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Description
We present stellar rotation curves and velocity dispersion profiles for 104 quiescent galaxies at z=0.6-1 from the Large Early Galaxy Astrophysics Census (LEGA-C) spectroscopic survey. Rotation is typically probed across 10-20kpc, or to an average of 2.7Re. Combined with central stellar velocity dispersions ({sigma}0) this provides the first determination of the dynamical state of a sample selected by a lack of star formation activity at large lookback time. The most massive galaxies (M_*_>2x10^11^M_{sun}_) generally show no or little rotation measured at 5 kpc (|V_5_|/{sigma}_0_<0.2 in eight of ten cases), while ~64% of less massive galaxies show significant rotation. This is reminiscent of local fast- and slow- rotating ellipticals and implies that low- and high-redshift quiescent galaxies have qualitatively similar dynamical structures. We compare |V_5_|/{sigma}_0_ distributions at z~0.8 and the present day by re-binning and smoothing the kinematic maps of 91 low-redshift quiescent galaxies from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey and find evidence for a decrease in rotational support since z~1. This result is especially strong when galaxies are compared at fixed velocity dispersion; if velocity dispersion does not evolve for individual galaxies then the rotational velocity at 5kpc was an average of 94+/-22% higher in z~0.8 quiescent galaxies than today. Considering that the number of quiescent galaxies grows with time and that new additions to the population descend from rotationally supported star-forming galaxies, our results imply that quiescent galaxies must lose angular momentum between z~1 and the present, presumably through dissipationless merging, and/or that the mechanism that transforms star-forming galaxies also reduces their rotational support.
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