Identification of Cosmic Chronometers in the GAMA Survey

Abstract We present a pure sample of 231 massive, passively evolving elliptical galaxies as cosmic chronometer candidates selected from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey between 0.03 < z < 0.4. The goal of this work is to increase the pool of high-purity cosmic chronometer candidates available in the literature and assess the effect of purity on statistical uncertainty to make H(z) and H0 calculations more robust in future studies. We use traditional selection criteria to identify cosmic chronometers using photometry and spectroscopy in conjunction with modelled parameters such as stellar mass and velocity dispersion. We use an NUVrJ photometric selection to identify quiescent galaxies and identify a number of spectral features, including Hα, [OII] and Hδ to use as tracers for ongoing or recently halted star formation. Additionally, as part of the selection, we calculate the ratio between the Ca II H and K lines to determine whether a galaxy’s stellar population is dominated by older or younger stars. We confirm CC candidacy by selecting only the most massive galaxies and perform a visual inspection of the spectra and images of CC candidates. We provide an analysis of the parent sample in comparison to the CC sample and confirm CCs have much lower sSFR, with a median sSFR of 10−12Myr−1. Additionally, we find their median ages are ~2Gyr older than the parent sample.