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We report results from a search for massive and evolved galaxies at z � 5 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) southern field. Combining HST ACS, VLT ISAAC and Spitzer IRAC broad–band photometric data, we develop a color selection technique to identify candidates for being evolved galaxies at high redshifts. The color selection is primarily based on locating the Balmer–break using the K- and 3.6µm bands. Stellar population synthesis models are fitted to the SEDs of these galaxies to identify the final sample. We find 11 candidates with photometric redshifts in the range 4.9 ≤ z 6.5, dominated by an old stellar population, with ages 0.2−1.0 Gyr, and stellar masses in the range (0.5 − 5) × 10 11 M⊙. The majority of the stars in these galaxies were formed at z 9 and the current star formation activity is in all cases, except two, a few percent of the inferred early star formation rate. One candidate has a spectroscopically confirmed redshift, in good agreement with our photometric redshift. The galaxies are very compact, with half–light radii in the observed
Wiklind et al. (Tue,) studied this question.