the single-burst Bruzual-Charlot models do not fit the results well, unless large dust opacities are allowed at z = 1. Models with a flat IMF fit better; Maraston models with a different treatment of AGB stars fit best. These results show that the interpretation of rest-frame near-IR photometry is severely hampered by model uncertainties and therefore that the determination of galaxy masses from rest-frame near-IR photometry may be harder than was thought before.