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The NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) formIng Cluster survEy (NICE) is a NOEMA large programme targeting 69 massive galaxy group candidates at z > 2 over six deep fields with a total area of 46 deg2. Here we report the spectroscopic confirmation of eight massive galaxy groups at redshifts 1.65 ≤ z ≤ 3.61 in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field. Homogeneously selected as significant overdensities of red IRAC sources that have red Herschel colours, four groups in this sample are confirmed by CO and [CI] line detections of multiple sources with NOEMA 3 mm observations, three are confirmed with Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations, and one is confirmed by Hα emission from Subaru/FMOS spectroscopy. Using rich ancillary data in the far-infrared and sub-millimetre, we constructed the integrated far-infrared spectral energy distributions for the eight groups, obtaining a total infrared star formation rate (SFR) of 260–1300 M⊙ yr−1. We adopted six methods for estimating the dark matter masses of the eight groups, including stellar mass to halo mass relations, overdensity with galaxy bias, and NFW profile fitting to radial stellar mass densities. We find that the radial stellar mass densities of the eight groups are consistent with a NFW profile, supporting the idea that they are collapsed structures hosted by a single dark matter halo. The best halo mass estimates are log(Mh/M⊙) = 12.8 − 13.7 with a general uncertainty of 0.3 dex. Based on the halo mass estimates, we derived baryonic accretion rates (BARs) of (1 − 8)×103 M⊙/yr for this sample. Together with massive groups in the literature, we find a quasi-linear correlation between the integrated SFR/BAR ratio and the theoretical halo mass limit for cold streams, Mstream/Mh, with SFR/BAR = 10−0.46 ± 0.22(Mstream/Mh)0.71 ± 0.16 with a scatter of 0.40  dex. Furthermore, we compared the halo masses and the stellar masses with simulations, and find that the halo masses of all structures are consistent with those of progenitors of Mh(z = 0) > 1014 M⊙ galaxy clusters, and that the most massive central galaxies have stellar masses consistent with those of the brightest cluster galaxy progenitors in the TNG300 simulation. Above all, the results strongly suggest that these massive structures are in the process of forming massive galaxy clusters via baryonic and dark matter accretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study stellar population and structural properties of massive log (M ⋆/ M ⊙) > 11 galaxies at z ≈ 2.7 in the Magneticum and IllustrisTNG hydrodynamical simulations and GAEA semi-analytic model. We find stellar mass functions broadly consistent with observations, with no scarcity of massive, quiescent galaxies at z ≈ 2.7, but with a higher quiescent galaxy fraction at high masses in IllustrisTNG. Average ages of simulated quiescent galaxies are between ≈0.8 and |${1.0\, \textrm {Gyr}}$|⁠ , older by a factor ≈2 than observed in spectroscopically confirmed quiescent galaxies at similar redshift. Besides being potentially indicative of limitations of simulations in reproducing observed star formation histories, this discrepancy may also reflect limitations in the estimation of observed ages. We investigate the purity of simulated UVJ rest-frame colour-selected massive quiescent samples with photometric uncertainties typical of deep surveys (e.g. COSMOS). We find evidence for significant contamination (up to |${60\, \rm {per\, cent}}$|⁠) by dusty star-forming galaxies in the UVJ region that is typically populated by older quiescent sources. Furthermore, the completeness of UVJ-selected quiescent samples at this redshift may be reduced by |$\approx {30\, \rm {per\, cent}}$| due to a high fraction of young quiescent galaxies not entering the UVJ quiescent region. Massive, quiescent galaxies in simulations have on average lower angular momenta and higher projected axis ratios and concentrations than star-forming counterparts. Average sizes of simulated quiescent galaxies are broadly consistent with observations within the uncertainties. The average size ratio of quiescent and star-forming galaxies in the probed mass range is formally consistent with observations, although this result is partly affected by poor statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study structural properties of spectroscopically confirmed massive quiescent galaxies at z ≈ 3 with one of the first sizeable samples of such sources, made of ten 10.8 < log (M ⋆/M⊙) < 11.3 galaxies at 2.4 < z < 3.2 in the COSMOS field whose redshifts and quiescence are confirmed by Hubble Space Telescope (HST) grism spectroscopy. Although affected by a weak bias toward younger stellar populations, this sample is deemed to be largely representative of the majority of the most massive and thus intrinsically rarest quiescent sources at this cosmic time. We rely on targeted HST /Wide-Field Camera 3 observations and fit Sérsic profiles to the galaxy surface brightness distributions at |$\approx {4000}\hbox{-}{\, {\mathring{\rm A}}}$| rest frame. We find typically high Sérsic indices and axis ratios (medians ≈ 4.5 and 0.73, respectively) suggesting that, at odds with some previous results, the first massive quiescent galaxies may largely be already bulge-dominated systems. We measure compact galaxy sizes with an average of |$\approx {1.4}\, {\rm kpc}$| at log (M ⋆/M⊙) ≈ 11.2, in good agreement with the extrapolation at the highest masses of previous determinations of the stellar mass–size relation of quiescent galaxies, and of its redshift evolution, from photometrically selected samples at lower and similar redshifts. This work confirms the existence of a population of compact, bulge dominated, massive, quiescent sources at z ≈ 3, providing one of the first statistical estimates of their structural properties, and further constraining the early formation and evolution of the first quiescent galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the nature of star-forming galaxies with reduced specific star formation rate (sSFR) and high stellar masses, those 'green valley' objects that seemingly cause a reported bending, or flattening, of the star-forming main sequence. The fact that such objects host large bulges recently led some to suggest that the internal formation of bulges was a late event that induced the sSFRs of massive galaxies to drop in a slow downfall, and thus the main sequence to bend. We have studied in detail a sample of 10 galaxies at 0.45 < z < 1 with secure SFR from Herschel, deep Keck optical spectroscopy, and HST imaging from CANDELS allowing us to perform multiwavelength bulge to disc decomposition, and to derive star formation histories for the separated bulge and disc components. We find that the bulges hosted in these systems below main sequence are virtually all maximally old, with ages approaching the age of the Universe at the time of observation, while discs are young (〈 T 50〉 ∼ 1.5 Gyr). We conclude that, at least based on our sample, the bending of the main sequence is, for a major part, due to rejuvenation, and we disfavour mechanisms that postulate the internal formation of bulges at late times. The very old stellar ages of our bulges suggest a number density of early-type galaxies at z  = 1–3 higher than actually observed. If confirmed, this might represent one of the first direct validations of hierarchical assembly of bulges at high redshifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]