We analysed the stellar population properties of a well-defined sample of 552 galaxies at redshift 0. 6=0. 7 and masses >10^ 10 M_⊙. We find the downsizing trends observed in the local Universe to be already in place 6 Gyr ago. We also observe a bimodal distribution of light-weighted ages as a function of mass, transitioning around 10^ 11 M_⊙. Such a bimodality is not observed in the stellar metallicity-mass relation, which changes from a steep to a flat regime across M_* M_⊙. Similar trends in age and metallicity also emerge as a function of velocity dispersion, but with a sharper transition from young to old around łogσ_*=2. 3. Differences with respect to the trends as a function of stellar mass suggest that age is primarily dependent on velocity dispersion below and above the transition regime, while both the stellar mass and the depth of the total gravitational potential well (as traced by the velocity dispersion) contribute to stellar metallicity. We release the catalogues of revised absorption index measurements for LEGA-C DR3 used in this work and of the inferred stellar population physical parameters to public repositories. 10. 8
Gallazzi et al. (Mon,) studied this question.