Recent Star Formation in a Massive Slowly Quenched Lensed Quiescent Galaxy at z = 1.88

Abstract

Abstract In this Letter, we reconstruct the formation pathway of MRG-S0851, a massive, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>log</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>*</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>11.02</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.04</mml:mn> </mml:math> , strongly lensed, red galaxy at z = 1.883 ± 0.001. While the global photometry and spatially resolved outskirts of MRG-S0851 imply an early formation scenario with a slowly decreasing or constant star formation history, a joint fit of 2D grism spectroscopy and photometry reveals a more complex scenario: MRG-S0851 is likely to be experiencing a centrally concentrated rejuvenation in the inner ∼1 kpc in the last ∼100 Myr of evolution. We estimate 0.5 ± 0.1% of the total stellar mass is formed in this phase. Rejuvenation episodes are suggested to be infrequent for massive galaxies at z ∼ 2, but as our analyses indicate, more examples of complex star formation histories may yet be hidden within existing data. By adding an FUV color criterion to the standard U–V / V–J diagnostic—thereby heightening our sensitivity to recent star formation—we show that we can select populations of galaxies with similar spectral energy distributions to that of MRG-S0851, but note that deep follow-up spectroscopic observations and/or spatially resolved analyses are necessary to robustly confirm the rejuvenation of these candidates. Using our criteria with MRG-S0851 as a prototype, we estimate that ∼1% of massive quiescent galaxies at 1 &lt; z &lt; 2 are potentially rejuvenating.

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