Keck-I Mosfire Spectroscopy Of Compact Star-Forming Galaxies At Z Greater Than Or Similar To 2: High Velocity Dispersions In Progenitors Of Compact Quiescent Galaxies

Abstract

We present Keck-I MOSFIRE near-infrared spectroscopy for a sample of 13 compact star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at redshift 2 <= z <= 2.5 with star formation rates of SFR similar to 100M(circle dot)yr(-1) and masses of log( M/M-circle dot) similar to 10.8. Their high integrated gas velocity dispersions of sigma(int) = 230(-30)(+40)km s(-1), as measured from emission lines of Ha and [O III], and the resultant M-star-sigma(int) relation and M-star-M-dyn all match well to those of compact quiescent galaxies at z similar to 2, as measured from stellar absorption lines. Since log( M-star/M-dyn)= -0.06 +/- 0.2 dex, these compact SFGs appear to be dynamically relaxed and evolved, i.e., depleted in gas and dark matter (<13(-13)(+17)%), and present larger sint than their non-compact SFG counterparts at the same epoch. Without infusion of external gas, depletion timescales are short, less than similar to 300 Myr. This discovery adds another link to our new dynamical chain of evidence that compact SFGs at z greater than or similar to 2 are already losing gas to become the immediate progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies by z similar to 2.