Bibcode
Poggianti, B. M.; Calvi, R.; Bindoni, D.; D'Onofrio, M.; Moretti, A.; Valentinuzzi, T.; Fasano, G.; Fritz, J.; De Lucia, G.; Vulcani, B.; Bettoni, D.; Gullieuszik, M.; Omizzolo, A.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 762, Issue 2, article id. 77, 16 pp. (2013).
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1
2013
Journal
Citations
158
Refereed citations
152
Description
We search for massive and compact galaxies (superdense galaxies,
hereafter SDGs) at z = 0.03-0.11 in the Padova-Millennium Galaxy and
Group Catalogue, a spectroscopically complete sample representative of
the general field population of the local universe. We find that compact
galaxies with radii and mass densities comparable to high-z massive and
passive galaxies represent 4.4% of all galaxies with stellar masses
above 3 × 1010 M ⊙, yielding a number
density of 4.3 × 10-4 h 3
Mpc-3. Most of them are S0s (70%) or ellipticals (23%),
are red, and have intermediate-to-old stellar populations, with a median
luminosity-weighted age of 5.4 Gyr and a median mass-weighted age of 9.2
Gyr. Their velocity dispersions and dynamical masses are consistent with
the small radii and high stellar mass estimates. Comparing with the
WINGS sample of cluster galaxies at similar redshifts, the fraction of
SDGs is three times smaller in the field than in clusters, and cluster
SDGs are on average 4 Gyr older than field SDGs. We confirm the
existence of a universal trend of smaller radii for older
luminosity-weighted ages at fixed galaxy mass. As a consequence, the
median mass-size relation shifts toward smaller radii for galaxies with
older stars, but the effect is much more pronounced in clusters than in
the field. Our results show that, on top of the well-known dependence of
stellar age on galaxy mass, the luminosity-weighted age of galaxies
depends on galaxy compactness at fixed mass and, for a fixed mass and
radius, on environment. This effect needs to be taken into account in
order not to overestimate the evolution of galaxy sizes from high to low
z. Our results and hierarchical simulations suggest that a significant
fraction of the massive compact galaxies at high z have evolved into
compact galaxies in galaxy clusters today. When stellar age and
environmental effects are taken into account, the average amount of size
evolution of individual galaxies between high and low z is mild, a
factor ~1.6.