Oral Contribution (O0.4) Anna de Graaff (Leiden University)
Probing the evolution of massive galaxies with the fundamental plane: results from the LEGA-C Survey
The Fundamental Plane (FP), a tight scaling relation between galaxy size, velocity dispersion, and luminosity or stellar mass, provides strong constraints on the formation time and evolution of the most massive early-type galaxies in the local Universe. However, selection biases at z>0 can affect the measured evolution of the FP significantly, and hence the inferred galaxy evolution. The LEGA-C survey has delivered the largest census of galaxy stellar kinematics at z~0.8, comprising a sample of ~3000 K-band selected, massive galaxies. Combined with HST imaging, this enables a statistical view of the structural properties of galaxies at z~0.8 and their evolution to the present day. I will present the effects of structural and stellar population properties on the FP, and demonstrate that the FP extends to the population of massive star-forming galaxies. I will show that, despite strong evolution in the sizes and stellar populations of galaxies, the FP is surprisingly stable across 0<z<1, and discuss the implications for the growth of galaxies.
