The VANDELS survey: the star-formation histories of massive quiescent galaxies at 1.0  z  1.3

ABSTRACT We present a Bayesian full-spectral-fitting analysis of 75 massive (M_* 10^10. 3 \, M_) UVJ-selected galaxies at redshifts of 1. 0 z 1. 3, combining extremely deep rest-frame ultraviolet spectroscopy from VANDELS with multiwavelength photometry. By the use of a sophisticated physical plus systematic uncertainties model, constructed within the bagpipes code, we place strong constraints on the star-formation histories (SFHs) of individual objects. We first constrain the stellar mass versus stellar age relationship, finding a steep trend towards earlier average formation time with increasing stellar mass (downsizing) of 1. 48^+0. 34-₀. ₃₉ Gyr per decade in mass, although this shows signs of flattening at M_* 10^11 \, M_. We show that this is consistent with other spectroscopic studies from 0 z 2. This relationship places strong constraints on the AGN-feedback models used in cosmological simulations. We demonstrate that, although the relationships predicted by simba and illustristng agree well with observations at z = 0. 1, they are too shallow at z = 1, predicting an evolution of ≲0. 5 Gyr per decade in mass. Secondly, we consider the connections between green-valley, post-starburst, and quiescent galaxies, using our inferred SFH shapes and the distributions of galaxy physical properties on the UVJ diagram. The majority of our lowest-mass galaxies (M_* 10^10. 5 \, M_) are consistent with formation in recent (z 2), intense starburst events, with time-scales of ≲500 Myr. A second class of objects experience extended star-formation epochs before rapidly quenching, passing through both green-valley and post-starburst phases. The most massive galaxies in our sample are extreme systems: already old by z = 1, they formed at z ∼ 5 and quenched by z = 3. However, we find evidence for their continued evolution through both AGN and rejuvenated star-formation activity.